A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “cause” with derivatives like ᴱQ. ka- “cause”, ᴱQ. káma “guilt, responsibility”, and ᴱQ. kasta “cause, motive, ultimate reason” (QL/43). There are similar derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, such as G. caith “cause, reason, motive” < ᴱ✶kahta (GL/24). Some of these words have no good replacements in Tolkien’s later writing, so I think it is worthwhile to postulate a Neo-Eldarin root ᴺ√KAH to salvage some of these early words.
Early Primitive Elvish
do
root. *interrogative base
Derivatives
Variations
- do- ✧ GL/30
kara
root. do, make
Derivatives
- ᴱ✶kar- “to make”
- Eq. kara- “to do, make” ✧ PE14/058
- ᴱ✶ū́kā̀rele
- Eq. ukárele “[unglossed]” ✧ PE12/006
- Eq. kara- “to do, make” ✧ QL/045
- Eq. karma “shape, fashion; act, deed” ✧ QL/045
- Eq. karo “deed, act, action”
- En. car- “*to make”
- G. cartha- “to finish, make”
- En. cara- “to make, do, perform, act (trans. and absolute)”
- G. cara “deed, act”
- G. carn “done, finished”
- G. carm “deed, act, exploit”
- G. cranta- “to finish, achieve, accomplish, complete” ✧ GL/26
Variations
- car- ✧ GL/26
kar-
verb. to make
Derivations
- ᴱ√KARA “do, make”
Derivatives
- Eq. kara- “to do, make” ✧ PE14/058
Variations
- kar ✧ PE14/058
kaha
root. cause
Derivatives
An interrogative root in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s that served as the basis for various Gnomish question words (GL/30). It was distinct from ᴱ√MA, which at this early stage was the basis for the indefinite marker, not interrogatives (GL/55). It seems that by the late 1920s, ᴱ√MA has become an interrogative, as seen in the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem. There is no sign of interrogative ᴱ√DO past Tolkien’s earliest writings.