Qenya
kapta-
verb. to make spring, scatter
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
kapta-
verb. to make spring, scatter
A verb appearing in the initial drafts of Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) from the 1940s as ᴹQ. kapta- “make spring, scatter”, a combination of ᴹ√KAP “leap” with the causative suffix ᴹ✶-tā so more literally “make leap”, and having a variant kapsa- in the Lindarin dialect (PE19/41-43, note #79). Tolkien rejected the relevant section while exploring other possible phonetic developments of pt (PE19/41).
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. kapta- was glossed {“swallow” >>} “startle” under the early root ᴱ√KAPA “leap, spring”, though Tolkien marked this word with a “?” (QL/45). In documents from the 1920s, ᴱQ. kapta- was glossed “leap” (PE14/56, 58, 66).
Neo-Quenya: Since kapta- is consistent with the phonetic rules described in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the 1950s, I would retain ᴺQ. capta- (pronounced [kaɸta]) with the senses “to make spring, scatter; to startle”. In ordinary use I would assume capta- mainly means “startle, (orig.) make leap”. To emphasize that the startled individuals actually scatter away, I would combine it with the adverb öa “away”: captalvet oa = “we scattered them, (lit.) we startled them away”.