Primitive elvish

khep

root. retain, keep, do not give away or release, keep hold of, retain, keep, do not give away or release, keep hold of; [ᴱ√] bind; encircle

The root √KHEP appeared with gloss “retain, keep, do not give away or release, keep hold of” in etymological notes from 1959-60 along with a variant √KHAP “bind, make fast, restrain, deprive of liberty” (VT41/6), and in this period it was almost certainly the basis for S. heb- “keep” in ú-chebin estel anim “I have kept (heb- lenited 1st-person) no hope for myself” (LotR/1061). It might be a later iteration of ᴱ√HEPE, glossed “bind” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/40) and “encircle?” (the question mark is Tolkien’s) in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/48).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, some derivatives of this 1910s root might be salvaged as derivatives of later √KHEP.

Derivatives

  • ᴺQ. hempa “cord”
  • ᴺQ. hep- “to keep”
  • S. heb- “to keep”
  • ᴺS. hemp “cord; band, bond”

Variations

  • khep ✧ VT41/06
Primitive elvish [PE17/157; VT41/06] Group: Eldamo. Published by