mat (matt-) noun "meal, meal time" (QL:59)
Primitive elvish
mat
root. eat
mat-
verb. to eat
poli
noun. meal
Quenya
mat
meal, meal time
mat-
verb. eat
mat- (1) vb. "eat" (MAT, VT45:32), also given as mata- (VT39:5), pa.t. mantë "ate" (VT39:7). The form matumnë is said to be future-past: "was going to eat", with the "OQ" (Old Quenya?) future-past element umnë (VT48:32; possibly this could function independently as a form of the verb "to be", hence "was to be"). It is not clear if the form matumnë is itself "Old Quenya" as if this is an archaic future-past formation, or it is just umnë (as an independent word) that is archaic. (Note: Tolkien's translation of matumnë is actually "I was going to eat", but the pronoun "I" does not seem to be expressed in the Quenya form.) Adj. or pseudo-participle #matya "eating" in melumatya "honey-eating" (PE17:68)
mat-
verb. eat
mat-
verb. to eat
The verb for “to eat” derived from the root √MAT of the same meaning (VT39/7).
Conceptual Development: This verb and root are quite well established, dating all the way back to ᴱQ. mat- and ᴱ√MATA of the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/59) and appearing as ᴹQ. mat- and ᴹ√MAT in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/MAT), as well as numerous other places albeit with occasional variants like mata- (PE12/26). This verb was one Tolkien often used in examples of verb conjugations and as such its inflected forms changed considerably over time, but that is more a topic of the evolution of the Quenya verb system itself.
-ima
suffix. -able, -ible, adjective suffix, apt to do
-ima adjectival suffix. Sometimes it is used to derive simple adjectives, like vanima "fair" or calima "bright"; it can also take on the meaning "-able" (PE17:68), as in mátima "edible" (mat- "eat"), nótima "countable" (not- "count") and (with a negative prefix) úquétima "unspeakable" (from quet- "speak"). Note that the stem-vowel is normally lengthened in the derivatives where -ima means "-able", though this fails to occur in cenima "visible" (q.v., but contrast hraicénima, q.v.) and also before a consonant cluster as in úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176). "X-ima" may mean "apt to X" (when the ending is added to an intransitive verbal stem), as in Fírimar "mortals", literally "those apt to die" (WJ:387). The adj. úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176) also appears as úfantuma (PE17:180), indicating the existence of a variant ending -uma (possibly used to derive adjectives with a "bad" meaning; compare the ending *-unqua next to -inqua, q.v.)
mulë
noun. meal, meal, *grist, ground grains
mulë
meal, grist
mulë noun "meal, grist" (PE17:115, 181), replacing polë, q.v.
polë
meal, grist
[polë (stem poli-) noun "meal, grist" (PE17:115, 181), a word Tolkien decided to replace by mulë; perhaps polë was a variant of porë.]
Telerin
mat-
verb. to eat
Old sindarin
mat-
verb. I am going to eat, I shall eat
Sindarin
mad-
verb. to eat
The Sindarin verb for “to eat” derived from the root √MAT of the same meaning (PE17/131; Ety/MAT). In Tolkien’s later writing it appears only in inflected forms, but the verb itself is well established, dating back all the way to G. mad- in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/56). This verb was one Tolkien often used in examples of verb conjugations and as such its inflected forms changed considerably over time, but that is more a topic of the evolution of the Sindarin verb system.
mad
eat
mad- (i vâd, i medir). HONEY-EATER, see BEAR
mad
eat
(i vâd, i medir).
mâd
noun. meal
Noldorin
mad-
verb. to eat
mad-
verb. to eat
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!
Middle Primitive Elvish
mat
root. eat
mat-
verb. to eat
Qenya
mat
noun. food, meal, meal, [ᴱQ.] meal time; [ᴹQ.] food
A noun glossed “food, meal” in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s with a stem form matt- (PE21/27), clearly based on ᴹ√MAT “eat”. Tolkien specified that as the suffix -mat, it was the basis of names for meals (PE21/32). The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s also had ᴱQ. mat (matt-) “meal, meal time” under the early root ᴱ√MATA “eat” (QL/59).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would use this word only for “meal”, and would instead use Q. matta for “food”.
mat-
verb. to eat
ahtumat
noun. supper, supper, *(lit.) maker’s meal
A word for “supper” in the Declension of Nouns (DN) from the early 1930s, a combination of ᴹQ. ahto “maker” and ᴹQ. mat “meal” (PE21/33, 37) hence more literally “maker’s meal”, likely a reference to a meal taken after working. Given that the stem of mat “meal” is matt-, this word might be expected to have the stem form ahtumatt-, but its inflections show both single t and double tt, indicating that the historical stem might have become archaic and reduced to ahtumat- instead. Since the reduced stem is trisyllabic and ends in two light syllables, it often triggers prosodic lengthening as in genitive ahtumáto with lengthening as opposed to (archaic?) ahtumatto from the original stem ahtumatt-.
má
noun. hand
Early Quenya
mat
noun. meal, meal time
mata-
verb. to eat
mat-
verb. to eat
Early Primitive Elvish
mata
root. eat
mat-
verb. to eat
Middle Telerin
mat-
verb. to eat
Old Noldorin
mat-
verb. will eat
Gnomish
gronduru
noun. oakwood (mat)
mâd
noun. meal
mad-
verb. to eat
Early Noldorin
mad-
verb. to eat
This was the root for eating words for all of Tolkien’s life, appearing very regularly. It was ᴱ√MATA “eat” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/59), ᴹ√MAT “eat” in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/MAT), and √MAT “eat” in etymological notes from the late 1960s (VT48/26), among its many other appearances. This puts it among the most conceptually stable of Elvish roots.