mat-

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.

Cognates

• S. mad- “to eat”
• T. mat- “to eat”

Derivations

• ✶mat- “to eat” ✧ PE22/132; PE22/157
  • √MAT “eat”
• √MAT “eat” ✧ VT39/07

Element in

• ᴺQ. accamátala “over-eating”
• ᴺQ. accamatië “over-eating”
• ᴺQ. avamat- “to fast, (lit.) refuse to eat”
• Q. en i matinye “I shall eat then soon” ✧ PE22/131
• Q. lamate “fasting, a fast”
• Q. mátima “edible”
• ᴺQ. matimar “restaurant, (lit.) eating hall”
• ᴺQ. matina “eaten”
• Q. -matya “-eating”
• Q. umbestë matë “he was going to eat” ✧ PE22/132
• Q. vá matuvatyë mastanya “you are not to eat my bread, you shan’t eat my bread” ✧ PE22/162

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶mat-ubā-ni/njē > matuvanye	[matubānjē] > [matuβānjē] > [matuβanjē] > [matuβanje] > [matuvanje]	✧ PE22/132
√MATA > mante	[mante]	✧ VT39/07

mantë

mantë

mantë pa.t. of mat-, mata-, q.v.

mad-

verb. to eat

The 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.

Cognates

• Q. mat- “to eat”
• T. mat- “to eat”

Derivations

• ✶mat- “to eat” ✧ PE17/131; PE17/131
  • √MAT “eat”

Element in

• ᴺS. madui “edible”
• S. madweg “gluttonous”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶mantinā > manthen > mannen	[mantinā] > [mantina] > [mantʰina] > [manθina] > [manθena] > [manθen] > [mannen]	✧ PE17/131
✶matina > maden	[matina] > [matena] > [maten] > [maden]	✧ PE17/131

mad

eat

mad- (i vâd, i medir). HONEY-EATER, see BEAR

mad

eat

(i vâd, i medir).

mat-

verb. to eat

Cognates

• Q. mat- “to eat”
• S. mad- “to eat”

Derivations

• ✶mat- “to eat”
  • √MAT “eat”

mat-

verb. to eat

Derivations

• √MAT “eat”

Derivatives

• Q. mat- “to eat” ✧ PE22/132; PE22/157
• S. mad- “to eat” ✧ PE17/131; PE17/131
• T. mat- “to eat”

Element in

• ✶aumata- “to eat away, corrode” ✧ PE22/136
• ✶matnā “eaten, eaten, [ᴹ✶] food”
• ✶matulā “edacious”
• ✶matˢtimā “edible”

Variations

• mata ✧ VT39/09

mat

root. 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.

Derivatives

• ✶ammat- “to devour, eat up” ✧ PE18/085; PE18/088
• ✶amtā ✧ PE18/085; PE18/087
  • Q. anta “jaw” ✧ PE18/085
• ✶mammata- “to gobble up, devour” ✧ PE22/136
  • Q. mammata- “to gobble up; to go on eating, gorge oneself, to gorge (oneself), gobble up, [ᴹQ.] devour; [Q.] (lit.) to go on eating”
• ✶masta- “to feed up, fatten” ✧ PE18/095
  • ᴺS. masta- “to [put to] feed, graze”
• ✶mat- “to eat”
  • Q. mat- “to eat” ✧ PE22/132; PE22/157
  • S. mad- “to eat” ✧ PE17/131; PE17/131
  • T. mat- “to eat”
• ✶matwā
  • S. maud “[unglossed]” ✧ PE17/148
• ✶matyā- “to feed”
  • ᴺQ. matya- “to feed”
  • ᴺS. media- “to feed”
• ✶maita- “to feed” ✧ PE18/095
• Q. anto “mouth, mouth [as a thing for eating]; [ᴱQ.] jaw”
• Q. maita “hungry” ✧ VT39/11
• Q. mat- “to eat” ✧ VT39/07
• ᴺS. mâd “meal”
• ᴺS. mast “fodder, feed, food, nourishment”
• ᴺS. math “food”

Element in

• ᴺ✶. womātē “*community, (lit.) eating-together”

Variations

• mata ✧ VT39/05
• MATA ✧ VT39/07

mad-

verb. to eat

mad-

verb. to eat

Cognates

• ᴹQ. mat- “to eat” ✧ Ety/MAT; EtyAC/MAT
• ᴹT. mat- “to eat”

Derivations

• ᴹ√MAT “eat” ✧ Ety/MAT; EtyAC/MAT

Element in

• N. megli “bear, (lit.) honey-eater”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√MAT > medi	[mat-] > [mad-]	✧ Ety/MAT
ᴹ√MAT > mad-	[mat-] > [mad-]	✧ EtyAC/MAT