nahtana

adjective. *slain

A word that seems to be an adjective form of nahta- “to slay”, appearing in the 1969 phrase nahtana ló Turin which itself likely means “✱slain by Túrin” as suggested by Patrick Wynne (VT49/24). It is possible that nahtana is a simple adjective, but it may also be some form of passive participle.

nahtana ló turin

*slain by Túrin

nahta-

slay

nahta- (1) verb "slay" (nahtan "I slay"). Possible variant #nehta- see #nehtar. Passive participle nahtana in the phrase nahtana ló Túrin *"slain by Turin". (VT49:24)

nahta-

verb. to slay; to hurt, injure, wound, to slay; [Q.] to hurt, injure, wound; [ᴱQ.] slay cruelly

A verb for “slay” based on the root √NDAK (PE22/156). Conjugations from 1964 (PE17/77) and 1969 (PE22/156-157, 159, 164) indicate it was a half-strong verb with past tense nacante, though it also had an (archaic) strong past †nance (PE22/159).

Conceptual Development: This verb dates back to the Early Qenya Phonology of the 1920s where Tolkien had ᴱQ. nahta- “slay cruelly” based on primitive ᴱ✶ndagta- from the early root ᴱ√DAGA (PE14/66). In The Etymologies of the 1930s this root became ᴹ√NDAK “slay”, but this verb was not mentioned (Ety/NDAK). The verb ᴹQ. nahta- “slay” was mentioned again in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948, but there its root shifted back to √NDAG “slay” (PE22/102, 114-115).

In 1959 revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2), the root again became √NDAK “hew, slay”, but Q. nahta- was derived from an unrelated root √SNAG “wound” and was itself glossed “hurt, injure, wound” (PE19/91). A conjugation for nahta- appeared in notes from 1964, but without glosses (PE17/77). The verb nahta- appeared in quite a few examples in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, and in those notes the gloss was again “slay” and its root was again √NDAK “hew” (PE22/156).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d stick to the meaning “to slay” for nahta-, and for “wound” I’d use [ᴹQ.] harna-.

nahta-

verb. slay

-na

suffix. slain

A shorter ending -na also occurs, e.g. nahtana "slain" (VT49:24); the example hastaina "marred" would suggest that *nahtaina is equally possible. In the example aistana "blessed" (VT43:30), -na may be preferred to -ina for euphonic reasons, to avoid creating a second diphthong ai where one already occurs in the previous syllable (*aistaina). In PE17:68, the ending -ina is said to be "aorist" (unmarked as regards time and aspect); the same source states that the shorter ending -na is "no longer part of verbal conjugation", though it obviously survives in many words that are maybe now to be considered independent adjectives. See -na #4.

Túrin

victory-mood

Túrin masc. name, apparently meaning "victory-mood" (LR:395, s.v. TUR). The Etymologies gives Turindo as the Quenya form of this name; Túrin seems to be properly the Sindarin form, though it fits Quenya style well enough and Nienor used it in a Quenya sentence (near the end of ch. 21 of the Silmarillion). The name appears as Turin (with a short u) in the phrase nahtana ló Turin, "slain by Túrin" (VT49:24)

ló

from

ló, lo (2) prep. "from", also used = "by" introducing the agent after a passive construction: nahtana ló Turin *"slain by Túrin" (VT49:24). A similar and possibly identical form is mentioned in the Etymologies as being somehow related to the ablative ending -llo, but is not there clearly defined (VT45:28). At one point, Tolkien suggested that lo rather than the ending -llo was used with proper names (lo Manwë rather than Manwello for "from Manwë"), but this seems to have been a short-lived idea (VT49:24).

-va

from

-va possessive ending, presumably related to the preposition va "from". In Eldaliéva, Ingoldova, miruvóreva, Oroméva, rómeva, Valinóreva (q.v. for references), Follondiéva, Hyallondiéva (see under turmen for references). Following a consonant, the ending instead appears as -wa (andamacilwa "of the long sword", PE17:147, rómenwa *"of the East", PE17:59). Pl. -vë when governing a plural word (from archaic -vai) (WJ:407), but it seems that -va was used throughout in late Exilic Quenya (cf. miruvóreva governing the plural word yuldar in Namárië). Pl. -iva (-ivë*), dual -twa, partitive pl. -líva**.

ho

from

ho prep. "from" (3O); cf. hó-

nanca

slain

nanca adj. *"slain" (PE17:68); see -na

o

preposition. from

va

from

va prep. "from" (VT43:20; prefixed in the form var- in var-úra "from evil", VT43:24). In VT49:24, va, au and o are quoted as variants of the stem awa "away from".