Quenya 

nat

thing

nat noun "thing" (NĀ2); compare únat. VT49:30 lists "năta, nat", but it is unclear whether năta is here a Quenya word or an etymological form underlying Quenya nat.

nat

noun. thing

A Quenya noun for “thing” derived from the root √ “be, exist” (VT49/30, Ety/NĀ²), so perhaps prehistorically simply “a thing that exists”. Its plural form nati is indirectly attested in the plural únati of its (strong) negation únat “a thing impossible to be or to be done” (VT39/26).

Conceptual Development: This word is well established in Tolkien’s writings, appearing all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s (QL/64). In its earliest iteration, its stem form was natt- and its plural was natsi, where [[eq|[ti] became [tsi]]] as was the usual pattern in Early Qenya. The word reappear in texts and notes from the 1920s (PE14/43, 72; PE15/32, 68, 78). In one early dictionary entry glossed more generally as “affair, matter, thing”, but this entry was deleted (PE15/68); in other early writings the word for “affair” was given as ᴱQ. natto (QL/64). The word reappeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s with a simplified stem form nat- given its Noldorin equivalent N. nad (Ety/NĀ²). The word appeared again in the late 1960s in notes associated with Q. ná- “to be”, where it was given the primitive form ✶năta (VT49/30).

Derivations

  • năta “thing” ✧ VT49/30
    • “be (the same as another), exist”

Element in

  • ᴺQ. natto “affair, *matter, thing”
  • Q. únat “thing impossible to be or to be done”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
năta > nat[nata] > [nat]✧ VT49/30

engwë

thing

engwë noun "thing" (VT39:7, VT49:28). Extrapolation may also point to *engwë as an emphatic dual inclusive pronoun "we" (thou and I), corresponding to the ending -ngwë.

engwë

noun. thing

Derivations

  • “be, exist”

Variations

  • engwe ✧ VT39/07

natto

noun. affair, *matter, thing

Elements

WordGloss
nat“thing”

Sindarin 

nad

thing

1) nad (pl. naid), 2) bach (article for exchange, ware) (i mach, o mbach), pl. baich (i mbaich).

nad

thing

(pl. naid)

bach

thing

(article for exchange, ware) (i mach, o mbach), pl. baich (i mbaich).

Primitive elvish

năta

noun. thing

Derivations

  • “be (the same as another), exist”

Derivatives

  • Q. nat “thing” ✧ VT49/30
Primitive elvish [VT49/30] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

nad

noun. thing

Noldorin [Ety/374] Group: SINDICT. Published by

nad

noun. thing

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. nat “thing” ✧ Ety/NĀ²

Derivations

  • ᴹ√NĀ/ANA “be, exist” ✧ Ety/NĀ²

Element in

  • ᴺS. alnad “nothing”
  • ᴺS. illad “everything”
  • ᴺS. ilnad “everything”
  • ᴺS. nadren “real; possible (in sense possible to exist or think of)”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√NĀ² > nad[nata] > [nat] > [nad]✧ Ety/NĀ²
Noldorin [Ety/NĀ²] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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!

Qenya 

nat

noun. thing

Cognates

  • N. nad “thing” ✧ Ety/NĀ²

Derivations

  • ᴹ√NĀ/ANA “be, exist” ✧ Ety/NĀ²

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√NĀ² > nat[nat]✧ Ety/NĀ²

Early Noldorin

nad

noun. thing

Early Noldorin [PE13/150] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

natto

noun. thing, affair

Cognates

  • G. nath “thing, affair, matter”
Early Quenya [PE15/68; QL/064] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nat

noun. thing

Cognates

  • G. nad “*thing”

Derivations

  • ᴱ√ “be, exist” ✧ QL/064

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√ > nat[natt] > [nat]✧ QL/064

Variations

  • neta ✧ PE15/78
Early Quenya [PE14/043; PE14/072; PE15/32; PE15/68; PE15/78; QL/064] Group: Eldamo. Published by

neta

noun. thing