rak Reconstructed

root. break

This root appeared as ᴱ√RAKA “pile up” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, with derivatives like ᴱQ. rakta- “pile, hoard, amass, collect” and ᴱQ. rakte “pile, heap” (QL/78). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, there are similar forms with different meanings: G. ractha “breach” and G. rag- “break asunder, burst” (GL/64). This conceptual shift from “pile up” to “✱break” is supported by the word ᴱQ. ranka “broken” in drafts of the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya from the end of the 1920s (PE16/77). Q. rak- “break” reappeared in the revised version of that poem from the late 1960s (MC/222-223), implying the root remained valid or (more likely) was abandoned but later restored. Q. rakine “stripped” in phonetic notes from 1959-60 might be related.

Derivatives

• Q. rac- “to break”
• ᴺS. raeth “breach, *burst”
• ᴺS. rag- “to break asunder, burst, *break, shatter”