Quenya 

tec-

write

tec- vb. "write" (Etym gives the form tecë"writes", evidently the 3rd person aorist) (TEK)

Sindarin 

teitha-

verb. make marks or signs

_ v. _make marks or signs, write, inscribe. >> taith, teith, teithant

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:43] < S. _teith_, _taith_` `a sign, symbol, mark. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

teitha-

verb. to write, draw, inscribe, make marks or signs

Derivations

  • tekta “drew, wrote” ✧ PE17/043; PE17/043
    • TEK “make a written mark, sign, write, make a written mark, sign, write, [ᴹ√] write or draw (signs or letters)” ✧ PE17/043

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
tekta- > teith-[tekta-] > [tektʰa-] > [texθa-] > [teiθa-]✧ PE17/043

Variations

  • teith- ✧ PE17/043
Sindarin [LotR/0305; PE17/043] Group: Eldamo. Published by

teitha

write

teitha- (i deitha, i theithar) (draw)

teitha

write

(i deitha, i theithar) (draw)

Noldorin 

teitha-

verb. to write

Noldorin [Ety/391, LotR/II:IV] Group: SINDICT. Published by

teitha-

verb. to write, draw

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. tek- “to write, to write, [ᴱQ.] write on; to mark” ✧ Ety/TEK

Derivations

  • ᴹ√TEK “write or draw (signs or letters), make a mark” ✧ Ety/TEK

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√TEK > teitho[tekta-] > [tektʰa-] > [texθa-] > [teiθa-]✧ Ety/TEK
Noldorin [Ety/TEK; TI/182] 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 

tek-

verb. to write, to write, [ᴱQ.] write on; to mark

Cognates

  • N. teitha- “to write, draw” ✧ Ety/TEK

Derivations

  • ᴹ√TEK “write or draw (signs or letters), make a mark” ✧ Ety/TEK

Element in

  • ᴺQ. minatec- “to record, (lit.) into-write”
  • ᴺQ. morteccon “graphite, (lit.) black writing rock”
  • ᴺQ. ninteccon “chalk, (lit.) white writing rock”
  • ᴺQ. teccelma “scroll, parchment, (lit.) writing-skin”
  • ᴺQ. tecemma “drawn image, drawing, painting”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√TEK > teke[tek-]✧ Ety/TEK

Gnomish

tectha-

verb. to write

Derivations

  • ᴱ√TEKE “make marks”

Early Quenya

tekta-

verb. to write

Derivations

  • ᴱ√TEKE “make marks” ✧ QL/090

Element in

  • Eq. tektar “writer” ✧ QL/090
  • Eq. tektele “art of writing, script; writings, documents, papers, scriptures” ✧ QL/090
  • Eq. tektamaqa “having a good ‘hand’” ✧ QL/090

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√TEKE > tekta-[tekta-]✧ QL/090
Early Quenya [QL/090] Group: Eldamo. Published by

sar-

verb. to write

A verb appearing as ᴱQ. sar- “write” in Early Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s. Hints at its later validity may be seen in Q. sarat, the names of the letters in the Sarati alphabet, and the root √SAR “score, incise; write”, both mentioned in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60.

Neo-Quenya: Most Neo-Quenya writers use [ᴹQ.] tec- as the ordinary word for write, given its obvious association to Q. tehta and Q. tengwa. One of the challenges with sar- for “write” is that in Tolkien’s later writings, √SAR is also associated with “stone”, as in S. sarn/Q. sar “(small) stone”. In a discussion on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) in April 2022, Röandil suggested restoring ᴺQ. sar- with the sense “to mark (i.e. by incision), notch, score; (by later extension) to write”. Based on this I invented the following (fan-based) etymology:

Given its derivatives, it seems likely that √SAR is associated with stone but also with marks, probably originally marks in stone but generalized from there to marks on other substances. From this sar- was used as the basis for the earliest system of writing, both as a verb and in the name sarati. However, with the introduction of Feanor’s tengwar alphabet, this word no longer seemed suitable for as a general writing word, and was displaced by tec-, originally also meaning “make a mark”, but not specifically associated with stone.

Since tec- now usually meant “write”, the archaic sense “mark, score” was restored to sar-. This was aided by the fact that sar- was primarily a transitive verb, and used some awkward constructions. In particular, with the verb sar-, the direct object was always the thing written on, rather than the thing written. Thus with sar-, the proper way to say “write a sentence on paper” was actually sare hyalin quettalénen “write [on] paper with a sentence [instrumental]”, a construction that still survives, though now somewhat archaic. Meanwhile, the direct object of tec- is the thing written, so one would say tece quettale hyalinesse “write a sentence on paper”.

Note that this last construction [sare hyalin quettalénen] is inspired by Tolkien’s usage of the ᴱQ. verb teke- from the 1910s (QL/90), and essentially reverses of the Early Qenya paradigm of the 1910s and 20s, switching the roles of tek- and sar-. There is no evidence that the above Neo-Quenya discussion matches Tolkien’s own thoughts on the subject, so it should be considered “etymological fan-fiction”.

Changes

  • sár-săr- ✧ PE16/133

Element in

Variations

  • săr- ✧ PE16/133
  • sár- ✧ PE16/133 (sár-)
Early Quenya [PE16/133; PE16/134; PE16/146] Group: Eldamo. Published by