tulya-

verb. *to lead; to fetch, *to lead; to fetch; [ᴱQ.] to bring, send

Tolkien used this verb with several similar meanings throughout his life. Its earliest appearance was in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s where it was glossed “send, bring” (PE14/58), and in Early Qenya Word-lists from the same period it was glossed “bring” (PE16/133). In Quendian & Common Eldarin Verbal Structure (EVS1) from the 1940s, Tolkien had primitive ᴹ✶tulyā- “send hither” along with a statement that “causatives from verbs [verbal roots] more often used yā” (PE22/98).

Primitive ✶tuljā- “fetch” reappeared as another example of a ya-causative in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure (EVS2) from the early 1950s, where it also had a more extensive translation “cause to come, send for, fetch, summon” (PE22/135). The verb appeared again in the phrase Q. álamë tulya úsahtienna “lead us not into temptation” in Quenya prayers from the late 1950s, replacing a verb mittanya- presumably of similar meaning (VT43/22). The verb appeared a final time in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 as yet another example of a ya-causative verb (PE22/164); in this set of documents the related verbal noun tulyandë was glossed “fetching” (PE22/137).

The relationship between this verb and its root √TUL is somewhat tricky. In the 1910s, the early root ᴱ√TULU had a broad meaning, originally “uphold, support, bear, carry” and thus by extension “fetch, bring” and “move, come” (QL/95). This early meaning of the root may have influenced the 1920s glosses “send, bring” for tulya-. From the 1930s forward, however, √TUL was limited in sense to “come = move toward the speaker” (Ety/TUL; PE17/188). A causative form of this root therefore would mean “cause to come”. This could apply to ya-causative tulya-, as with primitive ✶tulyā- in EVS1 and EVS2 (see above). However, Tolkien often used ta-causative tulta- to mean “send (for), summon = cause to come” instead (Ety/TUL; PE22/114, 156).

Neo-Quenya: It is not clear whether Tolkien intended ya-causative tulya- and ta-causative tulta- to coexist. The only document in which they both appear is 1969 LVS (PE22/164). That package of documents includes many hypothetical examples, so it still is not clear whether both verbs were “real” in the context of in-universe Elvish. For purposes of Neo-Quenya, however, I assume the two verbs coexist with slightly different meanings: tulta- “fetch = cause to come > summon [someone]” and tulya- “fetch = cause to come with > bring [something]”.

This interpretation of tulya- as “bring, fetch” is largely consistent with its use in the 1920s through 1960s. In the Quenya prayer noted above, the translation “bring” also works: álamë tulya úsahtienna “✱bring us not into temptation” as an alternative to “lead us not into temptation”. As such I think tulya- = “lead” only in the sense “bring someone someplace”, and not “lead” in the sense of “give guidance and leadership”.

tulya-

lead

tulya- vb. "lead" (+ allative: lead into) (VT43:22)

lanu

lead

lanu noun "lead" (LT1:268)

tulyā-

verb. to cause to come, send for, fetch, summon

tog-

verb. to lead, bring

tog

lead

tog- (i dôg, i thegir, archaic i thögir), pa.t. tunc (i thyngir) (bring)

tog

lead

(i dôg, i thegir, archaic i thögir), pa.t. tunc (i thyngir) (bring)