vaita- vb. "to enfold" (VT46:21), "to wrap" (LT1:271). Older (MET) form waita-.
Quenya
váya
noun. ocean, sea, ocean, [stormy] sea
vaita-
to enfold
waita-
to enfold
waita- > vaita- verb "to enfold" (VT46:21)
Noldorin
gwaeda-
verb. to enfold
Sindarin
gwaeda
enfold
(VT46:21)
gwaeda
enfold
gwaeda- (VT46:21)
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!
Early Primitive Elvish
vaẏa
root. enfold, wind about
@@@ update Gnomish derivatives to reflect final ɣʷ
lapa
root. enfold
Middle Primitive Elvish
way
root. enfold
The earliest iteration of this root was ᴱ√VAẎA “enfold, wind about” from the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. vaile “covering”, ᴱQ. vaima “wrap, robe”, and ᴱQ. vaita- “wrap” (QL/100). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had derivatives like G. baidha- “clothe”, G. bail “sheath, case, cover; pod”, and G. bain “clad”, based on the primitive form Baʒ̔- (GL/21). This likely meant the medial consonant of the root was actually the voiced palatal spirant [ʝ], which Tolkien generally represented as ẏ in Qenya roots (PE12/15-16).
{ᴱN. bain >>} ᴱN. bai “clad” and ᴱN. bail “sheath” from Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s were probably related (PE13/138). In The Etymologies from the 1930s the root appeared as ᴹ√WAY “enfold” with derivatives like ᴹQ. vaita-/N. gwaeda- “enfold” and N. ui “envelope” (Ety/WAY; EtyAC/WAY). In this entry the form was revised to ᴹ√VAY (Ety/WAY). Tolkien also indicated that it was “confused in later Q with BAYA”, perhaps an attempt to salvage the bai- forms of Gnomish and Early Noldorin, but this sentence was struck out and there is no other sign of ᴹ√BAY in The Etymologies.
Neo-Eldarin: In The Etymologies, the Noldorin words for “clothing” seem to have moved to a new root, ᴹ√KHAP “enfold”, but this root had no Quenya derivatives. I think it is best to reconceive of the Early Qenya derivatives of ᴱ√VAẎA related to “clothing” as derivatives of ᴹ√WAY instead. The Gnomish derivatives of ᴱ√VAẎA can’t be easily salvaged, however, since the later roots changed to make it difficult produce their initial b.
khap
root. enfold
wāyārō
masculine name. Wāyārō
A word in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 that Tolkien described as “used of sea (as waters, motion)”, a derivative of √WAYA “blow, or be disturbed” (PE17/33). This note was crossed through, but a similar note appeared afterwards with a (archaic?) word waya “ocean” (PE17/34).
Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, Tolkien had ᴱQ. Vai “Outer Ocean” (LT1/85), a word that also appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of ᴱ√VAẎA “enfold, wind about” (QL/100). The word ᴱQ. vea “sea” appeared in a number of poems Tolkien wrote in the late 1920s (MC/213-214, 216, 220; numerous references in PE16). ᴹQ. vea “sea” also appeared in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ✶vaı̯ā (PE21/8, 17), and as an element in the name ᴹQ. Veaneldar “Sea-elves” from the 1930s and possibly Q. Vëantur, a name in later writings for a ship captain in Númenor (UT/171).
In Silmarillion drafts of the 1930s Tolkien used ᴹQ. Vaiya for “Enfolding Ocean” (SM/236) or “Outer Sea” (LR/209). This word was mentioned in The Etymologies as wai(y)a/vai(y)a “envelope” that was used “especially of the Outer Sea or Air enfolding the world within the Ilurambar”, a derivative of ᴹ√WAY “enfold” (Ety/WAY). In the Ambarkanta of early 1930s Tolkien likewise said that the ordinary meaning vaiya was “fold, envelope”, meaning “Outer Sea” when used as a proper name (SM/241). In Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957, the similar word váya/waya was given a new etymology from the root √WAYA “blow” rather than “enfold” as noted above, along with other derivatives having to do with “wind” (PE17/33-34).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I think the form váya is the best form, and given its derivation from the root for “wind”, I think it refers mainly to rough or stormy seas. The name Vëantur may contained a reduced form of this word.