5.14 Hunger
- Q. maita adj. “hungry”
- An adjective for “hungry” in notes from around 1960 derived from the root √MAT “eat” via i-infixion (VT39/11), which produced a small class of desiderative words in Quenya, as in “desiring to eat”.
- ᴱQ. saike n. “hunger”
- A noun appearing as ᴱQ. saike (saiki-) “hunger” in the Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√SAẎA (QL/82). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, the Qenya word for “hunger” was instead saiste (PE13/147).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would retain the noun ᴺQ. saicë “hunger” based on a Neo-Root ᴺ√SAYAK, but only as an archaic word so I could justify the retention of various famine-related words like ᴺQ. saicelë. For normal speech I would assume ᴺQ. maitië is the ordinary word for “hunger”, a noun form of the adjective Q. maita “hungry” from around 1960.
- ᴱQ. saikele n. “famine”
- A noun appearing as ᴱQ. saikele “famine” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, an elaboration of ᴱQ. saike “hunger” (QL/82).
Neo-Quenya: I retain ᴺQ. saicelë “famine” for purposes of Neo-Quenya as an elaboration of (archaic) ᴺQ. †saicë.
- ᴱQ. saikelea adj. “famished”
- A word appearing as ᴱQ. saikelea “famished” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, an adjective form of ᴱQ. saikele “famine” (QL/82).
Neo-Quenya: I retain this word as ᴺQ. saicelëa for purposes of Neo-Quenya.
- ᴱQ. saiqa n. “hungry”
- An adjective appearing as ᴱQ. saiqa “hungry” in the Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√SAẎA (QL/82). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, the Qenya word for “hungry” was instead saisa, though its Early Noldorin equivalent ᴱQ. haib seems to indicate primitive *saikwā (PE13/146).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would retain the adjective ᴺQ. saiqua “hungry” based on a Neo-Root ᴺ√SAYAK, but only as an archaic word so I could justify the retention of related words like ᴺS. saeb “hungry”. For normal speech I would assume Q. maita “hungry” is the ordinary word for “hungry” (VT39/11).
- ᴱQ. saita- v. “to be hungry (impersonal)”
- An impersonal verb appearing as ᴱQ. saita- “I am hungry” in the Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√SAẎA, alongside a variant form saya- (QL/82). The verb say- also appeared unglossed on page of Qenya Verb Forms from this same period (PE14/28).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would simply say nán maita “I am hungry”.
- ᴱQ. saitya- v. “to starve”
- A verb appearing as ᴱQ. saitya- “to starve” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s based on the early root ᴱ√SAẎA “hunger” which was mostly used in combination with -kǝ (QL/82). Its ancient form is probably *saikya- with ky > ty (PE12/22). Tolkien said this verb was transitive as in “to starve [someone]”, but could be used impersonally to mean “I starve”. Tolkien also gave a variant form saikelta-, apparently a combination of ᴱQ. saike “hunger” with the verb suffix ᴱQ. -lta.
Neo-Quenya: I retain this verb as ᴺQ. saitya- for purposes of Neo-Quenya. Its impersonal use would be saitya ni “[it] starves me” = “I starve”.
- ᴱN. haib adj. “hungry”
- The adjective G. saig “hungry” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/66), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√SAẎA “hunger” which was mostly used in combination with -kǝ (QL/82). This word reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists, but was revised to ᴱN. haib (PE13/146, 153). Here the final b probably represents a shift of the ancient form to *saik-wā, while the initial h reflects the tendency of initial s to become h in the Noldorin of the 1920s (HIPTN/§4.1.1).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I use ᴺS. saeb “hungry” as an update of the 1920s form to better fit Sindarin phonology. Fiona Jallings first coined this neologism based on ᴱQ. saiqa (QL/82).
- ᴱN. hais n. “hunger”
- The noun G. saith “hunger” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/66), like based on the early root ᴱ√SAẎA “hunger” which was mostly used in combination with -kǝ (QL/82). In Early Noldorin Word-lists the word appeared as sais, revised to ᴱN. hais (PE13/147, 153) to reflect the fact that initial s generally became h in the Noldorin of the 1920s (HIPTN/§4.1.1). In this 1920s document its Qenya equivalent was ᴱQ. saiste indicating a primitive form of *saistē.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I use ᴺS. saeg for “hunger” based on the Neo-Root ᴺ√SAYAK, a neologism coined by Fiona Jallings based on ᴱQ. saike “hunger” (QL/82). An argument can also be made for ᴺS. saeth as a more direct update of G. saith (perhaps < sayak-tē as suggested by Elaran in 2018), but I prefer saeg since its etymology is more transparent.
- G. mavri n. “appetite”
- A noun appearing as G. mavri “appetite” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, an abstract noun formation based on the early root ᴱ√MAɃA “something nice” (GL/57).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I adapt this word as ᴺS. mavor “appetite”, perhaps an ancient agental formation (“that which likes”) from the Neo-Root ᴺ√MAB.
- G. saigri n. “hunger (great), famine”
- A noun appearing as G. saigri “hunger (great), famine” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, an abstract noun formation based on G. saig “hungry” (GL/66).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I use ᴺS. saegon for “famine, (great) hunger”, an augmentative form of ᴺS. saeg “hunger”.
- G. saitha- n. “to have hunger”
- A verb appearing as G. saitha- or saictha- “to have hunger” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s “hungry” (GL/66), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√SAẎA “hunger” which was mostly used in combination with -kǝ (QL/82). The primitive form was probably *saiktā-. Tolkien said this verb was used both personally and impersonally.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I adapt this verb as ᴺS. saetha- from the Neo-Root ᴺ√SAYAK, but I assume it is a causative verb meaning “to cause hunger”. I think this alternate meaning aligns better with Tolkien’s statement that the verb is “personal and also impersonal”. Hence “I am hungry” would be saetha annin “hunger is caused to me”.