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Select Elvish Words 9.21: to Hit, Strike, Beat

9.21 to Hit, Strike, Beat

ᴱQ. hyalta- v. “to strike, make ring”

A verb appearing as ᴱQ. hyalta- “to strike, make ring” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/144), possibly related to the 1930s root ᴹ√SYAL having to do with sea shells if the underlying meaning was resonant sounds (Ety/SYAL); see that root’s entry for discussion.

Neo-Quenya: Given the (possible) survival of its root, I would retain ᴺQ. hyalta- “to strike, make ring” for purposes of Neo-Quenya.

ᴹQ. lah- v. “to kick”

A verb meaning “kick” in the Quenya Verbal System of 1948 based on the root ᴹQ. LAKH of the same meaning (PE22/102-103).

ᴹQ. palka- v. “to beat flat”

A verb glossed “to beat flat” appearing in the Quenya Verbal System from 1948 (PE22/114). Tolkien designated it as talat-stem verb, and it was thus derived from an (unattested) verbal root *ᴹ√PALAK. It may be a variant of ᴹQ. palpa- “to beat, batter” from The Etymologies of the 1930s that was based on the root ᴹ√PALAP (Ety/PALAP). It is possible that palka- replaces palpa- entirely, but I think the two can coexist with slightly different meanings.

ᴹQ. palpa- v. “to beat, batter”

A verb glossed “to beat, batter” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√PALAP (Ety/PALAP). It replaced ᴹQ. pal-, palap- “beat” based on a (rejected) shorter form of the root: ᴹ√PAL² “beat” (EtyAC/PAL²).

Conceptual Development: Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s had ᴱQ. panta- “to beat” (PE16/142), the Early Qenya Grammar had ᴱQ. tanga- “beat” (PE14/58), while the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. lampa- “hit, beat” (QL/51). ᴹQ. palka- “beat flat” from 1948 might be a later variant; see that entry for details.

ᴹQ. tam- v. “to tap”

A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing as tamin “I tap” under the root ᴹ√TAM “knock” (Ety/TAM). See the entry ᴹQ. ton- for other similar “tap, knock” verbs.

ᴹQ. tamba- v. “to knock, keep on knocking”

A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “to knock, keep on knocking” under the root ᴹ√TAM “knock” (Ety/TAM). See the entry ᴹQ. ton- for other similar “knock, tap” verbs.

ᴱQ. taran (taramb-) n. “bang, buffet”

A noun appearing as ᴱQ. taran (taramb-) or tarambo “a bang, buffet” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root given as ᴱ√TARA(MA) “batter, thud, beat”, but actually ᴱ√DARA(MA) based on its Gnomish forms (QL/89); in Early Qenya, primitive initial d became t (PE12/17).

Neo-Quenya: The root ᴹ√DARAM “beat, hew” survived into The Etymologies of the 1930s, so ᴱQ. tarambo (< *darambō) may be salvageable in Neo-Quenya. In later Quenya phonology, initial primitive d usually became l, but I think in this case it would assimilate as n to the following nasal, aided by the similar root ᴹ√(N)DAM “hammer, beat”, so I would suggest ᴺQ. narambo “bang, buffet”.

ᴹQ. ton- v. “to knock, tap”

A verb in the Quenya Verbal System of 1948 derived from the root ᴹ√TON “tap, knock” and so presumably with the same meaning (PE22/103). It replaced a verb tun- from a deleted root ᴹ√TUN “tap, knock, touch (with the fingers)” (PE22/103).

Conceptual Development: A possible precursor ᴱQ. otto- “knock” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√OTO of the same meaning (QL/71). This in turn may have become ᴹQ. tam- “to tap” and ᴹQ. tamba- “to knock, keep on knocking” from The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√TAM “knock” (Ety/TAM). Finally there are some roots √TOK and √NOK from 1959-60 notes used of “non-resonant sounds” but with no derivatives (PE17/138).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use the later attested verbs, but I would assume tam- is for a lighter “tap” vs. ton- for a deeper (single) “knock”, whereas tamba- is for repeated knocking or tapping.

N. batha- v. “to trample”

A verb appearing as its (Noldorin) infinitive batho in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ON. batthṓ “trample” based the primitive ᴹ✶battā́ under the root ᴹ√BAT “tread” (Ety/BAT).

Conceptual Development: A possible precursor is the verb G. bactha- “walk” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/21), probably based on the early root ᴱ√VAHA having to do with travel (QL/99).

N. dram n. “heavy stroke, heavy blow”

A noun appearing as dramb, dram(m) in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “a heavy stroke or blow” derived from the root ᴹ√DARAM “beat, hew” (Ety/DARÁM). ᴱN. dramb, dram “heavy blow” also appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/142).

N. dringa- v. “to beat”

A verb appearing as its (Noldorin) infinitive form dringo “to beat” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√DRING “beat, strike” (Ety/DRING).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. palta- “beat” (GL/63), possibly based on the early root ᴱ√PALA “flatness” (QL/71) with the original sense “*make flat”.

N. tamma- v. “to knock”

A verb appearing as its (Noldorin) infinitive form tammo “to knock” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, derived from primitive ᴹ✶tambā́- under the root ᴹ√TAM “knock” (Ety/TAM; EtyAC/TAM). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road Christopher Tolkien gave the infinitive form as tamno (LR/390), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne corrected this to tammo in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT46/17).

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