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Select Elvish Words 9.43-9.44: Carpenter, to Build

9.43 Carpenter

ᴹQ. samno n. “carpenter, wright, builder”

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing as {sauro >>} samno “carpenter, wright, builder” derived from primitive ᴹ✶stabnō under the root ᴹ√STAB having to do with (wooden) rooms and building (Ety/STAB), where the ancient bn nasalized to mn. For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would limit this word to one who constructs buildings with wood, as opposed to tautamo as a more general word for a craftsman in wood.

Q. tautamo n. “carpenter, [wood] carver”

A noun glossed “carpenter (carver)” in notes from the late 1960s, a combination of √TAW “wood” with tamo “builder”.

N. thavron n. “carpenter, wright, builder”

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing under the root ᴹ√STAB with the gloss “carpenter, wright, builder” and derived from ON. sthabro(ndo), itself an elaboration of ᴹ✶stabrō after the more ancient agental formation became too indistinct (Ety/STAB).

Conceptual Development: Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. adengion, edengion or edebion “builder”, based on ᴱN. adag- “to build” with infinitive form ᴱN. adob, the latter also a noun for “a building” (PE13/136, 158).

9.44 to Build

ᴹQ. ampana- v. “to build”

A verb for “to build” in the Quenya Verbal System of 1948, attested only in its imperfect passive participle form {ampananta >>} ampanaina “while it was being built” (PE22/108). A longer and better attested verb of the same meaning is ᴹQ. ampanóta-.

ᴹQ. ampanóta- v. “to build, construct, erect a (large) building”

A verb in the Quenya Verbal System of 1948 variously glossed “build, erect a (large) building” (PE22/114) and “construct (a building)” (PE22/118), based on the noun ᴹQ. ampano “building”.

ᴹQ. ampanotalea adj. “architectural”

A word for “architectural” in the Quenya Verbal System of 1948, an adjectival form of ᴹQ. ampanóta- “build, construct”.

ᴹQ. ampanotaste n. “architecture”

A word for “architecture” in the Quenya Verbal System of 1948, a noun form of ᴹQ. ampanóta- “build, construct”.

Q. carasta- v. “to build”

A verb meaning “to build” derived from √KAR “do, make” and related to carassë “built fort or dwelling” (PE17/84).

ᴹQ. karaste n. “making, manufacture, construction”

A noun appearing as ᴹQ. karaste “making, manufacture, construction” in the Quenya Verb Structure of the 1920s, a combination of kar- “do, make, build” with the general action verbal suffix -ste (PE22/110).

Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writing, this verbal suffix became -sta (PE22/137), so I would update this noun form to ᴺQ. carasta “making, manufacture, construction”, which aligns nicely with the later verb carasta- “to build”.

Q. tamna adj. and n. “artificial; artifact”

A word for “artificial”, an adjectival form of the root √TAM “construct” in notes from the late 1960s (PE17/107). Tolkien indicated it could be used as a noun “artifact” as well.

ᴹQ. tanwe n. “craft, thing made, device, construction”

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “craft, thing made, device, construction” under the root ᴹ√TAN “make, fashion” (Ety/TAN).

Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writings this root became √TAM “construct”, but tanwe could still be based on this root since [mw] became [nw] in Quenya’s history of phonetic development.

ᴱN. adag- v. “to build, erect, establish”

This verb appeared as ᴱN. adag- “build” in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s, with an infinitive form of adog/adob (PE13/132). The same verb forms appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists from this same period, with a gloss of “to build” or “to build, erect” derived from ᴱ✶a-tak, and with ᴱN. adob also being a noun for “a building” (PE13/136, 158). In contemporaneous notes on Early Qenya Phonology, Tolkien gave the verb form as adab- “build, establish” derived from ᴱ✶ataku̯- under the early root ᴱ√tak- “stick, [stick] in, fix, firm” (PE14/66).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. bada- “to build”, related to G. bad “building, outhouse, shed” (GL/21).

Neo-Sindarin: Since N. adab “building, house” appeared under the root ᴹ√TAK in The Etymologies (Ety/TAK), I would retain this verb as ᴺS. adaba- “to build, erect, establish” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, a blending of the various early verb forms. The final a helps keep its past forms distinct from ᴺS. tag- “fix”.

G. tag- v. “to fix, make firm, *fasten, ⚠️construct”

A noun appearing as G. tag- “fix, make firm, construct” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/68) clearly based on the early root ᴱ√TAKA “fix, fasten” (QL/88).

Neo-Sindarin: I would retain ᴺS. tag- for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, but only in the senses “to fix, make firm, *fasten”. For “construct” I would use ᴺS. adaba- “build”.

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