9.98 to Try
- Q. nev- v. “to try, *seek opportunity, experiment”
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A verb for “to try” based on the root √NDEB in notes from the 1960s (PE17/167). As suggested by Christopher Gilson, this appears to be a draft of Tolkien’s attempt to define the phrase “try harder” in Quenya. Of the root √NDEB, Tolkien said it “too obviously = endeavor”, and he wrote another root √RIK below it, with Quenya verb forms rike or rihta. It seems Tolkien here changed √NDEB >> √RIK, but in later notes from 1969 Tolkien had the root √NDAB “endeavor, try, seek opportunity” with a Quenya verb form nauva “will try” (PE22/151), indicating that the concept of √NDEB was not entirely abandoned.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would mainly use ric- for “to try (put forth effort)”, but I think nev- is worth retaining with a different connotation: “to try, *seek opportunity, experiment”. In other words, you use ric- “try” when you are uncertain whether you are capable of performing the action, and nev- “try” when you know you are capable, but are uncertain what the result of the action will be. I prefer nev- over the 1969 form *nav- because it has a Sindarin cognate S. dev-.
- Q. ric- v. “to try, put forth effort, strive, endeavour”
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A verb for “to try” based on the root √RIK “put forth effort, strive, endeavour” in notes from around 1967 where Tolkien explored the Quenya equivalent of “try harder” = á rike amríkie (PE17/93-94). In those notes he said:
… this apparently simple phrase is in fact very idiomatic, and requires a context. Try retains many divergent meanings owing to its derivation from a word originally meaning “sift” > examine, judge, test, whence later in one branch > make tentative motions, trial efforts > attempt > endeavour, make efforts to a given end. Here the last: “put forth effort”, is usually the meaning (PE17/93).
The verb form rike appeared in what seems to be in a draft to these 1967 notes along with a variant rihta, both derivatives of √RIK “strive” (PE17/167).
Neo-Quenya: Based on the above, I would use ric- “try” mainly in the sense “strive, put for effort”. For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use nev- for the sense “try” = “*seek opportunity, experiment”, a verb that appeared in the draft notes mentioned above (PE17/167); see that entry for discussion. More precisely, I would use ric- “try” when uncertain of whether I was capable of performing the action and it needed concerted effort, where I would use nev- “try” when I believed I was capable, but was uncertain what the result of the action will be.
- ᴱQ. tyas- [þ] v. “to test, try [out], pick, choose”
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A verb appearing as ᴱQ. tyasa- “test, try, pick, choose” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TYASA of similar meaning (QL/49).
Neo-Quenya: I think it is worth retaining ᴺQ. tyas- for purposes of Neo-Quenya based on a Neo-Root ᴺ√TYATH, so archaically pronounced tyaþ- (still reflected in tengwar spelling). I think tyas- means “test or try” something out to see if you like it, hence also “pick or choose” among options to see if something is good.
- ᴱQ. tyasta- v. “to (put to the) test, *verify”
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A verb appearing as ᴱQ. tyasta- “put to the test” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√TYASA “taste, try, choose, test, select”, and with a past form tyasante (QL/49).
Neo-Quenya: I think it is worth retaining ᴺQ. tyasta- for purposes of Neo-Quenya as a causative form of the verb ᴺQ. tyas- “test, try [out]”, so originally meaning “*cause to test”. I further assume it has drifted in meaning, evolving into the sense “put to the test, *verify”, as opposed to ᴺQ. tyas- which I take to mean “test/try/pick something to see if it meets your preferences”. As a causative verb, I would assume tyasta- has a weak past form tyastane for better compatibility with later Quenya past formation.
- S. dev- v. “to try, *seek opportunity, experiment”
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A verb for “to try” based on the root √NDEB in notes from the 1960s (PE17/167). As suggested by Christopher Gilson, this appears to be a draft of Tolkien’s attempt to define the phrase “try harder” in Quenya. Of the root √NDEB, Tolkien said it “too obviously = endeavor”, and he wrote another root √RIK below it, with a Sindarin verb form ritha- or raitha. It seems Tolkien here changed √NDEB >> √RIK, but in later notes from 1969 Tolkien had the root √NDAB “endeavor, try, seek opportunity” (PE22/151), indicating that the concept of √NDEB was not entirely abandoned.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would mainly use ritha- for “to try (put forth effort)”, but I think dev- is worth retaining with a different connotation: “to try, *seek opportunity, experiment”. In other words, you use ritha- “try” when you are uncertain whether you are capable of performing the action, and dev- “try” when you know you are capable, but are uncertain what the result of the action will be.
- S. ritha- v. “to try, strive”
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A verb for “to strive, *try” based on the root √RIK in notes from the 1960s (PE17/167). As suggested by Christopher Gilson, this appears to be a draft of Tolkien’s attempt to define the phrase “try harder” in Quenya (ultimately á ricë amrícië). This Sindarin verb has a number of difficult-to-interpret forms. The base verb was given as {reitha >>} raitha, cognate to Q. rihta and thus probably derived from ✶riktā-. However the expected result of primitive ✶riktā- would be S. rítha- or ritha- because of how spirants vocalized and became vowels, so that [ikt] > [ixθ] > [īθ] > [iθ]; compare [N.] critha- “reap” < ᴹ✶k’rikta- (Ety/KIRIK).
Indeed, Tolkien gave several inflicted forms of this verb, all showing ritha-: rithant, rithas, rithessin, rithanen, apparently various transitive and intransitive past forms. Perhaps the uninflected verb form {reitha >>} raitha indicates some kind of a-affection occurring only in the uninflected verb form: [-ikta] > [-ixθa] > [-exθa] > [-eiθa], but if so the expected result would be the deleted {reitha} and not raitha, since [ei] > [ai] only in final syllables in Sindarin.
Neo-Sindarin: Given the rather tenuous nature of this verb, various Neo-Sindarin alternatives have been proposed, including ᴺS. rítha- by Elaran and ᴺS. rig- by myself [Paul Strack] as a direct cognate of Q. ric- “try”. However, I have gradually become more comfortable using S. ritha- as given by Tolkien, since I retain the use of some similarly derived Noldorin verbs such as [N.] critha- “reap” and ᴺS. ritha- “jerk, twitch, snatch” [from N. rhitha-].