Select Elvish Words 10.21 to Rise

10.21: to Rise

ᴹQ. ef- v. “to emerge (especially from water)”

A verb appearing in its present tense form épha in a rejected page of verbal roots from the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) written in 1948 (PE22/127). It was based on the root ᴹ√EPH “emerge (especially from water, opp[osite] of dive)”, so presumably had the same meaning. It had past forms empe, emphe based on nasal-infixion.

Conceptual Development: Immediately above this entry, Tolkien had a past form kusse {“emerge” >>} “came up, emerged” based on a root {ᴹ√KUSU >>} ᴹ√KHUSU “up from below ground, to ground level; come up, emerge”, but this root and its derivatives were deleted (PE22/127).

Neo-Quenya: As we have no better alternatives, I would retain ᴺQ. ef- “to emerge (especially from water)” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, but I would give it the past form *eppe in keeping with the discussion of the past forms of basis verbs from elsewhere in QVS (PE22/102); compare rappe past tense of raf-.

ᴹQ. óre n. “rising, *rise; ⚠️[ᴱQ.] dawn, Sunrise, East”

A noun for “[a] rising” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√ORO “up; rise; high”, an element in ᴹQ. anaróre “sunrise” (Ety/ORO).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. ōre “the dawn, Sun-rise, East” under a different early root ᴱ√OŘO [OÐO] that was “distinct but much confused with” ᴱ√ORO¹ having to do with rising things (QL/70).

Q. ormo n. “riser”

A word for “riser” = “*one who rises” appearing only an element in the name Tyelcormo “Hasty-riser” (PM/353). It seems to be an agental form of the root √OR “rise”.

ᴱQ. orosta n. “ascension”

A noun appearing as ᴱQ. orosta “ascension” in the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s, based on the early root ᴱ√ORO¹ (QL/70). The Qenya Lexicon also had an unaugmented variant rosta under the root ᴱ√RŌ (QL/80). Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s instead had ᴱQ. orosta as equivalent to ᴱN. oroth “impetus, speed, haste, rash courage”, derived from primitive ᴱ✶orotse (PE13/151); see ᴹQ. orme for discussion.

Neo-Quenya: Since √RŌ/ORO “rise” survives in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. orosta “ascension” for purposes of Neo-Quenya.

⚠️Q. orta- v. “to rise”

Tolkien defined an intransitive verb orta- “to rise” based on the root √OR “rise”, first mentioned in The Etymologies of the 1930s where Tolkien had ᴹQ. orta- glossed both transitive “raise” and intransitive “rise” (Ety/ORO). This intransitive verb reappeared in Quenya Verbal System of 1948 as ta-formative ort(a), contrasted with ta-causative ᴹQ. ortā́ “raise, lift” = “*make rise” (PE22/114). In this paradigm, intransitive “rise” was distinguished from transitive “raise” mainly in its half-strong past tense oronte “rose” (or archaic †ronte), as opposed weak past ortane “raised, lifted” (PE22/115).

In QVS, Tolkien gave another intransitive verb ᴹQ. orya-, and said “to avoid the confusion with the causatives -ya was preferred for intransitives: so oryane, rose, ortane, raised” (PE22/115). This seems to indicate orya- “rise” was preferred. Despite this, intransitive orta- “rise” continued to appear in Tolkien later writings (PE17/52, 64; PE21/77; PE22/164) as an alternate to orya- “rise”, which appeared regularly as well (see that entry for details).

Conceptual Development: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer the more distinctive verb orya- for “rise”, and I use orta- only for transitive “raise”. However, some Neo-Quenya writers like the idea of a transitive/intransitive verb distinguished by different past forms. For example Helge Fauskanger used orta- for both “rise” and “raise” in his Neo-Quenya New Testament (NQNT).

Q. orya- v. “to rise”

An intransitive verb for “to rise” mentioned in various places in Tolkien’s later writings of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, based on the root √OR “rise” (PE17/64; PE22/114, 156). Tolkien usually described it as a ya-formative verb with a half-strong past oronye (PE17/64, 77; PE22/164), though Tolkien occasionally gave it a weak past oryane (PE22/115, 157).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. oro- “rise” based on the early root ᴱ√ORO¹ (QL/70). In a rejected page of verbs and roots from the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) written in 1948, Tolkien had [verb?] ᴹQ. oro, orro “up, rise (from ground)” derived from the root ᴹ√SRŌ (PE22/127), but in the main document he used ya-formative ᴹQ. orya- for “rise” (PE22/114-115), possibly the first appearance of this version of the verb. Tolkien sometimes gave the intransitive Quenya verb for “to rise” as ta-formative orta- with half-strong past oronte; see that entry for discussion.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer orya- “rise” with half-strong past oronye, because Tolkien said “-ya was preferred for intransitives” (PE22/115).

Q. oryandë v. “arising”

A noun based on orya- “rise” mentioned in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure of the early 1950s (EVS2) as an example of the use of the suffix ✶-ndĭ (PE22/137).

Q. retto v. “*climber”

An apparently Quenya word in 1957 Notes on Names (NN), based on the root √RET and equivalent to S. reth, the latter an element in the name S. Orodreth “Mountaineer” (PE17/182). It is thus likely that Q. retto and S. reth means something like “*climber”, though it is possible that retto is actually a primitive form.

⚠️ᴱN. amra- v. “*to rise; [G.] to go up and down; live in the mountains; roam, wander”

A verb in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as G. amra- “go up and down; live in the mountains; roam, wander”, probably a verb form of G. am¹ “up(wards)” (GL/19). A similar verb appeared in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s as ᴱN. amró that Tolkien described as an “old irregular verb”, of which the modern form was ᴱN. rhosta- or amrosta- (PE13/159). These 1920s verbs appeared under the entry for ᴱN. amrost “rising” functioning as the infinitive form of these verbs, so these 1920s verbs probably meant “*to rise”. See the entry for N. eria- for later verbs meaning “rise”.

S. brasta- v. “to tower up, loom”

A verb glossed “tower up, loom” in notes from the late 1960s (PMB) based on the root √BARAS which in that document was one of various roots used to “express great height combined with strength, size, majesty” (PE17/22-23). The other derivatives of this root were words for cliffs and precipices.

N. eria- v. “to rise”

A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “rise”, appearing as {oria >>} erio [Noldorin-style infinitive forms], derived from ON. {orta- >>} ortie or orie “rise” [Old Noldorin infinitives] under the root ᴹ√ORO “up, rise, high” (Ety/ORO; EtyAC/ORO). The change of e to i from ON. oria- to N. eria- was due to i-affection. This verb had an archaic [ON?] past †oronte “arose” [likely based on ON. orta-], and modern past form of {orias >>} erias, though this modern past was hard to make out in the source document. The suffix -as is the generalized intransitive past tense suffix for Noldorin/Sindarin derived verbs, as opposed to transitive past -ant.

Conceptual Development: There are some words in Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s of similar derivation, incuding ᴱN. rhó “to arise” from primitive ᴱ✶roso- (PE13/152) and rhosta- or amrosta- from primitive ᴱ✶-rosi-, unglossed but appearing under ᴱN. amrost “rising” which served as a gerund for these verbs (PE13/159). See the entry for ᴱN./G. amra- for other early verbs meaning “rise, go up”, based instead on ᴱ√AM(U) “up”.

S. reth v. “*climber”

A word/suffix in 1957 Notes on Names (NN), based on the root √RET and an element in the name S. Orodreth “Mountaineer” (PE17/182). It is thus likely means something like “*climber”.