Select Elvish Words 10.45: to Walk

10.45 to Walk

Q. pata- v. “to walk, *stroll; [ᴱQ.] to rap, tap (of feet)”

A verb appearing in notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings glossed “walk”, equivalent to S. pad- of similar meaning (PE17/34).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. pata- “to rap, tap (of feet)”, derived from the early root ᴱ√PATA¹ which mostly had to do with rattling and clattering, but it did have a derivative ᴱQ. patinka “shoe, slipper” having to do with feet (QL/72).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would interpret this verb to mean “continuously stepping”, so meaning “walk” when moving forward but also “rap, tap (of feet)” when standing still. For clarity the second meaning may include a reference to “feet”, as in i elda patane talya “the elf rapped/tapped his/her foot”. As for the sense “walk”, I would use pata- mainly in the sense of a casual walk = “*stroll”. For a longer, more serious walk I would use [ᴹQ.] vanta- “walk, *trudge, trek”.

Q. telconta- v. “to stride, *(lit.) to leg it”

A verb whose existence is implied by the name Telcontar “stride”, obviously an elaboration of telco “leg” so probably meaning “to stride = *to leg it”.

ᴹQ. vanta n. “walk, *hike, march”

A noun for “a walk” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√BAT “tread” (Ety/BAT).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I assume ᴹ√BAT is for a “heavy walk” as opposed for √PAT for a “light walk” or “step”, so I would use vanta for an extended or serious walk, and thus including “*hike” and “*march”.

ᴹQ. vanta- v. “to walk, *trudge, trek”

A verb for “to walk” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√BAT “tread” (Ety/BAT).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I assume ᴹ√BAT is for a “heavy walk” as opposed for √PAT for a “light walk” or “step”, so I would use vanta for an extended or serious walk, and thus including “*trudge” and “*trek”.

S. pad- v. “to step, ⚠️walk”

A verb in Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, with glosses “step” and “walk” (PE17/34). In one place pad- “step” was contrasted with longer padra- “walk” from the same root.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would primarily use pad- for “step” and padra- for “walk”.

S. padra- v. “to walk”

A verb for “walk” in Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, contrasted with pad- “step” (PE17/34).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s also had G. padra- “walk”, based on the early root ᴱ√pat- (GL/63).

N. trevad- v. “to traverse”

A verb for “traverse” in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing in its [Noldorin] infinitive form trevedi derived from ON. tre-batie under the root ᴹ√BAT “tread” (Ety/BAT). Its stem form would thus be *trebat-, a combination of N. tre- “through” and N. *bad- “tread”.