10.46 to Run
- ᴱQ. lopo- v. “to run (of animals), gallop, *lope”
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The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had a verb ᴱQ. lopo- “gallop, run (of animals)” under the early root ᴱ√LOPO, contrasted with ᴱQ. loqo- “run (of human beings)” (QL/56).
Neo-Sindarin: Derivatives of √LOP continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings, such as N. lobor “horse” and lopoldë “rabbit”. I would therefore retain ᴺQ. lop- to describe the four-legged run of these and similar animals, meaning “gallop” or “*lope”.
- Q. nor- v. “to run (of animals or men); ⚠️to leap”
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A verb translated “run (or leap: of animals, men etc.)” in notes from around 1965, derived from the root √NOR (PE17/94, 168). It also appeared in its past form norne “ran” in Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/58).
Conceptual Development: A similar verb ᴱQ. nyor(o)- “run” appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/132, 134). In earlier writings the root had a slightly different meaning: ᴱ√NORO “run, go smoothly, ride, spin” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/67), and ᴹ√NOR “run as of wheels, roll along” in a rejected page of verbal roots in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 (PE22/127). The latter document had a distinct verb ᴹQ. rohta- based on the root ᴹ√ROK “run on foot”; in later writings from the 1950s and 60s this root was only used for “horse” words.
Earlier still, the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had several unrelated verbs for “run”: ᴱQ. loqo- “run (of human beings)” under the early root ᴱ√LOQO (QL/56), ᴱQ. pelte- “run” under the early root ᴱ√PELE² having to do with revolving things (QL/73), and ᴱQ. yurin [yuru-] “runs” under the early root ᴱ√ẎURU “run” (QL/106). The last of these reappeared as a (Noldorin-only?) root ᴹ√YUR “run” in The Etymologies of the 1930s.
By the 1950s and 60s, the only surviving root for running on legs seems to be √NOR, as described above.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d use Q. nor- only to mean “run (of animals and men)”. For “leap” I would use [ᴹQ.] cap-.
- Q. norië n. “running, ⚠️race”
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A noun translated “race, running”, functionally the gerund of the verb nor- “run”, so “running” is the more accurate gloss (PE17/169).
- Q. norima adj. “strong/swift at running, swiftly running a course”
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An adjective appearing as nórima within the sentence nése nórima rokko “he was a horse strong/swift at running” in notes from the late 1960s (VT49/29). In Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 it was nŏrima “running, swiftly a course” with a short ŏ (PE22/156). In these notes Tolkien indicated that the suffix -ima only had stems with a long vowel for adjectives of possibility (from transitive verbs), and when used with intransitive verbs the stem had a short vowel, and had “the sense possessing to a high degree (at all times & by nature) the property mention[ed]”. As such, I think norima is the best form for this adjective.
- Q. normë n. “race, ⚠️running”
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A noun translated “race, running”, apparently equivalent in meaning to norië the gerund of nor- “run” (PE17/169).
Neo-Quenya: Since “running” fits better for norië, I would use normë primarily for “race”.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. yuro “a run, race” under the early root ᴱ√ẎURU “run” (QL/106).
- ᴱQ. nornoro- n. “to run on, run smoothly and hum”
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A word in the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s appearing as ᴱQ. nornoro-, based on the early root ᴱ√NORO “run, go smoothly, ride, spin” (QL/67; PME/67). The verb had the glosses “run on, run smoothly and hum” and “run smooth” in QL and PME, respectively.
Neo-Quenya: Elaran suggested revising this verb into a more normal frequentative form ᴺQ. nonóra- “to run on, run smoothly and hum”, with an extended meaning “*keep on running (especially of machines)”.
- Q. noroitë (noroiti-) adj. “(capable of) running”
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An adjective in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 illustrating the use of the suffix -itë with intransitive verbs (PE22/155).
- G. lob- v. “to gallop, *lope, ⚠️[G.] run”
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The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had a verb G. lob “run, gallop (of animals)” with a past form lompi (GL/54), clearly the equivalent of ᴱQ. lopo- of the same meaning in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√LOPO (QL/56).
Neo-Sindarin: Derivatives of √LOP continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings, such as N. lobor “horse” and lopoldë “rabbit”. I would therefore retain ᴺS. lob- to describe the four-legged run of these and similar animals, meaning “gallop” or “lope”.
- G. lobrob n. “gallop; sound of horse’s feet”
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The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had a noun lobrob “a gallop — the sound of horse’s feet” as an elaboration of G. lob “run, gallop (of animals)” (GL/54). The meaning of the second element is unclear, but might simply be an onomatopoeic variation of the initial element.
Neo-Sindarin: Since I retain ᴺS. lob- “gallop, *lope” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would retain the noun ᴺS. lobrob as well.
- S. nor- v. “to run (of men and animals using legs); [G.] to roll [of vehicles]”
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A verb for “to run”, most famously used in the phrase noro lim, noro lim Asfaloth “run swift, run swift, Asfaloth” (LotR/213; PE17/18). In Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien indicated its full meaning was “run (of men and animals using legs: not of fluids etc.)” (PE17/18), while in notes from around 1965 Tolkien said it meant “run (or leap: of animals, men etc.)” and was derived from the root √NOR of the same meaning (PE17/168).
Conceptual Development: This verb dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, which had G. nor- “run, roll” (GL/61), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√NORO “run, go smoothly, ride, spin” as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Nornorë; QL/67). The root ᴹ√NOR reappeared in a rejected page of verbal roots in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948, where it was glossed “run as of wheels, roll along” (PE22/127). The verb N. nor- was also used in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s in the untranslated phrase nora-lim, nora-lim (RS/196).
Neo-Sindarin: It is possible that by the 1950s and 60s, S. nor- could only be used for “run (with legs)”. However, for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I prefer to assume it could still be used of vehicles moving on wheels, but only when those vehicle are moving at or near full speed. It is clear that it cannot be used for running water, however.