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Select Elvish Words 10.61-10.62: to Bear, Carry; to Bring

10.61 to Bear, Carry

Q. col- v. “to bear, *carry, wear”

A verb for “to bear” implied by the existence of the root √KOL “bear, carry, wear” (PE17/158; PE22/155), as well as verbal nouns like colindo “bearer” (LotR/953), cólima “bearable” (PE22/155) and coloitë “capable of bearing” (PE22/155).

Neo-Quenya: The use of col- for “bear = *carry” is well-attested, but it may also mean “*wear” based on the meaning of its root (PE17/158) as well as the adjective colla “borne, worn” (MR/385). For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume colin macil means “I bear/carry a sword”, but colin laupe means “I wear a shirt”.

Conceptual Development: Earlier words for “carry” include ᴱQ. tala- “carry, bring; weigh. (intr.)” the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TALA “support” (QL/88), and ᴱQ. yulu- “carry” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon based on the early root ᴱ√dyulu (GL/38).

Q. colindo n. “bearer”

A word for “bearer” appearing in its plural form colindor in the title Cormacolindor “Ring-bearers” (LotR/0953). It is simply an agental form of the verb col- “bear”.

Q. colla adj. “borne, worn; ⚠️vestment, cloak”

An adjective glossed “borne, worn, especially a vestment or cloak” (MR/385), clearly based on the root √KOL “bear, carry, wear” (PE17/158). In the index to Morgoth’s Ring Christopher Tolkien translated it as “vestment, cloak”, but I think he confused it with collo (MR/471).

Q. coloitë adj. “capable of bearing, tolerant (of), enduring”

A word whose base meaning is “capable of bearing”, a verbal adjective that is a combination of col- “bear” with the suffix -itë “capable of doing” (PE22/155). By extension, the adjective also means “tolerant (of), enduring” using a more metaphorical senses of “bear”.

Q. coloitië v. “endurance, staunchness, fortitude”

A noun form of coloitë “capable of bearing, tolerant (of), enduring” (PE22/155).

G. -iof suf. “-bearing”

A suffix in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as G. -iof “-bearing”, related to the verb G. gav- “produce, yield, bear fruit” and based on the early root ᴱ√ı̯aƀa [ẎAVA] (GL/38). It was used in words like G. codiof “nutbearing” (GL/26), so referred only the bearing of produce as opposed to burdens in general.

Neo-Sindarin: Since the root ᴹ√YAB “fruit” survived in Tolkien’s later writing, this Gnomish suffix may be salvages as ᴺS. -iof “-bearing”.

10.62 to Bring

ᴱQ. tulalka v. “able to bring”

An adjective appearing as ᴱQ. tulalka “able to bring” in a list of Qenya Verb Forms from the 1910s, based on the verb ᴱQ. tulu- “to bring, come” (PE14/30), illustrating the use of the 1910s-20s suffix ᴱQ. -alka “able to” (PE14/33).

Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writings, tul- means only “come”, so I would update this adjective to ᴺQ. tulyaitë “able to bring” as a combination of the later verb tulya- “fetch, *bring” and the later suffix -itë “capable of doing”.

Q. tulya- v. “*to lead; to fetch; [ᴱQ.] to bring, ⚠️send”

Tolkien used this verb with several similar meanings throughout his life. Its earliest appearance was in the Early Qenya Grammar where it was glossed “send, bring” (PE14/58), and in Early Qenya Word-lists from the same period it was glossed “bring” (PE16/133). In Quendian & Common Eldarin Verbal Structure (EVS1) from the 1940s, Tolkien had primitive ᴹ✶tulyā- “send hither” along with a statement that “causatives from verbs [verbal roots] more often used ” (PE22/98).

Primitive ✶tuljā- “fetch” reappeared as another example of a ya-causative in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure (EVS2) from the early 1950s, where it also had a more extensive translation “cause to come, send for, fetch, summon” (PE22/135). The verb appeared again in the phrase Q. álamë tulya úsahtiennalead us not into temptation” in Quenya prayers from the late 1950s, replacing a verb mittanya- presumably of similar meaning (VT43/22). The verb appeared a final time in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 as yet another example of a ya-causative verb (PE22/164); in this set of documents the related verbal noun tulyandë was glossed “fetching” (PE22/137).

The relationship between this verb and its root √TUL is somewhat tricky. In the 1910s, the early root ᴱ√TULU had a broad meaning, originally “uphold, support, bear, carry” and thus by extension “fetch, bring” and “move, come” (QL/95). This early meaning of the root may have influenced the 1920s glosses “send, bring” for tulya-. From the 1930s forward, however, √TUL was limited in sense to “come = move toward the speaker” (Ety/TUL; PE17/188). A causative form of this root therefore would mean “cause to come”. This could apply to ya-causative tulya-, as with primitive ✶tulyā- in EVS1 and EVS2 (see above). However, Tolkien often used ta-causative tulta- to mean “send (for), summon = cause to come” instead (Ety/TUL; PE22/114, 156).

Neo-Quenya: It is not clear whether Tolkien intended ya-causative tulya- and ta-causative tulta- to coexist. The only document in which they both appear is 1969 LVS (PE22/164). That package of documents includes many hypothetical examples, so it still is not clear whether both verbs were “real” in the context of in-universe Elvish. For purposes of Neo-Quenya, however, I assume the two verbs coexist with slightly different meanings: tulta- “fetch = cause to come > summon [someone]” and tulya- “fetch = cause to come with > bring [something]”.

This interpretation of tulya- as “bring, fetch” is largely consistent with its use in the 1920s through 1960s. In the Quenya prayer noted above, the translation “bring” also works: álamë tulya úsahtienna “*bring us not into temptation” as an alternative to “lead us not into temptation”. As such I think tulya- = “lead” only in the sense “bring someone someplace”, and not “lead” in the sense of “give guidance and leadership”.

Q. tulyandë v. “[process of] fetching”

A noun for “[the process of] fetching” appearing in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure (EVS2) from the early 1950s, a combination of the verb tulya- and the verbal noun suffix ✶-ndĭ or -ndē (PE22/137).

N. tog- v. “to bring”

A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “to bring” under the root ᴹ√TUK “draw, bring”, appearing in its (Noldorin-style) infinitive form tegi and its present tense form tôg (Ety/TUK). It was originally glossed as “to lead, bring”, but “lead” was crossed out (EtyAC/TUK).

N. toltha- v. “to fetch, *bring; [G.] to carry, ⚠️lift”

A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing in its (Noldorin-style) infinitive form toltho “fetch” under the root ᴹ√TUL “come, approach, move towards”, cognate to ᴹQ. tulta- “send for, fetch, summon” (Ety/TUL). Both N. toltha- and ᴹQ. tulta- appear to be a causative verbs, whose original meaning was “*to make come”.

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. tultha- “lift, carry” (GL/71), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√TULU whose original meaning was “uphold, support, bear, carry”, and only by extension “fetch, bring; move, come” (QL/95). Gnomish of the 1910s did not have the Noldorin/Sindarin sound change whereby short u usually became o, which is why Tolkien had G. tultha- rather than N. toltha-.

Neo-Sindarin: The base meaning of the root √TUL changed from 1910s “support, carry” to 1930s “come”. Despite this, I think toltha- might still be used in the sense “carry” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, since “fetch” and “carry” are not that different in meaning. I would propose a scenario in which ancient *tultā- meant “*to make come = summon”, evolving into “*to make bring = fetch” (that is, bring someone or something to someplace or someone), and from there broadening to “carry” in other cases, but with the specific connotation of “fetch = carry towards someone or someplace” = “*bring”. I envision a similar semantic development for Q. tulya-.

I would therefore assume toltha- lost its original sense “summon” (also absent in The Etymologies) in the Sindarin language branch; for this I would use [ᴺS.] nachav-.

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