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Select Elvish Words 11.11-11.12 to Have; to Own

11.11 to Have

Q. harya- v. “to have, *hold, [ᴹQ.] possess”

A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “possess” under the root ᴹ√ƷAR “have, hold” (Ety/ƷAR). There was another variant arya- “to possess” under the entry for ᴹ√GAR, but this was deleted (EtyAC/GAR). The verb harya- reappeared in the Merin sentence merin sa haryalyë alassë nó vanyalyë Ambarello “I hope that you have happiness before you pass from the world”, probably from the 1950s.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mainly use harya- for “have” = “hold” as in currently have access to something, or physically have ahold of something. For more abstract senses of “have”, I would use sam-.

Q. sam- v. “to have”

A verb for “to have” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, derived from the root √SAM of the same meaning. It was the opposite of pen- “to lack, have not”.

S. sav- v. “to have”

A verb for “to have” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, derived from the root √SAM of the same meaning. It was the opposite of pen- “to lack, have not”.

11.12 to Own, Possess

ᴹQ. arwa adj. and suf. “possessing, having, in control of”

An adjective in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “in control of, possessing” said to be used with the genitive, appearing under the root ᴹ√GAR (Ety/GAR). Presumably its use would be something like atan arwa malto “a man possessing of gold (malta)”. It also functioned as a suffix, as in ᴹQ. aldarwa “having trees, tree-grown”, for example aldarwa ambo “a tree-grown hill, a hill having trees”. Drafts of this entry first translated it as a noun meaning “possessions, belongings, wealth”, revised to a suffix meaning “having, possessing, holding, controlling”, before reaching its final iteration (EtyAC/GAR). Notes on the Feanorian Alphabet also mentioned this adjective as a name for the sign or (r+w), translated “having, possessing” in the 1930s (PE22/23) and “possessing” in the 1940s (PE22/52).

Q. auvië n. “possession (abstract), *the act of possessing”

An abstract noun glossed “possession” derived from √AW in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/151). It was contrasted with aura “a possession or thing owned”, so presumably auvie meant something like “possession = the act or state of possessing”.

Q. öa- v. “to possess, own, keep”

A verb Tolkien coined in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) written in 1969 (PE22/155-156) to have the meaning “possess, own, keep (have in hand, use or with one)” (PE22/151). It was derived from the root √AW, apparently not in its usual sense “away”. Tolkien considered two base forms: auta- with pasts au̯ante, oante, vante, or oa- with past aune, future auva, and alternate present āva. Since auta- clashes with better known auta- “depart”, I recommended using oa- “possess, own, keep” for purposes of Neo-Quenya.

G. guin adj. “own, held, possessed”

An adjective appearing as G. guin “own, held, possessed” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, above another entry G. guig “a piece of property”, with a brace indicating the two entries had been combined (GL/43). It was likely based on gui the past form of G. gôtha- “possess, have, hold” (GL/42).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would update this adjective to ᴺS. garnen “own, held, possessed” as the passive participle of N. gar- “hold, have” from The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√GAR (Ety/GAR). Compare N. garn “property” from the same root.

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