11.15 to Hold
- ᴱQ. vaine n. “sheath, pod”
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A noun appearing as ᴱQ. vaine “sheath, pod” the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√VAẎA “enfold, wind about” (QL/100). It was followed by -o, probably indicating a variant form [vain]o; compare ᴱQ. vainole “quiver”.
Neo-Quenya: I would retain ᴺQ. vainë “sheath, pod” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, based on the later root ᴹ√WAY “enfold” (Ety/WAY).
- ᴱN. bail n. “sheath, [G.] case, cover; pod”
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A word appearing as G. bail “sheath, case, cover; pod” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, probably based on the early root ᴱ√Baʒ̔- (GL/21). Compare ᴱ√VAẎA “enfold, wind about” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (GL/21). It was originally translated as “a garment”, but it seems Tolkien transferred that sense to G. baith. ᴱN. bail “sheath” reappeared in Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/138).
Neo-Sindarin: The later version of ᴱ√VAẎA seems to be ᴹ√WAY “enfold” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/WAY), so I would adapt this word as ᴺS. gwael “sheath, case, cover; pod” < *wailē for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.
- N. gar- v. “to hold, have, *possess”
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A verb appearing as garo with 1st. sg. gerin “I hold, have” in The Etymologies from around 1937 under on the root ᴹ√GAR of similar meaning (Ety/ƷAR|GAR). The root ᴹ√GAR went through a number of revisions, and the verb’s glosses were altered from gar- “hold, possess” (Ety/GAR) >> garo “hold, keep” (EtyAC/GAR) >> garo “hold, have”.
Neo-Sindarin: I would use this as the main Sindarin verb for “to have” with additional senses “hold” and “possess”. For “to keep” I would instead use heb-.
Conceptual Development: Possible precursors from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s include G. {gaira- >>} guira- “possess” (GL/43), G. {gatha- >>} gôtha- “possess, have, hold” with variant gai (GL/42), and [rejected] fâ- “have, hold, possess” (GL/33). The unrejected verbs guira- and gôtha- were related, and the latter was derived from ᴱ✶ı̯otta {<< ᴱ✶ı̯atta} and had an irregular past form gui derived from ✶ı̯ōı̯ē {<< ᴱ✶ı̯āı̯ē}.
The verb gar also appeared in the 1936 phrase lheben teil brann i annon ar neledh neledhi gar godrebh “five foot high the door and three may walk abreast”, but its exact function is unclear; see that entry for details.
- G. rôn n. “embrace, ⚠️clasp”
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A noun appearing as G. rôn or rôs “embrace” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, related to the verb G. rôtha- “embrace” (GL/66). On another page rôn⁽¹⁾ “clasp, embrace” was marked archaic and tied to (likewise archaic) G. râ “arm” (GL/65). Perhaps this word became archaic due to clashes with G. rôn² “liver”.
Neo-Sindarin: I adapt the related Gnomish verb G. rôtha- as ᴺS. ranga- (see that entry for discuss), so I would revise its noun form to ᴺS. rangoth as a combination of that verb with the suffix -th.
- G. rôtha- v. “to embrace”
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A verb appearing as G. rôtha- “embrace” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s related to the noun G. rôn “embrace” (GL/66), which in turn was related to G. râ “arm” (GL/65).
Neo-Sindarin: The later word for “arm” was N. rhanc from The Etymologies of the 1930s, usually replaced by ᴺS. ranc for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, so I would revise the Gnomish verb to ᴺS. ranga- “to embrace” based on the later noun form.
11.16 to Get, Obtain
- Q. cav- v. “to receive, *accept, ⚠️require, cost”
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A verb attested only in its past form cambelyes “you received it”. In notes from around 1968, Tolkien (briefly?) considered replacing the root √KAB with √KAM as the basis for hand words such as S. cam, stating “kamba is from KAM not KAB” (VT47/20). On the reverse of this page, Tolkien had the past tense form camnelyes “you received it”, apparently based on a verb *cam- “to receive” derived from √KAM (VT47/21). Further down on the same page, Tolkien wrote cambelyes as an alternate form, possibly indicating the restoration of √KAB and a new verb form *cav-, as suggested by Patrick Wynne (VT47/21).
Conceptual Development: The earliest Qenya verb for “receive” was ᴱQ. tuvu- “receive, accept, take, require, cost”, but in Quenya Personal Pronouns (QPP1) from the late 1940s, ᴹQ. tuvo was only glossed “take”.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer to retain √KAB “hold, possess, have in hand”, and as such I would use Q. cav- for “receive”, although Helge Fauskanger used cam- in his Neo-Quenya New Testament (NQNT). I would also use cav- for “accept”. In a Discord conversation from 2023-12-25, Raccoon suggested using cav- for “require, cost” as well, but given the 2024 publication of ᴹQ. tuvo, I would use that verb for “take, *require, cost” instead; see that entry for discussion.
- ᴱQ. net- [ñ-] v. “to get, *obtain”
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A word appearing as ᴱQ. nete- “I get” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√ŊETE “catch, get” (QL/66).
Neo-Quenya: Since there is no better word for “get” in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. net- [ñ-] for purposes of Neo-Quenya based on a Neo-Root ᴺ√Ñ(G)ET. For example, Helge Fauskanger used this word in his Neo-Quenya New Testament (NQNT). In a post on 2024-10-06 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested this word might also mean “*obtain”.
- G. tû- v. “to get, receive, take; to become”
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A verb in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “receive; take; get; become” related to ᴱQ. tuvu- “receive” (GL/71), which in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon was glossed “receive, accept, take, require, cost” and was derived from the early root ᴱ√TUVU (QL/96). Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. tú but without translation or any other indication of the nature of the word (PE13/154).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would instead use ᴺS. ged- “get”, ᴺS. cav- “receive”, ᴺS. nab- “take”, and ᴺS. ola- “become”.
11.17 to Keep, Retain
- S. heb- v. “to keep”
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A verb for “to keep” appearing only in its negated form ú-chebin in the phrase ú-chebin estel anim “I have kept no hope for myself” from The Lord of the Rings Appendix A (LotR/1061). Its root √KHEP “retain, keep, do not give away or release, keep hold of” appeared in notes from around 1959-60 (PE17/157; VT41/6).