11.22 to Return, Give Back
- Q. entul- v. “to come again, return”
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A verb for “come again” appearing in its future form entuluva in the sentence aurë entuluva “day shall come again” from The Silmarillion (S/195). It is a combination of en- “re-, again” and tul- “come”. It was also translated “return” as an element in the ship name Entulessë (UT/171) and in drafts of the Löa Yucainen poem in the phrase loar! loar aluvalle koiveanyo entule naina “years years never again in my life will you return upstream” (CPT/1296).
Conceptual Development: The earliest Lost Tales had a phrase ᴱQ. i·kal’antúlien “Light hath returned” (LT1/184), and this verb ᴱQ. antulu- seems to be the earliest precursor to entul-. Notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s had ᴹQ. at-tul- “come back, return” (PE22/047), using a different prefix at(a)- for “back, again, re-” (Ety/AT(AT)). In Tolkien’s later writings, at(a)- specifically meant “a second time“ or “double” (PE17/166), and the prefix en- “re-” was introduced as a prefix for general repetition; see that entry for discussion. The final version of the Löa Yucainen poem instead had nantul- for “return” [= “come back”].
- Q. entulessë n. “return”
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A noun for “return” attested as the name of a ship: Entulessë (UT/171). It seems to be an abstract noun based on the verb entul- “return, come again”.
- Q. nantul- v. “to return, *come back”
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A verb for “return” [= “come back”] in the final version of the Löa Yucainen poem in the phrase i aluvar koivienyo eärello nantule “that never in my life will return from the Sea” (CPT/1298). It is a combination of nan- “back” and tul- “come”, so more literally “to come back”. I think this verb can coexist with entul- “return = come again”; see that entry for discussion.
- Q. nanwen- v. “to return, go/come back”
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A verb for “return, go/come back” in notes from around 1959, a combination of √NDAN “back” with √MEN “go” (PE17/166), where ancient nm became nw.
Conceptual Development: Quendian & Common Eldarin Verbal Structure (EVS1) from the 1940s had a similar (probably archaic) past tense form ᴹQ. ndanne “went back” based directly on √NDAN “back”, as part of the phrase á e·ndanne anda né “oh! he went back long ago” (PE22/96).
Neo-Quenya: In a 2024-09-16 conversation on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested that nan- might mean “retreat, give way, revert, ebb” based on later verbal glosses of its roots √NDAN “retreat, go back, give way (as one advances), revert” (VT48/32). If so, these two verbs could coexist with nanwen- meaning “go back = return to somewhere you’ve been before”, as opposed to nan- = “go back = go backwards, not necessarily to a prior position”. I would also assume nanwen- “return = go back” differs from nantul- “return = come back” in that nantul- implies return to the position of the speaker, whereas nanwen- could be return to some other place where the speaker is not.
- Q. ral- v. “*to return (to somewhere)”
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An untranslated verb appearing in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) as a derivative of √RAD, an example of how medial d dissimilated to l after a preceding r (PE19/99). In a Discord conversation from 2018-07-08, Elaran suggested it might mean “*return” based on the translation of its root ᴹ√RAD “back, return” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/RAD). It was further suggested that ral- might be only intransitive “return (to somewhere)”, as opposed to transitive [ᴺQ.] ralya- “return (something)”.
- S. dadwen- v. “to return, go back”
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A Sindarin verb for “return, go back” as a combination of √(N)DAN “back” and √MEN “go”, contrasted with dandol- “return, come back” appearing in notes from around 1959 (PE17/166). Tolkien first gave this verb as {namen >>} damen reflecting vacillation on the primitive prefix *nan- > *ndan-. Later in the same notes he gave a form dadwen, reflecting either vacillation of the development of ancient nm in Sindarin (to either dw or mm), or vacillation on the suffix itself ((n)dad- vs. (n)dan-).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use ᴺS. dammen- for this word as the most phonologically plausible. Tolkien represented intervocalic m as both mm and m in Sindarin (e.g. lammad vs. minlamad), so damen- is possible as well. Either way, the pronunciation would be [damen] with short [m].
- S. dandol- v. “to return, come back”
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A Sindarin verb for “return, come back”, a combination of dan “back” and tol- “come”, appearing in notes from around 1959 (PE17/166).