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Select Elvish Words 11.25: to Save, Rescue

11.25 to Save, Rescue

Q. etelehta- v. “*to deliver, (lit.) free from”

The various drafts of Átaremma prayers from the 1950s used two different words for “deliver”: et(e)rúna- in versions I-IV and etelehta- in versions V-IV. Both start with et “out”. For et(e)rúna- the second element was rūna “free” as indicated in notes associated with version IIb (VT43/23). For etelehta- the second element was [ᴹQ.] lehta-, which in The Etymologies was glossed “loose, slacken” (Ety/LEK), but later was translated as adjective lehta “free, released” (VT39/17) as pointed Wynne, Smith and Hostetter (VT43/23). Both verbs seem to be inspired by the etymology of English “deliver” < “de liberare” = “[Latin.] free from”.

The verb eterúna “deliver” also appeared in Ortírielyanna prayer from this same period.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would let both etelehta- and eterúna- coexist for “deliver” = “free from”, but not “deliver” as in “deliver a package”.

Q. rehta- v. “to rescue, save”

An apparent verb for “rescue, save” attested only as the gerund(?) rehtië “rescue, saving”, all based on the root √REK “recover, get out/away, save from ruin/peril/loss” (PE17/38).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. resta- “aid, come to aid of, rescue, save” under the early root ᴱ√RESE “aid, support” [REÞE] (QL/79).

Q. rehtië n. “rescue, saving”

A noun for “rescue, saving” based on primitive ✶rekti(e) from the root √REK “recover, get out/away, save from ruin/peril/loss” (PE17/38). It might be a gerund of a verb rehta- “rescue, save”. It was first given as a more ordinary noun rehte < ✶rekte.

Q. runando n. “*redeemer”

A noun for “redeemer” appearing in Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto within the longer name Mardorunando “Redeemer of the World” (VT44/12). It is clearly based on the verb rúna- “to free” as suggested by Wynne, Smith and Hostetter (VT44/17).

ᴹQ. sáro n. “saviour”

A word for “saviour” as an element in the name Nanisáro “Saviour of the Dani”, derived from primitive ᴹ✶thārō (LR/188).

S. edraith n. “rescue, saving”

A noun meaning “rescue, saving”, most notably appearing in the phrase naur an edraith ammen “fire [be] for saving of us” (LotR/290; PE17/38; TI/169). It is a combination of primitive ✶et “out” with ✶rekti(e) “saving” from the root √REK “recover, get out/away, save from ruin/peril/loss” (PE17/38).

G. gretha- v. “to save, rescue, preserve”

A verb appearing as gretha- “save, rescue, preserve” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/42), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√RESE [REÞE] (QL/79; GL/65). Elsewhere in the Gnomish Lexicon Tolkien had reth- “save, rescue, preserve”, but this variant was deleted (GL/65).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would updates these verbs to Fiona Jallings’s neologism ᴺS. reitha- “to rescue, save (from ruin, peril, loss)”, inspired by Q. rehta- of the same basic meaning.

G. grethron n. “saviour”

A noun appearing as grethron “saviour” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s based on G. gretha- “save, rescue, preserve” (GL/42).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would update this noun to ᴺS. reithron “rescuer, saviour” based on Fiona Jallings’s neologism ᴺS. reitha- “to rescue, save (from ruin, peril, loss)”.

S. natha- v. “to bring help to, save, rescue”

A verb for “bring help to, save, rescue” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, probably related to the root ATHA via an aphetic [dropping the first vowel] derivation from *an-atha- according to Tolkien (PE22/166).

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