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Select Elvish Words 11.31-11.32: to Seek; to Find

11.31 to Seek

Q. ces- [þ] v. “to search, examine (in order to find something)”

A verb in notes from 1964 meaning “to search (for something), to examine (something) in order to find (something)”, based on the root √KEÞ “enquire of, question, or examine something” (PE17/156).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. saka- “pursue, look for, search” under the early root ᴱ√SAKA (QL/81).

ᴱQ. satl n. “search, enquiry”

A noun appearing as ᴱQ. satl “search, enquiry” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s based on the verb ᴱQ. saka- “search” (QL/81).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would update this noun to ᴺQ. cesië “search” based on the later verb ces-.

Q. sur- [þ] v. “*to seek”

A verb for “*seek” implied by the noun minasurië “enquiry”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter (VT42/29-30 note #39).

Q. surië [þ] n. “*(an act of) seeking”

A noun for “*(an act of) seeking” implied by minasurië “enquiry”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter (VT42/29-30 note #39).

11.32 to Find

Q. ecces- v. “to find out, bring out by examining or eyeing”

A verb in notes from 1964 meaning “to find out, bring out by examining, or eyeing” (PE17/156), clearly a combination of et- “out” and ces- “seek” where [tk] became [kk].

Q. hir- v. “to find”

The most common Quenya verb for “find”, most notably appearing in the Namárië poem (LotR/378), based on the root √KHIR of the same basic meaning (PE17/75).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mainly use hir- in the sense “find something previously lost”, as opposed to tuv- = “find something new = discover”.

Q. tuv- v. “to find, discover”

A verb for “find”, most notably appearing in the phrase utuvienyes “I have found it” when Aragorn found the White Tree of Gondor (LotR/971). It also has the sense “discover”, as in túvima “discoverable” (PE22/155).

Conceptual Development: In the sense “find”, ᴹQ. tuv- first appeared in Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 (PE22/101, 107), though it was (briefly) replaced by ᴹQ. kim- (PE22/108 note #50, PE22/125). In Tolkien’s earlier writings, ᴱQ. tuvu- meant “receive, take”, dating back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/96) and appearing as ᴹQ. tuvo “take” in the late 1940s as well (PE23/92). Conversely, the Early Quenya verb for “find” was ᴱQ. tuku-, appearing with the glosses “go in search of, look for, fetch” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TUKU (QL/95) and appearing in a few other places as well (PE15/32; VT40/8).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mainly use tuv- in the sense “find something new = discover”, as opposed to hir- = “find something previously lost”.

Q. túvima v. “discoverable”

An adjective form of the verb tuv-, combined with the suffix -ima “-able” (PE22/155).

N. rada- v. “to make a way, find a way”

A verb appearing in its [Noldorin] infinitive form rado “to make a way, find a way” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√RAT “walk” (Ety/RAT).

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