12.12 to Put, Place, Set, Lay
- Q. caita- v. “to lay (something down); [ᴱQ.] to place”
-
In Tolkien’s later writings, caita- was generally used as an intransitive, half-strong verb meaning “to lie (down)”, with a past tense caine (strong) or ceante (half-strong). In Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, Tolkien provided an alternate conjugation of caita- as a weak verb with past tense caitane (PE22/159), clearly derived from the same root √KAY. This strong conjugation is probably a transitive form of the verb meaning “*to lay (something down)”.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. kaita- as a verb meaning “place” under the early root ᴱ√KAYA (QL/46). This early verb hints at another possible meaning for transitive caita-: “to place”. In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, kaita had an intransitive meaning “lie down”, with strong past kaine (PE14/58).
- Q. pan- v. “*to arrange, set in order”
-
A verb implied by its use as an element of napan- “to add” (PE17/146) as well as an untranslated past tense form panne (PE22/152). It probably has the same meaning as its root √PAN: “arrange, set in order” (PE17/108).
- ᴱQ. panna n. “arrangement, grouping; ⚠️book”
-
A noun appearing as ᴱQ. panna in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s and the equivalent of G. pant “arrangement, grouping; book” (GL/63). It is clearly based on the early root ᴱ√PANA “arrange” (QL/72).
Neo-Quenya: Since √PAN still means “arrange” in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. panna “arrangement, grouping” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, but for “book” I would use the later word parma.
- ᴹQ. panya- adj. “to fix, set; [ᴱQ.] to plan, arrange, ⚠️intend, mean”
-
A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “fix, set” under from the root ᴹ√PAN “place, set, fix in place” (Ety/PAN).
Conceptual Development: The verb ᴱQ. panya- “plan, arrange, intend, mean” in Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s was based on the similar the early root ᴱ√PANA “arrange” (QL/72).
Neo-Quenya: Since √PAN also meant “arrange” in Tolkien’s later writings, I would use panya- for both “fix, set” and “plan, arrange”, but for “intend, mean” I would instead use ᴺQ. selya-.
- G. panta- v. “to arrange, order, settle; to set, put, place; *to compose”
-
A verb appearing as G. panta- “set, put, place, arrange, settle” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, derived from the early root ᴱ√PANA (GL/63). Elsewhere on the same page Tolkien gave it the glosses “1) order, arrange, 2) write a book”.
Neo-Sindarin: Since the root √PAN still means “arrange” in Tolkien’s later writings, I would adapt this verb as ᴺS. panna- with the normal Sindarin sound change of nt to nn. I would assume its original meaning was “to arrange, order, settle”, by extension “to set, put, place”. I further assume panna- primarily means “put, place” when used of a single item: pannannen vaeas v’i mothol “I put dough in the oven”. It can mean either “arrange” or “put” for a group of items, depending on context: pannathon berf v’i bartham “I will arrange/put books in the library”, depending on whether or not the books are already in the library.
Based on the 1910s sense “write a book”, I would assume that this verb can also be used for arranging information into a narrative, poem, or song (“compose”), such as pannon narn oh Edhil “I arrange/compose a tale about Elves”. However, see partha- “arrange, compose” for a more precise word with this sense. When used to mean “put, place”, I assume panna- has the extra connotation of placing something in a deliberate and organized way rather than haphazardly. Saying panno i goll gîn v’i tham han “put your cloak in that room” would imply putting it in a proper place like on a hook rather than tossing it on the floor or bed.
In earlier versions of this lexicon, I recommended using a basic verb pan- for “arrange; put” based directly on the root √PAN, but that would often conflict with pen- “lack” in the present tense due to i-mutation; compare penim vast “we lack bread” vs. **penim vast “we put bread”. Unfortunately, panna- “arrange; put” does conflict with [N.] panna- “open” based on the root ᴹ√PAT, but I think the sense “open” can be disambiguated by judicious use of ed “out”; see the entry for N. panna- for discussion.
Hat-tip to Gilruin for suggestions and feedback for this entry.
- ON. partha- v. “to arrange, compose”
-
A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s attested only in its (Old Noldorin) infinitive form ON. parthóbi “arrange, compose”, derived from the root ᴹ√PAR of similar meaning (Ety/PAR).
Neo-Sindarin: I would adapt this verb is ᴺS. partha- “to arrange, compose”, the obvious Sindarin equivalent of the Old Noldorin form.
- N. penia- v. “to fix, set”
-
A verb appearing in its (Noldorin) infinitive form penio “fix, set” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under from the root ᴹ√PAN “place, set, fix in place” (Ety/PAN).