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Select Elvish Words: 12.31 High

12.31 High

Q. orro adv. “up in the air, on high”

An adverb appearing on a rejected page of roots from the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 glossed “up in the air, on high”, derived from the root ᴹ√SRŌ (PE22/127).

Neo-Quenya: Since RŌ/ORO “up” appears regularly in Tolkien’s writings, I’d retain orro “up high” [= at a great height] for purposes of Neo-Quenya, to contrast with tára “high, lofty, tall” [= of a great height].

Q. orwa adj. “high, lofty”

An adjective appearing as orwa or orna “high, lofty” in notes from the mid-1960s (PE17/186), clearly based on √ORO “rise”. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s has ᴱQ. orwa or orda “lofty” under the early root ᴱ√ORO (QL/70). See also tára “lofty, tall, high”.

Q. tar- affix. “high; [ᴹQ.] king or queen (in compounds)”

A prefix (and sometimes suffix) meaning “high” as in Tarcil “High Man” or Tarmenel “High Heaven”. It is often used in reference to royalty and nobility, as in Tarumbar “King of the World” or Sorontar “Lord of Eagles”, as well as the names of Númenorean kings and queens. It is related to the adjective tára “high” based on the root √TĀ/TAƷ of similar meaning (Ety/TĀ).

Q. tára adj. “lofty, tall, high”

A word for “lofty, tall, high” appearing regularly in Tolkien’s writings throughout his life, usually derived from √TĀ/TAƷ “high” (PE17/186; Ety/TĀ), but sometimes for √TAR “stand” (PE17/186; WJ/417). This word dates back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. tāra “lofty” appeared under the early root ᴱ√TAHA (QL/87).

In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s, Tolkien said this word was used “of objects that stand high or tall, not of those merely in lofty position” (PE15/74). For “up high” I would instead use adverb [ᴹQ.] orro and adjective orwa from √OR “up; rise”.

Q. tárië n. “height”

A word for “height” in the Praises of Cormallen: a laita tárienna “bless (or praise) [them] to the height” (LotR/953; Let/448; PE17/103). It is a noun form of the adjective Q. tára “high”.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. tárie “height” appeared in the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s along with adjective ᴱQ. tára “high” (PE15/73-74).

N. hall adj. “high, exalted”

A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “exalted, high” derived from primitive ᴹ✶khalnā “noble, exalted” based on the root ᴹ√KHAL² “uplift” (Ety/KHAL²). It was an element in more emphatic N. orchal (or orchel) “superior, lofty, eminent” (EtyAC/KHAL²).

Neo-Sindarin: Based on later more prosaic translations like S. orchal “tall” (WJ/305) and Q. halla “tall” (LotR/1123), I would assume hall can meaning “of high position” both physically and socially for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, not unlike English “high”.

S. taer adj. “lofty”

A Sindarin word for “lofty” mentioned as the equivalent of Q. tára “tall”, proof that the primitive form was ✶tagra < √TAƷ since aʒr > air and then aer in Sindarin, but aʒr > ār in Quenya (PE17/186).

Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had ON. tōra “lofty” as the equivalent of ᴹQ. tára “lofty, high” under the root ᴹ√TĀ/TAƷ (Ety/TĀ; EtyAC/TĀ), but due to differences in the primitive form in ᴹ✶tārā in the 1930s, this produced N. taur which blended with primitive ᴹ✶taurā < ᴹ√TUR to gain the senses “vast, mighty, overwhelming, awful; high, sublime” (Ety/TUR).

Earlier still, the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. dara “lofty” (GL/29) equivalent to ᴱQ. tára “lofty” (QL/87). In this period the root likely began with D, as in *ᴱ√DAHA, since in Early Qenya of the 1910s, primitive initial voiced stops were unvoiced [ᴱ✶d- > ᴱQ. t-].

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