12.3955 In Front
- Q. opo prep. “in front (of place), before; ⚠️after (of time)”
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A word appearing as opo, pō, pono, poto- “in front, of place” in notes from the mid-1950s (VT49/32) and as opo, pō “before, in front of” in notes from 1969 associated with the Ambidexters Sentence (VT49/32). In the latter notes, Tolkien said these were used to mean “after (of time)” in potai “therefore” from the first and third versions of the Ambidexters Sentence, but by the fourth and later versions this had become epetai (VT49/6-8). The root √OPO also appeared in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 with the glosses “before of place” (PE22/167 note #22) and “before, ahead, in front of place” (PE22/168).
Conceptual Development: As pointed out by Patrick Wynne (VT49/32), in Tolkien’s earliest writings ᴱQ. pote meant “after, behind (of place)” based on the early root ᴱ√POT-I (QL/72). At some point in the intervening decades (O)PO flipped from “behind” to “in front”. It thus had a form similar to epë, which likewise kept flipping between “before” and “after”.
Neo-Quenya: It is possible that opo was supplanted by epë, but I prefer to assume it was a variant used only for position in space but not time: “in front”. See also apa, another similar form that I assume is used only of time.
- Q. póna adv. “forward”
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The words pōna, ompa “forward” appeared in notes from 1969 associated with the Ambidexters Sentence based on pō or opo “in front” (VT49/12). As pointed out by Patrick Wynne these are probably allative forms, from *pō-na and *op-na respectively.
- N. nîf n. “front, face”
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A noun appearing as {nef >>} nîf “front, face” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶nībe under the root ᴹ√NIB of the same meaning (Ety/NIB).
Neo-Sindarin: In Tolkien’s later writings the root seems to have become √NEB “turn towards” as the basis for S. nef “hither” (PE17/27), but nîf might still be derived from primitive *nēbe since ancient ē became ī in Sindarin.