13.12 Number
- ᴹQ. hosta n. “large number”
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A noun for a “large number” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KHOTH “gather” (Ety/KHOTH).
- Q. lanotoitë adj. “*innumerate, without knowledge of mathematics, (lit.) incapable of counting; ⚠️innumerable”
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A word appearing as {alánŏtoite >>} lanŏtoite “innumerable” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) written in 1969 as a combination of la- and an adjectival form of not- “count”.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume notoite means “capable of counting”, so that lanotoite would mean “innumerate, without knowledge of mathematics, (lit.) incapable of counting”. For “innumerable” I would use únótima.
- ᴹQ. nóte n. “number”
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A word for “number” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√NOT “count, reckon” (Ety/NOT).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. tanta “number” under the early root ᴱ√TAÞA “count” (QL/90).
- Q. notessë n. “numeral”
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A word for “numeral” appearing only in its plural form Notessi or nótessi in various essays on numbers from the late 1960s (VT47/3-4). Patrick Wynne suggested it is a combination of [ᴹQ.] nóte “number” and essë “name” (VT48/14 note #3).
- Q. nótima adj. “countable, limited in number (weight and measure); (colloquial) moderate in amount, some, few, several”
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A word for “countable”, a combination of Q. not- “count” and -ima “-able” (PE17/62, 68). In Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, Tolkien said that nótima also had the sense “limited in number (weight or measure)”, and thus colloquially was used to mean “moderate (in amount), some few, several” as in tas cennen nótimë eldali “I saw a few elves there” (PE22/155). See also [ᴹQ.] sempa for another word meaning “few”.
Conceptual Development: Early Qenya of the 1910s had a word ᴱQ. tasinwa “numbered” as an element in the name ᴱQ. Nieriltasinwa “Unnumbered Tears” (LT2/84).
- N. gwanod n. “number, *count, reckoning, tally, ⚠️tale”
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A word appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “tale, number”, a combination of ᴹ√WO “together” and ᴹ√NOT “count, reckon” and a noun form of the verb N. gonod- “count up, reckon, sum up” (Ety/NOT). The stress of its primitive form must have been on the first syllable wŏ́nod-, since primitive stressed [wŏ] became [wa].
Conceptual Development: Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. noth or nath “number” from early primitive ᴱ✶notta (PE13/150-151). The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had {tant or tast “a number” >>} G. tathn {“token, sign, beacon” >>} “number” (GL/69), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√TAÞA “count” (QL/90).
Neo-Sindarin: Based on the related verb gonod-, I think gwanod is “number” in the sense “*count, reckoning, tally” as the total of a number of things. I would not, however, use gwanod for “tale” = “story” as there are other words for this sense such as narn or [N.] pent. Since I use gwanod “number” = “*count”, this means there is room for another word for “number” = “*numeral” for the actual numbers themselves. Elaran originally proposed using noth for “number”, and in an private Discord conversation we agreed to have noth be “number” in the sense “*numeral”.