9.28 to Tear
- ᴱQ. ripta- v. “to cut in strips, tear up; to stripe, mark in parallel lines; to flay, flog”
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A verb appearing as ᴱQ. ripta- with glosses “to cut in strips, tear up — stripe, mark in parallel lines — flay, flog” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√RIPI (QL/80).
Neo-Quenya: Since I retain the Neo-Root ᴺ√RIP with the sense “strip, stripe”, I would also retain ᴺQ. ripta- with all of its early meanings.
- N. heltha- v. “to strip, *flay, peel skin; *to despoil, make bare”
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A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “strip” derived from primitive ᴹ✶skelta- under the root ᴹ√SKEL (Ety/SKEL; EtyAC/SKEL). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road Christopher Tolkien gave the form as helta (LR/386), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne corrected this to heltha in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT46/14). According to Hostetter and Wynne the original form was haltha- “strip” from ᴹ√SKAL¹ until Tolkien decide this A-root meant “screen, hide” instead.
Conceptual Development: In Tolkien’s earlier writings he had a number of other words of similar meanings. The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. daf- “strip, flay, peel skin” and G. dautha- or dauthra- “strip” (GL/29). It also had G. pasta- or padhra- “skin, peel, flay”, probably based on the early root ᴱ√PARA [PAÐA?] (GL/63; QL/72). The Gnomish Lexicon Strips had {dautha- >>} dawtho “to flay” (PE13/112), while Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. gwath “to strip” (PE13/146).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would extend the use of heltha- to cover all of these earlier meanings: “to strip, *flay, peel skin”, and by extension “*to despoil, make bare”.
9.29 to Flay, Skin
- Q. psar- v. “to rub, [ᴹQ.] fret”
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A verb for “rub” mentioned in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2) from around 1950 (PE18/94). It is also mentioned in the Quenya Verbal System of 1948 as the basis for the frequentative verb ᴹQ. sapsarra- “keep on rubbing, fray away” (PE22/113) and in the proverbial phrase ᴹQ. ksaráre psare súle “longing frets the spirit” (PE22/119). The rare initial combination ps- survived up until Classical Quenya, and probably retained this form in tengwar spelling, but was likely pronounced upsar- in Tarquesta (PE19/36, 79).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. ’warin “rubs” under the early root {ᴱ√WAṘA >>} ᴱ√GWAṘA of the same meaning (QL/103).
- ᴹQ. sapsarra- v. “to keep on rubbing, fray away”
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A frequentative form of ᴹQ. psar- “rub” in the Quenya Verbal System from 1948 (PE22/113).
- G. gratha- v. “to rub, scratch, fray”
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A verb appearing as G. gratha- “rub, scratch, fray” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/42), probably based on the early root ᴱ√GWAṘA “rub” (QL/103).
Neo-Sindarin: Since it conflicts with no later verbs, I retain ᴺS. gratha- “to rub, scratch, fray” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin. I assume it is a late invention unrelated to √RATH “climb”, comparable to Q. psar- “rub” which was another late innovation in the Quenya language branch.