9.96 Easy
- Q. ancárima adj. “easy, (lit.) very doable”
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A word for “easy” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, a combination of the intensive prefix an- and the adjective cárima “doable”, so more literally “very doable” (PE22/155).
- Q. as(a)- [þ] pref. “easily”
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A prefix meaning “easy” appearing in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 and based on the root √ATHA (PE17/148). Tolkien specified that the normal form of the prefix was asa-, but that it became as- before p, t, c, q, s. Tolkien gave two examples of its use: asalaste “easily heard” and ascénima “easily seen”.
Conceptual Development: In a rejected page from the same set of notes, Tolkien had hra, hrai and hraia “easy” derived from the root √SRA(YA) of the same meaning (PE17/172), of which the first two were probably prefixes and the last an adjective. But Tolkien seems to have altered the root to √SRAG “difficult” and √RAY “smile”. Further down on the page Tolkien had asanóte next to the root AÞA, unglossed but probably meaning “easily counted” and representing his new idea for the prefix as(a)- “easy”, given above.
- S. ath- pref. “easily”
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A prefix meaning “easy” appearing in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 and based on the root √ATHA (PE17/148). Tolkien gave two examples of its use: athgar “easy (easy to do)” = ath + √KAR “do” and athgen “easily seen” = ath + √KEN “see”. These adjectives seem to be similar to the negative quasi-participles like úgar “(generally) idle = *not doing” seen in other notes from around 1959 (PE17/144), where the prefixed verb stem functions as an (aorist) participle. Presumably such quasi-participles are neither active or passive, and so assume a meaning based on the prefix: ath- “easy” functions passively (the thing done), ú- “not” functions actively (the person doing).
Conceptual Development: In a rejected page from the same set of notes, Tolkien had rhae “easy” derived from the root √SRA(YA) of the same meaning (PE17/172). But Tolkien seems to have altered the root to √SRAG “difficult” and √RAY “smile”.
- G. trug adj. “easy to handle; convenient, tractable, docile”
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An adjective appearing in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as G. trug “easy to handle; convenient, tractable, docile”, which Tolkien connected to the early root ᴱ√TURU (GL/71) and apparently derived from primitive *t’ruk-. The root was translated as “am strong” in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/95), so the meaning of the word G. trug probably represents some semantic drift.
Neo-Sindarin: The root √TUR survives in Tolkien’s later writings, so I would adapt this word as ᴺS. trog reflecting the later Sindarin sound change whereby short [u] often became [o]. In Tolkien’s later writings, the root √TUR includes the sense “master”, so I would assume the original meaning of ᴺS. trog was something like “*mastered”, later becoming “easily handled” and by extension “convenient, tractable, docile”.