Select Elvish Words 9.97: Difficult

9.97 Difficult

ᴱQ. auqa adj. “awkward, clumsy ⚠️(of things), difficult”

A word in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as ᴱQ. auqa “awkward, clumsy (of things); awkward, difficult”, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. auk “a fool, clumsy fellow” (QL/33).

Neo-Quenya: I would retain ᴺQ. auqua for purposes of Neo-Quenya, but mainly in the sense “awkward, clumsy” applicable to both people and things. For “difficult” I would use hraia and hranga.

⚠️Q. empollië adv. “*harder”

A word in the untranslated phrase á rike empollie in rough notes from the 1960s (PE17/167). Christopher Gilson suggested this was likely an early attempt by Tolkien to define the Quenya expression for “try harder”, elsewhere given as ā rike am(a)ríkie which more literally means “try [with] more trying” (PE17/94). The later phrase involves an intensified noun/adverbial form of the verb ric- “to try”, and it seems likely that empollie is a similar intensified form of pol- “to be [physically] able to”. If so, it probably means something like “*with more effort”.

Neo-Quenya: This word has some pecularities given its abnormal noun/adverb form pollië rather than the expected polië or pólië, and an abnormal intensive[?] prefix em- rather than an- or am- [before p]. As such, I would avoid it for purposes of Neo-Quenya, using the á ricë amrícië construction instead; see that entry for discussion.

Q. hrai- pref. “hard, *difficult”

A prefix in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 meaning “hard, *difficult”, based on the root √SRAG (PE17/154). Tolkien contrasted it with ur(u)- “hard, difficult” from the √GUR “hard, stiff, difficult, cumbrous, slow”. Examples of its use include hraicénima (or hraicene) “scarcely visible, hard to see” (PE17/154) and {hrainote} “*difficult to count”, the latter appearing unglossed and crossed through on a rejected draft page of these notes (PE17/172).

Neo-Quenya: Although Tolkien did not make it explicit, I believe hrai- implies “hard” due to resistance from the thing or people being worked upon, as opposed to ur(u)- meaning “difficult” due to the inherent complexity of the task; compare hranga- “thwart”.

Q. hrai(a) adj. “difficult, awkward, ⚠️stiff”

An adjective glossed “awkward, difficult” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 derived from the root √SRAG (PE17/154), and on a rejected page glossed “awry” (PE17/172). In notes from December 1959 (D59) it was given as hrai “stiff, awkward, difficult”, identical in meaning to hranga (PE17/185), but in DLN hranga was glossed “awkward, hard” distinct from hraia.

Conceptual Development: On the rejected page from DLN, hrai(a)² was first glossed “easy” rather than “difficult” (PE17/172). See the entry as(a)- for a discussion of the conceptual development of words for “easy”.

Neo-Quenya: I believe that hraia means “difficult, awkward” due to resistance from the thing or people being worked upon, as opposed to urda meaning “difficult” due to the inherent complexity of the task, and hranga which has the additional connotation of “[physically] stiff, hard” when used as an adjective.

Q. hranga adj. “awkward, difficult, stiff, hard”

An adjective glossed “awkward, hard” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 derived from the root √SRAG (PE17/154). On a rejected page from these same notes it was glossed “being onerous, harsh”, but that form was marked through (PE17/172). Two other forms on the rejected page, hranye and hrane, may have had similar meanings but appear to have been abandonned. In notes from December 1959 (D59) it was given as hranga “stiff, awkward, difficult”, identical in meaning to hrai (PE17/185), but in DLN hrai(a)¹ was glossed “awkward, difficult” distinct from hranga.

Neo-Quenya: I believe that hranga means “hard” in both the sense “difficult” and “stiff, firm, resistant”, as opposed to hraia which is exclusively “difficult, awkward” and has no implication of physical hardness; see that entry for discussion.

Q. úcárima adj. “*undoable, unmakeable; ⚠️hard to do, difficult”

A word glossed “hard to do, difficult” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, a negated form of cárima “able to be done” (PE22/156). This word is from the brief period in 1969 where Tolkien decided that the main negative root √LA, and ú- meant only “bad, hard, difficult, unfavourable”.

Neo-Quenya: For most of the 1960s, the prefix ú- was used for negation, and thus úcárima is likely to be interpreted as “*undoable, unmakeable” for those Neo-Quenya writers that subscribe to u-negation; see the entry on the Quenya negative for discussion. To minimize ambiguity, I would instead use hraia or hranga to mean “difficult” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, and urucárima for “hard to make / do”.

Q. urda adj. “difficult, arduous, hard”

An adjective appearing in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 glossed “hard, difficult, arduous” based on the root √GUR of similar meaning (PE17/154).

Neo-Quenya: I believe that urda has a connotation of “difficult, arduous” due to the inherent complexity or difficulty of the task, as opposed to hraia or hranga meaning “difficult, hard” due to resistance from the thing or people being worked upon.

Q. ur(u)- pref. “difficult, hard”

A prefix appearing in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, meaning “hard, difficult” based on the root √GUR of similar meaning (PE17/154). Tolkien gave as examples of its use: urucarin “made with difficulty” and urcarne or urucárima “hard to make / do”.

Conceptual Development: On a rejected draft page Tolkien also had an unglossed prefixal form ur- apparently derived from √GUR “hard, stiff, difficult, cumbrous, slow”, with an unglossed example urunóte or urnótima, likely “*difficult to count” (PE17/172). On this same rejected page Tolkien had ur(u) based on √UTHU “unsuitable, bad, improper, useless, wrong”, but since this derivation doesn’t make sense this is probably a slip or misreading for the prefix us-; see that entry for discussion.

Neo-Quenya: I believe that ur(u)- has the connotation “difficult, arduous” due to the inherent complexity of the task, as opposed to hrai- meaning “difficult, hard” due to resistance from the thing or people being worked upon.

S. dîr adj. “hard, difficult”

An adjective glossed “hard, difficult” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 derived from the root {√DIR >>} √DER of similar meaning (PE17/154). The primitive form was {✶dīrā >>} ✶dērā where [after the change to the root], the ancient long [ē] became [ī] as usual in Sindarin. This word clashes with dîr “man”, but can be distinguished because (a) it is an adjective rather than a noun and (b) its mutations are different, because dîr “man” is from ancient nd- while dîr “difficult” is from ancient d-, as in i nîr dhîr “the difficult man, (lit.) the man difficult”.

Tolkien gave one example of this prefix’s use in dirbedui “hard to utter, difficult to pronounce”. In its prefixal use, Tolkien glossed it as “tough (for lesser efforts)”, contrasting it with gor- “difficult (of things very painful and horrible to do)”; see that entry for discussion.

Neo-Sindarin: I believe that the adjective dîr has the connotation “difficult due to the complexity of the task”. It can be contrasted with rhanc, which I use to mean “difficult due to some resistance or obstacle” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin; compare Q. hranga- “thwart”.

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had similar-seeming G. diriol “tedious”, but that was based G. dîr “long (of time)” so was unlikely to be related conceptually (GL/30). In Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document Tolkien considered the form duiriol “tedious” before reverting back to diriol (PE13/112), and there was no sign of this word thereafter except for its possible reemergence as dîr “difficult”.

S. gor- pref. “hard, difficult”

A prefix meaning “awkward, hard” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 derived from the root √GUR of similar meaning, used in words such as gornod “hard to count” (PE17/154). This example was given as gornodui [unglossed] in draft notes (PE17/172). Tolkien said:

Sindarin owing to approach of √GUR- to other stems (as ÑGUR- “death”, NGOR- “terror, dread”) tends to use gor- in a very strong sense of things very painful and horrible to do; and uses dir- (tough) for lesser efforts (PE17/154).

As an example, Tolkien gave gorbedui “only to be said with horror or grief, lamentable to tell” as opposed to dirbedui “hard to utter, difficult to pronounce”.

S. gordh adj. “difficult, laborious”

An adjective glossed “difficult, laborious” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 derived from the root √GUR of similar meaning (PE17/154). Tolkien indicated it was used mainly “in a very strong sense of things very painful and horrible to do”; see the entry on its prefixal form gor- for discussion. A more ordinary adjective for “hard, difficult” was dîr.

S. rhanc adj. “awkward, hard”

An adjective glossed “awkward, hard” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 derived from the root √SRAK, a variant of √SRAG (PE17/154).

Neo-Sindarin: I believe that S. rhanc has the connotation of “difficult due to some resistance or obstacle”; compare Q. hranga- “thwart”. It can be contrasted with dîr, which I use to mean “difficult due to the complexity of the task” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.

Conceptual Development: On a rejected page from DLN, rhae < √SRAY was glossed “easy” rather than “difficult” (PE17/172). See the entry as(a)- for a discussion of the conceptual development of words for “easy”.

A much earlier word of similar meaning and derivation to rhanc “difficult” is G. arc “fierce, harsh, ill tempered; awkward, difficult” appearing in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where it was derived from ᴱ✶r̄k- (GL/20), a root similar to √SRAK. The gap in time makes it hard to say if the two were related conceptually. The Gnomish word may instead have evolved conceptually into N. tara and S. tarch (both meaning “tough, stiff”); see those entries for discussion.