12.27 to Hide, Conceal
- Q. cuv- v. “to conceal, hide”
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A verb for “conceal, hide” implied by the adjectives cúvima “concealable” and cuvoitë “hiding, secretive” = “*apt to conceal” derived from √KUB “hide, secrete” appearing in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/155).
- Q. fanta- v. “to veil, cloak, mantle; [ᴺQ.] to muffle”
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The Quenya verb form of the root √PHAN meaning “veil, cloak, mantle”, appearing in a lengthy discussion of this root from the mid-1960s (PE17/173-180). In the last draft of these notes Tolkien specified that fanta- was a ta-formative verb from √PHAN + tă, originally with both a strong past and perfect based directly on the root: fáne [“veiled”] and afánie [“has veiled”] (PE17/180). In modern times its past has become a weak past fantane, through presumably its strong perfect survived.
Neo-Quenya: In a 2023-11-21 post on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested this word might also apply to sound, so having the additional sense “*muffle”.
- Q. fanwa n. “veil, screen”
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A noun for a “veil or screen” derived from ✶phanmā based on the root √PHAN (PE17/176, 180).
- ᴹQ. halya- v. “to veil, conceal, screen from light”
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A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “veil, conceal, screen from light” under the root ᴹ√SKAL¹ of similar meaning (Ety/SKAL¹).
- ᴹQ. *lihlicca- v. “to sneak about”
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A frequentative verb in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948, based on ᴹQ. hlik- “creep” and so meaning “sneak about” (PE22/113). Tolkien gave its ancient form as sillikk derived from the root ᴹ√SLIK and its modern form as lilhikke [the correct reading according to the editors, PE22/113 note #78]. In normal Quenya orthography we would expect *hl rather than lh, and based on the discussion of frequentatives we’d expect a final vowel a, as in ᴹQ. sisilla-. So perhaps *lihlikka- is a more plausible form.
- Q. nurta- v. “to hide”
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A verb for “hide” implied by nurtalë “hiding” in the name Nurtalë Valinóreva “the Hiding of Valinor” (S/102). It might be related to ᴹ√NUR “deep” (Ety/NU).
- Q. vasar [þ] n. “veil”
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A noun meaning “a veil” that is a rare remnant of the root √WATHAR in Quenya, along with a related verb vasarya- “to veil” (VT42/10). In the draft version of the note where it appeared, Tolkien said this noun was “was not in daily use” (VT42/9). It is related to S. gwath, and possibly also the name Q. Avathar “Shadows” as suggested by Carl Hostetter (VT48/28 note #17).
- N. delia- v. “to conceal”
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A verb appearing as dœlio > delio “conceal” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√DUL “hide, conceal” (Ety/DUL; EtyAC/DUL). Its modern form indicates that first short u > o, and then this o underwent i-affection > œ > e.
Neo-Sindarin: These phonological developments may present some problems with Tolkien’s later ideas of how u > o in Sindarin. To avoid those complications, I recommend using N. doltha- “conceal” instead.
- N. doltha- v. “to conceal”
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A verb for “conceal” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√DUL “hide, conceal” (Ety/DUL).
- S. *fanna- v. “to veil, cloak”
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A Sindarin verb appearing as fanha- “to veil, cloak” in notes from the mid-1960s, derived from primitive ✶phantā- based the root √PHAN of similar meaning (PE17/174). The nh in this verb seems to represent a survival of a long voiceless nasals in Sindarin; compare antha- > anha- “give” from around this same period (PE17/93). More commonly in Sindarin, primitive nt > nth > voiceless nh > voiced nn, so a more normal representation of this verb might be *fanna-.
- N. haltha- v. “to screen”
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A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “to screen” under the root ᴹ√SKAL¹ of similar meaning (Ety/SKAL¹). Draft notes originally translated this verb as “to strip” >> “to hide” >> “to screen” (EtyAC/SKAL¹).
- G. tubla- v. “to hide”
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A verb appearing as G. tubla- “hide (intr.)” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, apparently based on G. tub- “cover” (GL/71) from the early root ᴱ√TUPU (QL/95).
Neo-Sindarin: Since √TUP “cover, hide” survives in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain and adapt this Gnomish verb as ᴺS. tobla- “hide”, but would use it both transitively and intransitively.