12.33 Top
- Q. cas(ta) adv. “to(wards) the top, [ᴹQ.] upwards”
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An adverb appearing in several documents, given as ᴱQ. kasta “to the top” (PE15/78), ᴹQ. kas “towards the top” (PE21/22), kas “upwards” (PE21/25), and kas or kasta “to the top” (PE21/76), the first one from the 1920s, the second two from the early 1930s, and the last pair from the early 1950s. In the first instance it was an ordinary allative of the period, the second two instances were derived from ᴹ✶kast, and the last pair was derived from ✶kasd(a), where ✶-da was the ancient allative suffix “to” also seen in Q. tar(a) “thither” (PE19/104; VT49/11). Its base root is √KAS “head”, so its original meaning was “to the head”. Compare also tal(da) “to the bottom, (orig.) to the foot”.
- ᴹQ. hat (haht-) adj. “ridge, comb, crest”
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A word appearing in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s glossed “comb, ridge” (PE21/19) and “ridge (comb, crest)” (PE21/27). It perhaps refers to raised formations of various kinds, geological as well as things like the comb or crest of a bird or the ridge of a roof.
- Q. inga n. “top, highest point; ⚠️[ᴹQ.] first”
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A word have the same root (√ING) as the name Ingwë, giving a clue to the original meaning of that name. In a few places, the plural Ingar of this word was used as another name for the Vanyar (MR/230, 265), but Tolkien more frequently used the plural Ingwë for this purpose: see Ingwi.
In later writings, this word was generally presented as a noun meaning “top, highest point” (PM/340, VT47/28), but in The Etymologies, ᴹQ. inga was an adjective glossed “first”, as in “foremost” (Ety/ING).
Tolkien stated that “inga … applied to shapes pointing upward” but also that it “referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad” (VT47/28). Therefore, inga referred to the highest level whether it was a single point or a plateau.
- N. caw adj. “top”
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A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “top” derived under the root ᴹ√KAS “head” (Ety/KAS). It is probably derived from primitive *kāsa, with long ā becoming au as usual, and intervocalic s becoming h and then vanishing.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies, N. caw replaced a deleted word N. câs “top, summit; beginning” (EtyAC/KAS). Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. câ “top” (PE13/121, 140), probably of similar origin.