A root in a discussion of prefixes for “back” from around 1959, which Tolkien specified as meaning: “back as an answer, or return by another agent to an action affecting him, as in answering, replying, avenging, requiting, repaying, rewarding”; Tolkien also considered the forms √UTU/TŪ (PE17/166). But Tolkien crossed this all through and seems to have replaced it with √KHAN. Tolkien mentioned the root √OT in a discussion of numbers from the late 1960s, but only to specify that “there was no primitive base OT-” (VT47/16).
Primitive elvish
(n)dan
root. back (again); retreat, go back, give way (as one advances), revert, back (again), [ᴹ√] backwards; [√] retreat, go back, give way (as one advances), revert
Derivatives
- ✶ndan- “back-” ✧ PE17/166
- ✶ndandō “one who goes back on his word or decision” ✧ WJ/412
- ✶ndanmē “retreat; ebb, lowtide” ✧ VT48/32
- Q. nan- “back (again), back (again); [ᴹQ.] backwards” ✧ PE17/166
- Q. nanda “?back” ✧ PE17/166
- Q. Nandor “Silvan Elves, (lit.) Those who go back” ✧ VT48/32
- S. dan “back to, (back in return) against, down upon, back on, back again” ✧ PE17/166
Variations
- NDĀ̆ ✧ PE17/166; PE17/166
- NDAN ✧ PE17/166; PE17/166; PE17/166
- NDANA/NDATA ✧ PE17/167
- dan- ✧ VT48/32
- dan/ndan- ✧ WJ/412
khan
root. back
Derivatives
- Q. han- “*back as an answer or return by another agent” ✧ PE17/166
Variations
- KHAN ✧ PE17/157; PE17/166
tō/oto
root. back
Element in
- Q. tóquet- “to answer” ✧ PE17/166
Variations
TŌ/OT(O)✧ PE17/166 (TŌ/OT(O)); PE17/187 (TŌ/OT(O))OT✧ PE17/167; VT47/16 (OT)OT(O)✧ PE17/171 (OT(O))TŪ✧ PE17/188 (TŪ)UTU/TŪ✧ PE17/189 (UTU/TŪ)
The most notable use of the root √(N)DAN “back(wards)” was in the name Q. Nandor for those Elves who joined in the march to Valinor but turned back during the journey (VT48/32); the same root was an element in the earlier name for the Nandor from the 1930s, the Danas (Ety/NDAN). The root first appeared as ᴹ√NDAN “back” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like the aforementioned Danas as well as the prefix ᴹQ. nan- “backwards” and the Doriathrin noun dôn “back” (Ety/NDAN). The Etymologies also mentioned an unstrengthened form of the root ᴹ√DAN (Ety/DAN).
The root √(N)DAN appeared several times in Tolkien’s later writings. It appeared among a list of roots having to do with “back” probably composed around 1959 (PE17/166). In this list, Tolkien clarified that in Quenya, √NDAN specifically meant “back” as an action by the same agent revising a previous action, as opposed to an action by a different agent, for which Tolkien coined the root {√TŌ/OTO >>} √KHAN; the example Tolkien gave was Q. nanwen-/S. dadwen- “return, go back [by same agent]” < √NDAN vs. {{Q. tóquet- >>} Q. hanquenta “answer [by a different agent]”. This distinction was lost in Sindarin, however, and √NDAN came to be used for both same and differing agents. Tolkien also said that √NDAN could be used “of return (in same path), retracing, and so employable as un- as in undo”.
The root was mentioned again in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, where Tolkien said:
> The name Nandor was a derivative of the element ✱dan, ✱ndan- indicating the reversal of an action, so as to undo or nullify its effect, as in “undo, go back (the same way), unsay, give back (the same gift: not another in return)”. The original word ✱ndandō, therefore, probably only implied “one who goes back on his word or decision”.
Finally, the root appeared in some notes from the late 1960s where √dan- was glossed “retreat, go back, give way (as one advances), revert” serving as the basis for {✶danmi >>} ✶ndanmē > Q. nanwë/S. dannen “ebb-tide”, apparently originally meaning “retreat” (VT48/26 author’s note #2, VT48/32 editor’s note #18). In the same document Tolkien again mentioned the connection of this root to the name of the Nandor.