A deleted root reference in The Etymologies apparently serving as the basis for the verbal action suffix ᴹ✶-stā “-ing” in ᴹ✶khau̯-stā “rest-ing” (Ety/KHAW; EtyAC/KHAW). See the entry on ✶-stā for further discussion.
Middle Primitive Elvish
a
root. intensive prefix
Derivatives
Element in
Variations
- a ✧ EtyAC/GOS
-ā
suffix. present suffix
Variations
- ā ✧ PE22/130
bay
root. [unglossed]
Variations
BAYA✧ EtyAC/WAY (BAYA)
stā
root. [unglossed]
Derivatives
- ᴹ✶-stā “-ing” ✧ EtyAC/KHAW
kōmā
noun. [unglossed]
Derivatives
- ᴹQ. kóma “*ball” ✧ PE19/059; PE19/059
Variations
- kṓmā ✧ PE19/059
phan
root. [unglossed]
A deleted root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/PHAN).
maiga
root. [unglossed]
An unglossed root appearing in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1) to illustrate certain patterns of root formation (PE18/66). It may have serving as the basis for ᴹQ. Maia, though this word was given different derivations later.
Variations
- maiga ✧ PE18/066
kaltwa
?. [unglossed]
Derivatives
- ᴹQ. kaltua “[unglossed]” ✧ PE19/048
Variations
- kalt-wa ✧ PE19/048
torōmā
noun. [unglossed]
Derivatives
- ᴹQ. toróma “[unglossed]” ✧ PE19/059; PE19/059
Variations
- torṓmā ✧ PE19/059
auluta-
verb. [unglossed]
Derivatives
- ᴹQ. olta- “[unglossed]” ✧ PE19/058
Variations
- áuluta- ✧ PE19/058
e
root. intensive prefix
Element in
- ᴹ✶Endero “(?virile) young bridegroom” ✧ EtyAC/E
i
root. intensive prefix
Element in
Variations
- I ✧ Ety/I²; EtyAC/I²
iw
root. [unglossed], [ᴱ√] *fish
khlip
root. [unglossed]
An unglossed root in a rejected paragraph from the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/112 note #78).
skil
root. [unglossed]
A root mentioned in passing in as a variant of ᴹ√KIL “divide” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but it had no derivatives and appeared nowhere else (Ety/KIL).
stin
root. [unglossed]
uruk
root. [unglossed]
A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/URUK).
us
root. [unglossed]
A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/US).
An “intensive” root addition described by Tolkien in The Etymologies from the 1930s (EtyAC/A). It was one of two basic intensive mechanisms, along with the (syllabic) prefixed N- (EtyAC/N). The prefixed vowel a- seems to have been used originally in Primitive Elvish when the base vowel was a, and similarly with E and I (EtyAC/E; Ety/I²); whether this was also true of the vowels o, u is unclear, as Tolkien didn’t mention them. These various vocalic intensifications were frequently accompanied by dynamic lengthening (doubling), with the example given by Tolkien being: ᴹ✶parkā “dry” → ᴹ✶apparkā “very dry, arid” (> N. afarch).
In the case of e- and i-, the examples were dero, dise → ᴹ✶Endero, ᴹ✶Indise “groom, bride”; these examples indicate that other kinds of consonant fortifications were possible, in this case nasalization of stops, which often replaced consonant-doubling for voiced stops in Primitive Elvish.
Specifically in the case of a-, however, it seems it could be used as a general intensive that “was distinct in origin, though similar in function, to the prefixed basic vowel”. Why this was true of a- alone is not clear, but there seems to have been some complex interplay between the vocalic intensives and the intensives derived from syllabic initial ṇ-, with the net result that the intensive prefix in Q. became an-, am-, añ-, depending on the initial consonant.
See the entry on the Quenya comparative for a more detailed discussion of the conceptual development of intensives in Eldarin.