alatya-

verb. to shield, ward off, protect

A verb appearing as ᴱQ. alatya- in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶alakya- and cognate to ᴱN. elaig- “to shield, ward off, protect” (PE13/158). It is followed by two forms altíne and alantye which Tolkien seems to indicate are aor[ist], but actually appear to be weak and half-strong past forms respectively. It also had a past participle alantya, equivalent to G. alanc.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would retain ᴺQ. alatya- in the limited sense “to ward off, shield [against]” (always an active defense). For “protect” (including passive defense) I would use the later verb [ᴹQ.] varya-. Perhaps alatya- is derived from √ALAK “rushing” with ✱alakyā- originally having the sense “cause to rush (away)”. Given this, I would use a weak past ✱alatyane “warded off” for this verb, and make the thing defended against the direct object with the thing defended in the dative: alatyanelme orcor i oston “we warded off orcs from the city = we shielded the city from orcs”.