anta (2) noun "face" (ANA1, VT45:5). Cf. cendelë.
Quenya
anta
noun. jaw
Changes
- anta → anca “jaw” ✧ LotR/1123
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶amtā > anta [amtā] > [antā] > [antā] ✧ PE18/085
anta
face
anta-
give
anta- (1) vb. "give" (ANA1, MC:215, 221), pa.t. antanë (antanen "I gave", VT49:14) or †ánë, perfect ánië (PE17:147, cf. QL:31). According to VT49:14, Tolkien noted that anta- was sometimes often with an "ironic tone" to refer to missiles, so that antanen hatal sena "I gave him a spear (as a present)" was often used with the real sense of "I cast a spear at him". Usually the recipient of the thing given is mentioned in the dative or allative case (like sena in this example), but there is also a construction similar to English "present someone with something" in which the recipient is the object and the gift appears in the instrumental case: antanenyes parmanen, "I presented him with a book" (PE17:91). The verb occurs several times in FS: antalto"they gave"; strangely, no past tense marker seems to be present (see -lto for the ending); antar a pl. verb translated "they gave", though in LotR-style Quenya it would rather be the present tense "give" (pl.); antaróta "he gave it" (anta-ró-ta "gave-he-it"), another verb occurring in Fíriel's Song, once again with no past tense marker. Also antáva "will give", future tense of anta- "give"; read perhaps *antuva in LotR-style Quenya; similarly antaváro* "he will give" (LR:63) might later have appeared as antuvas (with the ending -s rather than "Qenya" -ro for "he"). Antalë imperative "give thou" (VT43:17), sc. anta "give" + the element le "thou", but this was a form Tolkien abandoned. Apparently ana** was at one point considered as another imperative "give", but Tolkien rewrote the text in question (VT44:13), and the normal patterns would suggest *á anta with an independent imperative particle.
anta-
verb. to give, present; †to add to
Cognates
- S. anna- “to give, †add to” ✧ PE17/093; PE17/147
Derivations
- ✶antā- “to give, cause a thing/person to go to an object, send, to give, cause a thing/person to go to an object, send, [ᴹ✶] present” ✧ PE17/091; PE22/163
- √NA/ANA “to, towards; at side of, alongside, besides; moreover, in addition, plus” ✧ PE17/091; PE22/163
- ✶amtā- “to enlarge, increase” ✧ PE17/091
- √AMA “addition, increase, plus” ✧ PE17/091
- √NA/ANA “to, towards; at side of, alongside, besides; moreover, in addition, plus” ✧ PE17/146
Derivatives
- Q. anna “gift, (orig.) thing handed, brought or sent to a person, gift, (orig.) thing handed, brought or sent to a person, *present” ✧ PE22/163
Element in
- Q. ámen anta síra ilaurëa massamma “give us this day our daily bread” ✧ VT43/17; VT43/18; VT43/18
- Q. anessë “given (or added) name, nickname, surname”
- Q. antanen hatal sena “I cast a spear at him” ✧ VT49/14
- Q. antanë ninna “*he gave (it) to me” ✧ PE17/147
- Q. antanen parma sen “I gave a book to him” ✧ PE17/091
- Q. antanenyes parmanen “I presented him with a book” ✧ PE17/091
- ᴺQ. aranta- “to turn over, (lit.) give by”
- Q. Calantar “Light-giver”
- ᴺQ. etanta- “to publish, (lit.) out-give”
- Q. massánië “Lady, breadgiver”
- Q. mélima yondion, lenna antanyes mélio cenwa “*dear [one] of sons I give it to be read with love” ✧ Minor-Doc/1955-CT
- ᴺQ. nananta- “to give back, *return [something]”
- ᴺQ. atanta- “to give back”
- ᴺQ. ríanta- “to crown, coronate”
- Q. yan i wilyar antar miquelis “*to whom the air gives kisses” ✧ PE16/096
Elements
Word Gloss NA/ANA “to, towards; at side of, alongside, besides; moreover, in addition, plus” -ta “causative verb suffix” Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶an-tā > anta- [antā] > [antā] ✧ PE17/091 ✶am-tā > anta- [amtā] > [antā] > [antā] ✧ PE17/091 √ANA/NĀ > anta- [anta] ✧ PE17/146 ✶antā- > anta- [antā] > [antā] ✧ PE22/163 Variations
- anta ✧ PE17/090; PE17/093
ana
give!
ana (2) vb., apparently the imperative "give!", but Tolkien rewrote the text in question (VT44:13). See anta #1.
canwa
face
#canwa (2) noun "face", isolated from canwarya ("k") *"his face", evidently an ephemeral form Tolkien abandoned in favour of cendelë, q.v. (VT49:21; see VT49:34 regarding uncertainties as to the manuscript reading)
canwa
noun. face
A word appearing as kanwarya in one of the drafts of the Ambidexters Sentence, apparently a 3rd-sg possessive form meaning “✱his face” (VT49/6, 21). Patrick Wynne suggested it might be derived from √KAT “shape” as in katmā > kanwa, patterned after Latin “faciēs” which also originally meant “shape”. It seems the n in this word was revised, but what the change was intended to be is unclear. Tolkien eventually revised this word to cendelë, so canwa was probably abandoned.
Derivations
- √KAT “shape, shape, [ᴹ√] make”
Element in
- Q. úsië, an cé mo quernë cendelë númenna, ve senya “on the contrary, for if one turned the face westward, as was usual” ✧ VT49/21
nangwa
jaw
nangwa noun "jaw" (NAK)
-stir
suffix. face
An element meaning “face” in the name Carnistir “Red-Face” (S. Caranthir), derived from primitive ✶stīrē (PM/353; VT41/10). Its form as an independent word would mostly likely be ✱síre (Classical Quenya þíre), but that would conflict with sírë “river” in spoken Quenya (Tarquesta). There are a number of other Quenya “face” words attested, such as cendelë, so it is probably safer to use one of these for purposes of Neo-Quenya.
Cognates
- S. thîr “face, face, [N.] look, expression, countenance”
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Carnistir “Red-face” ✧ PM/353
cendelë
face
cendelë noun "face" (VT49:21)
cendelë
noun. face, face, *visage
A word for “face” in the Ambidexters Sentence of the late 1960s (VT49/8). Patrick Wynne suggested it is likely an abstract noun formation from the verb cenda- “watch, observe”, and hence similar in origin to English/French “visage” which likewise originated from a Latin verb meaning “to see” (VT49/21). Earlier “face” words ᴱQ. alma and ᴱQ. yéma have similar derivations, as pointed out by Patrick Wynne.
Element in
- Q. úsië, an cé mo quernë cendelë númenna, ve senya “on the contrary, for if one turned the face westward, as was usual” ✧ VT49/21
Elements
Word Gloss cenda- “to watch (intensively), observe (for some time); to read” -lë “abstract noun, adverb” Variations
- kendele ✧ VT49/21
anta
noun. jaw, [ᴹQ.] face, *front of the head, [ᴱQ.] cheek; [Q.] jaw
nívë
noun. face
A neologism for “face” coined by Petri Tikka in PPQ (PPQ) from the early 2000s, derived from the root ᴹ√NIB “face, front”, but I see no reason not to use attested [ᴹQ.] anta or cendelë “face” for that purpose for that purpose.
Derivations
- ᴹ√NIB “face, front”
A noun appearing as ᴹQ. anta “face” in The Etymologies written around 1937 under the root ᴹ√ANA “to, towards” (Ety/ANA¹), based on an extension of this root: ᴹ√ANAT (EtyAC/ANA¹).
Conceptual Development: The earliest appearance of this word was as ᴱQ. anta “jaw” in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s, where it was derived from ᴱ✶mtā, related to ᴱ√MATA “eat” (PE12/26). It was mentioned again in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as a cognate to G. ant “cheek” (GL/19), but in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa it was ᴱQ. anto “jaw” (QL/31; PME/31). ᴱQ. anta reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, but there it had the gloss “cheek” and its Gnomish cognate G. ant was “face” (PE13/137, 160). In Early Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s, however, anta retained the gloss “jaw” (PE16/136).
As noted above, in The Etymologies ᴹQ. anta had the gloss “face” and a new derivation from ᴹ√ANA “to, towards” (Ety/ANA¹), perhaps meaning “✱front of the head”. In that document Tolkien introduced ᴹQ. anka for “jaw” based on ᴹ√NAK “bite” (Ety/NAK). In notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from around this time, he revised the gloss of ᴹQ. anta from “jaw” to “face” (PE22/21 note #64), which was followed by a chart that had both anta “face” and anka “jaw” (PE22/22). However, he then wrote “jaw” faintly above anta and marked through the gloss of anka (PE22/22 note #67).
In version of these notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s, Tolkien had anta “jaws”, but there it was revised to ᴹQ. anto “mouth” (PE22/50 and note #185). In the version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from around 1950 (TQ2) Tolkien again had Q. anta “jaw” < ✶amtā based on the root √MAT, but he revised the primitive form to ✶ankā and then marked through the entire paragraph (PE18/85 note #72). In the tengwar charts from Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien had Q. anca “jaw” and Q. anto “mouth” (LotR/1123).
To summarize, it seems Tolkien revised the meaning of word anta from “jaw” >> “cheek” >> “face” in the 1910s through 1930s; then in the 1940s and 50s he considered restoring anta “jaw” but ultimately settled on Q. anca “jaw” and Q. anto “mouth”.
Neo-Quenya: Given the ultimate result above, I think it is possible that the sense ᴹQ. anta “face” < √ANA “to(wards)” from The Etymologies remains viable, and I would use the word anta with that meaning for purposes of Neo-Quenya. I would also let it retain its ᴱQ. meaning “cheek”, as we have no other Quenya words with this sense.