This causative verb meaning “kindle, cause to shine” was based on the root √KAL “light; shine” and had a lengthy history in Tolkien’s Elvish languages. ᴱQ. kalta- “kindle, set light to” first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√KALA “shine golden” (QL/44), but in The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. kalta- was only glossed “shine” (Ety/KAL). However in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s kaltā́ was given as an example of causative verbs and glossed “cause to shine, light up, or kindle (lamp etc.)” (PE22/114). In Common Eldarin: Verb Structure from the early 1950s (primitive) kalta- was glossed “cause to shine, kindle” (PE22/156). This verb also appeared in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 as an element in the adjective Q. lacaltaima “not possible to be kindled”.
Quenya
calta-
shine
calta-
verb. to kindle, to kindle, [ᴹQ.] (cause to) shine, light up, [ᴱQ.] set light to
Derivations
Element in
- Q. lacaltaima “not possible to be kindled” ✧ PE22/156
Variations
- kalta- ✧ PE22/156
cal-
shine
#cal- vb. "shine", future tense caluva ("k") "shall shine" _(UT:22 cf. 51). Compare also early "Qenya" cala- ("k")"shine" (LT1:254)_. It is possible that the verbal stem should have a final -a in later Quenya as well, since this vowel would not appear in the future tense caluva (compare valuvar as the pl. future tense of vala-, WJ:404).
accal(a)-
verb. shine
shine (suddenly and) brilliantly, blaze
sil-
shine
sil- vb. "shine" (white), present tense síla "shines, is shining" (FG); aorist silë, pl. silir (RS:324), frequentative sisíla- (Markirya comments), future tense siluva (VT49:38), dual future siluvat (VT49:44, 45)
calta- ("k")vb. "shine" (KAL)