The Quenya word for “four” derived from the root √KANAT of the same meaning (PE17/95; VT42/24; VT48/6; Ety/KÁNAT).
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. kanta “four” dates all the way back to the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s (PE14/49, 82), but in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “four” was ᴱQ. nelde (QL/65), which in Tolkien’s later writings meant “three”.
canta (1) ("k") cardinal "four" (KÁNAT, VT42:24, VT48:6). In the Etymologies as printed in LR, this word was cited with a final hyphen (as if it were a verb), but the hyphen does not actually appear in Tolkien's manuscript (VT45:19). Ordinal cantëa ("k") "fourth" (VT42:25) Compare cantil.