A root in a discussion of prefixes for “back” from around 1959, which Tolkien specified as meaning: “back as an answer, or return by another agent to an action affecting him, as in answering, replying, avenging, requiting, repaying, rewarding”; Tolkien also considered the forms √UTU/TŪ (PE17/166). But Tolkien crossed this all through and seems to have replaced it with √KHAN. Tolkien mentioned the root √OT in a discussion of numbers from the late 1960s, but only to specify that “there was no primitive base OT-” (VT47/16).
Primitive elvish
khan
root. brother
Derivatives
Variations
- KHAN ✧ VT47/14
- khan ✧ VT47/26; VT47/34
khan
root. back
Derivatives
- Q. han- “*back as an answer or return by another agent” ✧ PE17/166
Variations
- KHAN ✧ PE17/157; PE17/166
tō/oto
root. back
Element in
- Q. tóquet- “to answer” ✧ PE17/166
Variations
TŌ/OT(O)✧ PE17/166 (TŌ/OT(O)); PE17/187 (TŌ/OT(O))OT✧ PE17/167; VT47/16 (OT)OT(O)✧ PE17/171 (OT(O))TŪ✧ PE17/188 (TŪ)UTU/TŪ✧ PE17/189 (UTU/TŪ)
A root for “brother” that Tolkien introduced in notes on finger-names from the late 1960s as a companion to √NETH “sister” (VT47/14, 26, 34). It conflicts with, and possibly replaces, earlier uses for √KHAN such as √KHAN “back” in notes from around 1959 serving as the basis for the prefix Q. han- in hanquenta “answer” (PE17/166). The root ᴹ√KHAN also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “understand, comprehend”, with various derivatives in both Quenya and Noldorin of similar meaning (Ety/KHAN).
It is unlikely that all these uses of √KHAN coexisted, but I think at a minimum both √KHAN “brother” and ᴹ√KHAN “understand, comprehend” should be retained for the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, as the latter has no good replacements in Tolkien’s later writing. As for hanquenta “answer”, it might be reinterpreted as “a saying providing understanding”, and so be derived from ᴹ√KHAN “understand”.