lanya

noun. thread, warp

A word appearing only in a note from the late 1960s as an element in Q. hísilanya, cognate to S. hithlain, name of the grey elvish rope which in this note was glossed “mist thread” and was derived from √LAN “stretch, extend; ?twine” (PE17/60). As such, the word lanya probably meant “thread”. Tolkien later wrote “warp” after hithlain, probably an alternate meaning of S. lain/Q. lanya. This is probably “warp” in the sense of cross-threads, as in the “warp and weft” that are part of weaving in a loom.

lanya

thread

#lanya (3) noun "thread", isolated from hísilanya "mist thread" (PE17:60)

lanya-

verb. bound, enclose, separate from, mark the limit of

lanya- (1) vb. "bound, enclose, separate from, mark the limit of" (VT42:8)

lanya-

verb. weave

lanya- (2) vb. "weave" (LAN)

lanya-

verb. to bound, enclose, separate from, mark the limit of

lanya-

verb. to cross

lahta-

verb. to cross, pass over, go over; to surpass, excel

This verb appeared in notes from 1965 as langa- “to cross, go over, pass over” and lanya- “to cross” derived from √LAŊ (PE17/65). In notes from 1967 it appeared as lahta- “to pass over, cross, surpass, excel” derived from √LAƷ (PE17/92).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. lahta- appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s without any translation under the early root ᴱ√LAHA (QL/50). The actual Early Qenya verb for “cross” was ᴱQ. tara- “cross, go athwart, cross rivers, etc.” under the early root ᴱ√TARA (QL/89).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer lahta- “cross, pass over” with an extended meaning “surpass, excel” from the original sense “go beyond”. I assume the meaning is “surpass” when the object is the person or thing surpassed as in lahtan Fëanor nólen “I surpass (go beyond) Fëanor in knowledge”, but “excel” when the object is omitted as in lahtan nólen “I excel (go beyond the norm) in knowledge”.

were-

verb. to weave

A verb based on √WER “weave” that Tolkien coined in notes from around 1957 while exploring the development of the name S. Gwaihir (PE17/33). The section where this verb appeared was marked out, and in notes 1959-60 Tolkien changed the root to √WIR “weave” (PE17/191; VT39/10).

Neo-Quenya: This verb might be updated to ✱vir- “to weave” from the later form of the root, but I prefer to stick to attested [ᴹQ.] lanya- for “to weave” (Ety/LAN).

nauta

bound, obliged

nauta adj. "bound, obliged" (NUT)

were-

verb. weave

were- vb. "weave" (cited as a derivative of the root WER "twine, weave" and maybe a primitive form rather than a Quenya word). (PE17:33)

sar-

verb. to cross

A neologism for “cross” appearing in ABNW (ABNW) from the early 2000s, derived from ᴹ√THAR “cross”.