Primitive elvish
laʒ
root. cross, pass over, go beyond
Derivatives
- ✶lā̆ “beyond” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lá “beyond, over, across, athwart” ✧ PE17/065; PE17/065
- ✶langa ✧ PE17/091
- Q. langë “surpassingly, superlatively, extremely” ✧ PE17/091
- ✶langō “route or connection between to places; neck” ✧ PE17/091
- ✶lañna “athwart” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lanna “athwart, (to a point) beyond, athwart, (to a point) beyond, *across” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lá “beyond, over, across, athwart” ✧ PE17/065; PE17/090; PE17/091
- Q. lahta- “to cross, pass over, go over; to surpass, excel” ✧ PE17/065; PE17/092
- Q. lan “*while”
- Q. langa “thing that crosses, ferry, ford, crossway, bridge, cross-bar” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lango “neck, neck, [ᴹQ.] throat” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lanna “athwart, (to a point) beyond, athwart, (to a point) beyond, *across” ✧ PE17/065
- ᴺS. lo “while”
Element in
Variations
- LAŊ ✧ PE17/065; PE17/159
- LAG ✧ PE17/065; PE17/159
- ALA/LA ✧ PE17/090; PE17/146
- LAƷA ✧ PE17/091; PE17/092; PE17/159
- LA ✧ PE17/158
Tolkien considered several similar roots for the Elvish words “neck”, “throat” and “beyond”.
In The Etymologies, the words for “throat” were ᴹQ. lanko and N. lhanc from the root ᴹ√LAK with nasal-infixion (Ety/LAK, Ety/TARAG). The Noldorin form also appeared as an element in the adjective N. tarlanc “stiff-necked, obstinate”. In The Lord of the Rings, it seems that this last word had shifted to S. tarlang, as in the place name Tarlang (LotR/790). The earlier words reappeared as S. lang and Q. lango “neck, passage”, whose roots were either √LAG (PE17/65) or √LAƷA (PE17/91-92).
Tolkien also established the word Q. lá as the Quenya element meaning “beyond”, most notably in the preposition pella (the Namárië poem, LotR/377), whose literal meaning was “beyond the border”. There is an early hint of this sense in The Etymologies in the root ᴹ√LĀ, unglossed but said to be related to the “ablative element” ᴹ√LŌ (EtyAC/LŌ). Other possible precursors are ᴱ√ALA “spread” and related ᴱ√LAHA or ᴱ√LĀ from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/29, 32, 50).
In notes from 1965, Tolkien stated that the root of lá “beyond” was √LAŊ, distinct from the root √LAG of lango (PE17/65). But in notes from 1967, Tolkien briefly considered using the root √ALA/LA for lá “beyond” (PE17/90), but quickly changed it to √LAƷA “cross, pass over, go beyond” (PE17/91-92), the same as the root of Q. lango “neck” as noted above. This leaves us with two scenarios: that lango “neck” and lá “beyond” had distinct origins from the roots √LAG and √LAÑ respectively (1965: PE17/65), or that lango “neck” and lá “beyond” had the same origin in the root √LAƷ “cross, pass over, go beyond” (1967: PE17/91-92).
Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin I prefer the 1967 scenario with the root √LAƷA “cross, pass over, go beyond”, and would assume “neck” is based on the sense “passage”, since it frees up the root √LAG to retain its meaning from The Etymologies: ᴹ√LAG “✱cut” (Ety/LAG). For “throat” words, see the discusssion in the entry for ᴹ√LAK.