Primitive elvish
ma
root. interrogative base, interrogative base; [ᴱ√] root of indef[inite]
Derivatives
Element in
- ᴺS. mabed- “to ask [a question]”
mā
noun. hand
Derivations
- ✶maha “hand, the manager” ✧ PE19/074; PE19/102; VT47/06; VT47/07; VT47/35
- √MAH “handle, manage, control, wield; serve, be of use, handle, manage, control, wield; serve, be of use; [ᴹ√] hand; [ᴱ√] grasp” ✧ PE21/70
- √MAG “good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state, good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state; [ᴹ√] use, handle” ✧ VT47/18
Derivatives
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶maʒa > mā [maɣa] > [mā] ✧ VT47/06 Variations
- māh ✧ PE19/102
- mâ ✧ VT47/18; VT47/34 (mâ)
-mā
suffix. instrumental suffix
Derivatives
- Q. -ma “instrumental”
Element in
- ✶kambā “(cupped) hand” ✧ VT47/20
- ✶labmā “*(physical) tongue” ✧ WJ/416
- ✶phanmā “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/180
- ✶syandā “pressed mass, crowd, crowd, pressed mass, [ᴹ✶] throng” ✧ PE18/101
- ✶tekma “pen” ✧ PE17/044
- ✶teñwā “letter, sign, token” ✧ PE22/149
- ✶yulmā “drinking-vessel” ✧ WJ/416
- Q. calma “lamp, (device for shining) light, lamp, (device for shining) light, [ᴱQ.] candle; (day)light” ✧ PE17/180
- Q. cauma “protection, shelter, shield” ✧ PE17/108
- ᴺQ. haswa “medicine”
- ᴺQ. leppa “thimble”
- ᴺQ. lóma “moss”
- ᴺQ. lunwa “fin, (lit.) swim-thing”
- ᴺQ. niswa “censer”
- ᴺQ. ñulma “mystery”
- ᴺQ. nuqua “obstacle”
- ᴺQ. palma “flat tool, flat plank, oar”
- Q. parma “book, writing, composition, written document of some size, book, writing, composition, written document of some size; [ᴱQ.] skin, bark; parchment” ✧ PE17/180; PE18/101
- ᴺQ. quilma “paint”
- ᴺQ. ramma “lever”
- ᴺQ. rincuma “task, charge, mission”
- ᴺQ. ronwa “block, solid piece”
- ᴺQ. tirma “spyglass”
- ᴺQ. tyalma “toy, plaything”
- ᴺQ. ulma “flagon, *pitcher”
- ᴺQ. ur(u)ma “coal, charcoal”
- ᴺQ. varma “armour, armor”
- ᴺQ. venwa “lime (fruit)”
- Q. yulma “cup, drinking vessel, drinking implement, goblet” ✧ PE17/068; PE17/068; PE17/180
- ᴺS. barf “armour, armor”
- ᴺS. corf “ring (for fingers)”
- ᴺS. olf “jar, flagon, *pitcher”
Variations
- mā ✧ PE17/044; PE22/138 (
mā)- -mā̆ ✧ PE18/101
- n-ā̆ ✧ PE18/101
- n-ā ✧ PE18/101
manrā
adjective. good
Derivations
- √MAN “good (morally), blessed, holy, unmarred, free from evil, good (morally), blessed, holy, unmarred, free from evil; [ᴹ√] holy spirit” ✧ PE17/162
Derivatives
- Q. mára “good, proper, good, proper; [ᴹQ.] useful, fit, good (of things), [ᴱQ.] excellent; mighty, power, doughty” ✧ PE17/162
tekma
noun. pen
Variations
- mā ✧ PE17/044
ndorē
noun. land
Derivations
Derivatives
- Q. -ndor “land, country” ✧ SA/dôr
- Q. nór “land” ✧ PE17/106; PE17/107
- Q. nórë “land, country; †people, race, tribe, land, country, [ᴹQ.] region where certain people live, [ᴱQ.] nation; [Q.] †people, race, tribe, [ᴹQ.] folk, [ᴱQ.] family” ✧ PE19/076
- S. dôr “land, land, [N.] region where certain people live, [ᴱN.] country; [G.] people of the land” ✧ PE17/164; SA/dôr; WJ/413
Element in
Variations
- (n)dor ✧ Let/384
- ndōr ✧ PE17/106
- NDŌR/NDŎR- ✧ PE17/107
- ndor ✧ PE17/164; SA/dôr
- ndōrē ✧ PE19/076; VT42/04
ndōro
noun. land
Derivations
- √DOR “hard, tough, dried up, unyielding” ✧ WJ/413
Derivatives
- Q. nór “land” ✧ WJ/413
dē
preposition. with
Derivatives
This root is the basis for Elvish question words. When it first appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien said ᴱ√MA was the “root of indef[inites]” (GL/55), and it served as the basis for the indefinitive suffix G. -(u)m and ᴱQ. -(u)ma (GL/55; PE14/42, 71). In the Gnomish Lexicon, question words were derived from the root ᴱ√DO instead: G. don “who”, G. dos “when”, G. dui “where”, etc. (GL/30). There are no signs of interrogative ᴱ√DO in Tolkien’s later writings, however.
Indeed, by the time Tolkien wrote the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem around 1930, Quenya question words generally began with ma-: ᴱQ. man kiluva kirya ninqe? “Who shall see a white ship?” (MC/213). This remained true thereafter, and the same seems to be true of Sindarin as well, though we have far fewer examples: S. man agorech?, untranslated but apparently: “✱and said Rían to Tuor: what have we done?” (VT50/5). The “interrogative base” √MA is mentioned in Quenya Notes from 1957 (QN: PE17/162) and again in notes from around 1968 (VT47/19).
√MA does not seem to be completely divorced from indefinites in Tolkien’s later writings, however, given his use of Q. ma for an indefinite neuter pronoun “(some)thing” as opposed to the indefinite personal pronoun Q. mo “(some)one” (PE22/154; VT42/34). Whether these indefinites are based on the same root or a similar but unrelated root isn’t clear.