mat-

eat

mat- (1) vb. "eat" (MAT, VT45:32), also given as mata- (VT39:5), pa.t. mantë "ate" (VT39:7). The form matumnë is said to be future-past: "was going to eat", with the "OQ" (Old Quenya?) future-past element umnë (VT48:32; possibly this could function independently as a form of the verb "to be", hence "was to be"). It is not clear if the form matumnë is itself "Old Quenya" as if this is an archaic future-past formation, or it is just umnë (as an independent word) that is archaic. (Note: Tolkien's translation of matumnë is actually "I was going to eat", but the pronoun "I" does not seem to be expressed in the Quenya form.) Adj. or pseudo-participle #matya "eating" in melumatya "honey-eating" (PE17:68)

mat-

verb. eat

mat-

verb. to eat

The verb for “to eat” derived from the root √MAT of the same meaning (VT39/7).

Conceptual Development: This verb and root are quite well established, dating all the way back to ᴱQ. mat- and ᴱ√MATA of the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/59) and appearing as ᴹQ. mat- and ᴹ√MAT in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/MAT), as well as numerous other places albeit with occasional variants like mata- (PE12/26). This verb was one Tolkien often used in examples of verb conjugations and as such its inflected forms changed considerably over time, but that is more a topic of the evolution of the Quenya verb system itself.

Cognates

• S. mad- “to eat”
• T. mat- “to eat”

Derivations

• ✶mat- “to eat” ✧ PE22/132; PE22/157
  • √MAT “eat”
• √MAT “eat” ✧ VT39/07

Element in

• ᴺQ. accamátala “over-eating”
• ᴺQ. accamatië “over-eating”
• ᴺQ. avamat- “to fast, (lit.) refuse to eat”
• Q. en i matinye “I shall eat then soon” ✧ PE22/131
• Q. lamate “fasting, a fast”
• Q. mátima “edible”
• ᴺQ. matimar “restaurant, (lit.) eating hall”
• ᴺQ. matina “eaten”
• Q. -matya “-eating”
• Q. umbestë matë “he was going to eat” ✧ PE22/132
• Q. vá matuvatyë mastanya “you are not to eat my bread, you shan’t eat my bread” ✧ PE22/162

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶mat-ubā-ni/njē > matuvanye	[matubānjē] > [matuβānjē] > [matuβanjē] > [matuβanje] > [matuvanje]	✧ PE22/132
√MATA > mante	[mante]	✧ VT39/07

mantë

mantë

mantë pa.t. of mat-, mata-, q.v.

mastima

adjective. edible

mastima

adjective. edible

Derivations

• ✶matˢtimā “edible” ✧ PE22/137

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶matˢtimā > mastima	[mattimā] > [mastimā] > [mastima]	✧ PE22/137

mattima

verb. edible

mátima

edible

mátima adj. "edible" (PE17:68), cf. mat-.

mátima

adjective. edible

An adjective “edible” = “able to be eaten”, a combination of Q. mat- “eat” with the suffix -ima “able” which induces lengthening of the base vowel: á (PE17/68; PE22/155).

Conceptual Development: The suffix -ima “able” dates all the way back to the Early Qenya of the 1910s, but the way it interacted with the verb evolved over time. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s the form was ᴱQ. matsima (QL/59) with the usual Early Qenya sound change of ti to tsi (PE12/23). In the Quenya Verbal System of 1948 it was ᴹQ. mattima with consonant-doubling instead of vowel lengthening (PE22/111). In Common Eldarin: Verb Structure of the early 1950s it was Q. mastima with a variant suffix -tima and the usual sound change whereby t+t became st (PE22/137). The form mátima appeared in various notes from the 1960s (PE17/68; PE22/155).

Elements

Word	Gloss
mat-	“to eat”
-ima	“-able, possibility, -able, [ᴹQ.] -ible, able to be done, [ᴱQ.] possible”

Variations

• mātima ✧ PE17/068

-ima

fair

-ima adjectival suffix. Sometimes it is used to derive simple adjectives, like vanima "fair" or calima "bright"; it can also take on the meaning "-able" (PE17:68), as in mátima "edible" (mat- "eat"), nótima "countable" (not- "count") and (with a negative prefix) úquétima "unspeakable" (from quet- "speak"). Note that the stem-vowel is normally lengthened in the derivatives where -ima means "-able", though this fails to occur in cenima "visible" (q.v., but contrast hraicénima, q.v.) and also before a consonant cluster as in úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176). "X-ima" may mean "apt to X" (when the ending is added to an intransitive verbal stem), as in Fírimar "mortals", literally "those apt to die" (WJ:387). The adj. úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176) also appears as úfantuma (PE17:180), indicating the existence of a variant ending -uma (possibly used to derive adjectives with a "bad" meaning; compare the ending *-unqua next to -inqua, q.v.)

alima

fair, good

alima adj. "fair, good" (also alya) (PE17:146)

-ya

elvish

-ya (5) adjectival ending, as in the word Quenya "Elvish" itself; when added to a verbal stem it may derive a kind of short active participle, as in melumatya "honey-eating" (mat- "eat"), saucarya "evil-doing" (car- "do"). (PE17:68)

alya

fair, good

alya (1) adj. "fair, good" (PE17:146), "prosperous, rich, abundant, blessed" (GALA). In a deleted entry in Etym, the glosses provided were "rich, blessed"; another deleted entry defined alya as "rich, prosperous, blessed". (GALA, [ÁLAM], VT42:32, 45:5, 14)

umnë

umnë

umnë, see matumnë under mat-

vanya

fair

vanya (1) adj. "fair" (FS), "beautiful" (BAN), a word referring to beauty that is "due to lack of fault, or blemish" (PE17:150), hence Arda Vanya as an alternative to Arda Alahasta for "Arda Unmarred" (ibid., compare MR:254). Nominal pl. Vanyar "the Fair", the first clan of the Eldar; the original meaning of this stem was "pale, light-coloured, not brown or dark" (WJ:382, 383, stem given as WAN), "properly = white complexion and blonde hair" (PE17:154, stem given as GWAN); stems BAN vs. WAN discussed, see PE17:150.

vanë

fair

vanë adj. "fair" (LT1:272; in Tolkien's later Quenya rather vanya)

vanë

adjective. fair, fair, [ᴱQ.] lovely

Derivations

• √BAN “beauty (due to lack of fault or blemish); fair, beautiful” ✧ PE17/056

Element in

• Q. úvanë(a) “without beauty”
• Q. vanessë “beauty” ✧ PE17/056
• Q. vanië “beauty” ✧ PE17/056
• Q. vanima “beautiful, fair, beautiful, fair, *handsome; [ᴱQ.] proper, right, as it should be, fair” ✧ PE17/056

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√BAN > vane	[bani] > [bane] > [βane] > [vane]	✧ PE17/056

Variations

• vane ✧ PE17/056

linda

fair, beautiful

linda adj. "fair, beautiful" (of sound) (SLIN, LIND; VT45:27), "soft, gentle, light" (PE16:96), "beautiful, sweet, melodious of sound" (PE17:150); for Linda as a noun, see Lindar.