: The verb ”to be” is poorly attested. Apparently the root is na-. The imperative is attested as no, and nad (used = ”thing”) may be seen as an original gerund *”a being”. It seems that the copula ”is, are” (and ”was, were”?) can be omitted altogether, as in the ”Noldorin” sentence lheben teil brann i annon ”five feet high [is] the door” (AI:92), in Sindarin perhaps *leben tail brand i annon.
Sindarin
na-
verb. to be
na-
verb. to be
na-chaered palan-díriel
to lands remote I have looked afar
na
preposition. of; with, along with, accompanied by, provided with or by, associated with, marked with, of; with, along with, accompanied by, provided with or by, associated with, marked with; [N.] by
na(n)
preposition. of; with, along with, accompanied by, provided with or by, associated with, marked with, of; provided with or by, associated with, marked with, with, along with, accompanied by; [N.] by
na
be
na
be
. The imperative is attested as no, and nad (used = ”thing”) may be seen as an original gerund ✱”a being”. It seems that the copula ”is, are” (and ”was, were”?) can be omitted altogether, as in the ”Noldorin” sentence lheben teil brann i annon ”five feet high [is] the door” (AI:92), in Sindarin perhaps ✱leben tail brand i annon.
no
verb. be!
tíra-
verb. to see
tírad
gerund noun. to see, for the seing
cen
verb. see
cen- (i gên, i chenir), also tíra- (i díra, i thírar), the latter rather meaning “watch”. SEEING #cened (i gened) (sight), pl. cenid (i chenid) if there is a pl. Isolated from cenedril, see mirror, SEEING STONE *gwachaedir (*i 'wachaedir) (palantír), no distinct pl. form. except with article (in gwachaedir); coll. pl. ?gwachaediriath or ?gwachadirnath (the latter assuming that -dir is reduced from older -dirn) The form occurring in the primary source, gwahaedir, must represent the late Gondorian pronunciation with h for ch (PM:186)
cen
see
(i** gên, i** chenir), also tíra- (i** díra, i** thírar), the latter rather meaning “watch”.
cened
seeing
(i gened) (sight), pl. cenid (i chenid) if there is a pl. Isolated from cenedril, see MIRROR.
cûn
bent
cûn (bowed, bowshaped), lenited gûn; pl. cuin
cûn
bent
(bowed, bowshaped), lenited gûn; pl. cuin
gwachaedir
seeing stone
(i ’wachaedir) (palantír), no distinct pl. form. except with article (in gwachaedir); coll. pl. ?gwachaediriath or ?gwachadirnath (the latter assuming that -dir is reduced from older -dirn) The form occurring in the primary source, gwahaedir, must represent the late Gondorian pronunciation with h for ch (PM:186) ****
A verb for “to be” based on the root √NĀ of the same meaning. This verb is barely attested in the Sindarin language, and the general consensus is that [for purposes of Neo-Sindarin at least] Sindarin omits the verb “to be” in most phrases, such as in naur an edraith ammen “fire [be] for saving us” (LotR/299) or ✱orchal i adan “tall [is] the man”; see the entry on the copula for further discussion.
The clearest attestation of the verb na- is its imperative form no “be!” in the phrase no aer i eneth lín “hallowed be thy name, (lit.) ✱be holy the name your”, from the Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer from the 1950s (VT44/21). This imperative form was preceded by some hard-to-read deleted forms, perhaps {dôd >> dád >> hae >>} no (VT44/22). The d-forms might be eroded/mutated variants of na-. Compare đa in the phrase inn đa v’im “a mind there is in me = I have a good mind (to do so)” in notes from the late 1960s (PE22/165), where đa could be another eroded form of na-. This phrase was first written as inn no v’im (PE22/165 note #108); see the entry for đa for further discussion.
Another clear attestation of na “be” is an apparent future form natho in the untranslated phrase Sí il chem {na} en i naugrim en ir Ellath {natho} thor den ammen in the so-called “Túrin Wrapper” from the late 1950s (VT50/5). This future[?] form natho was deleted and replaced by thor, and a deleted {na} also appears earlier in the phrase, possibly a false start. Carl Hostetter suggested this phrase might mean something like “✱now all (?hands) of the Dwarves and Elves will be (?against) us” (VT50/22-25). If so, it seems the future of na- “be” was constructed from the bare future suffix (a)tha-, manifesting as tho “✱will be”.
Neo-Sindarin: As noted above, for purposes of Neo-Sindarin the general consensus is that this verb is barely used, and is omitted from most “to be” phrases as in the example orchal i adan given above. The verb’s one widely accepted use is as an imperative, such as in no mae “be well”. Based the Túrin Wrapper, I posit that tho can also be used for a future form “will be”, as in i adan tho orchal “the man will be tall”. I likewise posit a (purely hypothetical) past form [ᴺS.] nî “was”, based on the primitive past-tense element ✶-nē with [[os|long [ē] becoming [ī]]], as in i adan nî orchal “the man was tall”. Neither tho or nî are widely accepted Neo-Sindarin, however.
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had the verb G. na- “is” (GL/58), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” (QL/64). This irregular Gnomish verb had some inflected forms: plural nain, participle ol· and past form {ni >>} thi, the last of these being another inspiration for Neo-Sindarin nî “was”.