Primitive elvish
ndak
root. hew, slay, slay; hew
Derivatives
- ✶ndakna
- Q. nanca “*hewn, slain” ✧ PE17/068
- ✶ndakta- “to slay” ✧ PE22/156
- Q. nahta- “to slay; to hurt, injure, wound, to slay, [ᴱQ.] slay cruelly; [Q.] to hurt, injure, wound” ✧ PE22/156
- Q. nac- “to hew, cut, to hew, cut; [ᴹQ.] to kill, slay; to hate” ✧ PE22/156; VT49/24
- ᴺQ. nacil “victor”
- Q. nahta- “to slay; to hurt, injure, wound, to slay, [ᴱQ.] slay cruelly; [Q.] to hurt, injure, wound” ✧ VT49/24
- ᴺQ. nangwë “victory”
- Q. -ndacil “-victor, -slayer”
- S. dag- “to slay, to slay, [ᴱN.] kill” ✧ SA/dagor
- S. dagor “battle” ✧ SA/dagor
- ᴺS. degil “victor, winner”
Element in
- S. Haudh-en-Ndengin “Hill of Slain, (lit.) Mound of the Slain” ✧ SA/dagor
Variations
- ndak- ✧ SA/dagor; VT49/24
This root and similar ones were the basis for “slay” words for much of Tolkien’s life. The root first appeared in the Early Qenya Phonology of the 1920s as ᴱ√dag- with numerous etymological variants, including ᴱQ. taila/ᴱN. dail “axe (blade)” < dagla, ᴱQ. tanga-/ᴱT. danga- “to beat” < tang-, and ᴱQ. nahta-/ᴱN. dag- “to slay” (PE14/65-66); these last two words for “slay” appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writings thereafter. The root reappeared as ᴹ√NDAK “slay” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with similar Noldorin derivatives (Ety/NDAK), apparently a strengthened form of ᴹ√DAK “slay” (EtyAC/DAK).
The root was given as ᴹ√NDAG “slay” in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/102, 115), but unglossed ᴹ√NDAK appeared in the same document (PE22/112), and verb ᴹQ. nak- was sometimes glossed “kill” as well (PE22/120). The root appeared as √NDAK “hew, slay” in the Outline of Phonology from the 1950s (OP2: PE19/91) and again as √NDAK “hew” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (LVS: PE22/156). This introduction of the sense “hew” in the 1950s and 60s may be a partial restoration of the senses of the 1920s root ᴱ√dag-, which meant more that just “slay”. If so, √NDAK may be compared with √MAK which had a similar variety of meanings (“cleave, sword, slay, fight, forge”); see that entry for details.