The root {ᴱ√TASA >>} ᴱ√TAÞA “count” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, with derivatives ᴱQ. tanta “number” and ᴱQ. tasta- “reckon” (QL/90). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. {tant >>} tast “number” and {tath- >>} G. tathna- “number, count, reckon” (GL/69), the later the basis for {udathriol >>} G. udathnarol as in G. Nínin-Udathriol “[Battle of] Unnumbered Tears”, the earliest name for S. Nirnaeth Arnoediad of the same meaning. In Tolkien’s later writings, counting and number words were based on the root √NOT (Ety/NOT; PE17/62).
Early Primitive Elvish
noto
root. *damp, wet
noso
root. *damp, wet
Derivatives
Variations
- NOTO ✧ QL/067
taþa
root. count
Changes
TASA→ TAÞA ✧ QL/090Derivatives
Variations
- TASA ✧ QL/090 (
TASA)
noto Reconstructed
root. count
Derivatives
An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√NOSO and ᴱ√NOTO, as well derivatives like ᴱQ. nos (noss- or nots-) “wetness, damp” and ᴱQ. note “drizzle” (QL/67-68). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon like G. nosc or noth “damp, wet” (GL/61), and deleted forms like G. doth (nd-) “drizzle, damp; moisture” were probably based on the strengthened form of this root (GL/30). There seems to be a last example of this root in ᴱN. nûd “wet” vs. ᴱQ. nōtē in the Early Noldorin Grammar from the 1920s (PE13/122), but there are no signs of this root having this meaning thereafter. It was likely displaced by √NOT “count”.