rig

root. wreathe, twine, wind about; wreath, garland, crown

This root first appeared as unglossed ᴹ√RIG in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. ríe/N. rhî “crown” and ᴹQ. rína/N. rhîn “crowned” (Ety/RIG). The root was then altered to ᴹ√RIƷ (EtyAC/RĪ). A similar root √RIK with derivation ✶riknā >> Q. rína (all unglossed) appeared in the first layer of composition for the Outline of Phonology from the early 1950s, but this section was revised in green ink around 1970 and the root did not appear in the revisions (PE19/85-86 and note #79).

The root √RIG appeared a number of times in Tolkien’s writings from the 1950s and 60s, variously glossed “wreath, garland, crown” (PE17/59), “twine” (PE17/182), and “twine, wreathe” (PM/347), but √RIƷ “wind about, wreathe” also appeared in notes on the names of Galadriel and Celeborn from 1968 (NM/349, 353). Thus it seems Tolkien vacillated between √RIG and √RIƷ with a brief aside to √RIK in the early 1950s.

ñ(g)alatā-rigelle

feminine name. maiden crowned with a garland of radiance

rig-

verb. to try, strive

rig-

verb. to twist, contort; *to confuse, disarrange, upset

ritha-

verb. to try, strive

A verb for “to strive, ✱try” based on the root √RIK in notes from the 1960s (PE17/167). As suggested by Christopher Gilson, this appears to be a draft of Tolkien’s attempt to define the phrase “try harder” in Quenya (ultimately á ricë amrícië). This Sindarin verb has a number of difficult-to-interpret forms. The base verb was given as {reitha >>} raitha, cognate to Q. rihta and thus probably derived from ✶riktā-. However the expected result of primitive ✶riktā- would be S. rítha- or ritha- because of how spirants vocalized and became vowels, so that [ikt] > [ixθ] > [īθ] > [iθ]; compare [N.] critha- “reap” < ᴹ✶k’rikta- (Ety/KIRIK).

Indeed, Tolkien gave several inflicted forms of this verb, all showing ritha-: rithant, rithas, rithessin, rithanen, apparently various transitive and intransitive past forms. Perhaps the uninflected verb form {reitha >>} raitha indicates some kind of a-affection occurring only in the uninflected verb form: [-ikta] > [-ixθa] > [-exθa] > [-eiθa], but if so the expected result would be the deleted {reitha} and not raitha, since [[s|[ei] > [ai] only in final syllables]] in Sindarin.

Neo-Sindarin: Given the rather tenuous nature of this verb, various Neo-Sindarin alternatives have been proposed, including ᴺS. rítha- by Elaran and ᴺS. rig- by myself [Paul Strack] as a direct cognate of Q. ric- “try”. However, I have gradually become more comfortable using S. ritha- as given by Tolkien, since I retain the use of some similarly derived Noldorin verbs such as [N.] critha- “reap” and ᴺS. ritha- “jerk, twitch, snatch” [from N. rhitha-].

rían

feminine name. Crown-gift

Wife of Huor and mother of Tuor (S/148), her name seems to be a compound of rî “crown” and ann “gift”, though it could also be rían “queen” used as a name.

Conceptual Development: When it first appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name was N. Rían (SM/35) but in later drafts it appeared as N. Rian with a short i (LR/131), which was its usual form in this period. In The Etymologies it appeared as N. Rhian glossed “Crown-gift”, which is the source of the gloss and derivation given above (Ety/RIG). In Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, the form S. Rían with a long í was restored (WJ/52).

dev-

verb. to try, to try, *seek opportunity, experiment

A verb for “to try” based on the root √NDEB in notes from the 1960s (PE17/167). As suggested by Christopher Gilson, this appears to be a draft of Tolkien’s attempt to define the phrase “try harder” in Quenya. Of the root √NDEB, Tolkien said it “too obviously = endeavor”, and he wrote another root √RIK below it, with a Sindarin verb form ritha- or raitha. It seems Tolkien here changed √NDEB >> √RIK, but in later notes from 1969 Tolkien had the root √NDAB “endeavor, try, seek opportunity” (PE22/151), indicating that the concept of √NDEB was not entirely abandoned.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would mainly use ritha- for “to try (put forth effort)”, but I think dev- is worth retaining with a different connotation: “to try, ✱seek opportunity, experiment”. In other words, you use ritha- “try” when you are uncertain whether you are capable of performing the action, and dev- “try” when you know you are capable, but are uncertain what the result of the action will be.

rî

wreath

rî (construct ri) (crown, garland), no distinct pl. form except with article (idh rî), coll. pl. ríath

raitha-

verb. to try, strive

reitha-

verb. to try, strive

rítha-

verb. to try, strive

rî

wreath

(construct ri) (crown, garland), no distinct pl. form except with article (idh rî), coll. pl. ríath

ric-

verb. to twist

A verb appearing in notes associated with Quendi and Eldar (Q&E) essay from 1959-60, given only in its perfect form iríkie “has twisted” and based on the root √RIK “twist” (VT39/9).

Conceptual Development: A similar verb ᴱQ. riqi- “wrench, twist” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s based on the early root ᴱ√RIQI or ᴱ√RIKI (QL/80).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume this verb was originally intransitive (“the road twisted and turned”) versus transitive [ᴹQ.] rihta- (originally = “make twist”), but in modern Quenya ric- “twist” is now used both transitively and intransitively for a more gentle twisting motion, as opposed to more rapid rihta- “jerk” (used only transitively).

nev-

verb. to try, to try, *seek opportunity, experiment

A verb for “to try” based on the root √NDEB in notes from the 1960s (PE17/167). As suggested by Christopher Gilson, this appears to be a draft of Tolkien’s attempt to define the phrase “try harder” in Quenya. Of the root √NDEB, Tolkien said it “too obviously = endeavor”, and he wrote another root √RIK below it, with Quenya verb forms rike or rihta. It seems Tolkien here changed √NDEB >> √RIK, but in later notes from 1969 Tolkien had the root √NDAB “endeavor, try, seek opportunity” with a Quenya verb form nauva “will try” (PE22/151), indicating that the concept of √NDEB was not entirely abandoned.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mainly use ric- for “to try (put forth effort)”, but I think nev- is worth retaining with a different connotation: “to try, ✱seek opportunity, experiment”. In other words, you use ric- “try” when you are uncertain whether you are capable of performing the action, and nev- “try” when you know you are capable, but are uncertain what the result of the action will be. I prefer nev- over the 1969 form ✱nav- because it has a Sindarin cognate S. dev-.

In 2024-08-19 post on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested this verb might be used with an adverb to describe someone’s approach to a task or situation, roughly equivalent to English “take” in phrases like “take something seriously”. For example: néves i hrangwe lungo “he tried the problem serious[ly] (with seriousness)” = English “he took the problem seriously”.

nav-

verb. to try

ría

wreath

ría noun "wreath" (PM:347)

rian

feminine name. Crown-gift