tarak

root. horn (of animals)

The earliest manifestation of this root was unglossed ᴱ√TARA⁽⁾ in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. taru “horn” and ᴱQ. tarukko “bull” (QL/89). It was originally given as ᴱ√TAŘA “chevaux de frise [fortifications of wooden spikes]”, but that sense and associated derivatives (“hedge” words) were transferred to ᴱ√TAÐA; see that entry for details. As for ᴱ√TARA² “✱horn”, it also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. târ “a horn” and G. tarog “ox” (GL/69).

The root ᴹ√TARAK “horn (of animals)” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. tarka/N. tarag of the same meaning, but the Noldorin word was also used of mountains, as seen in the name N. Taragaer “Ruddihorn” (Ety/TARÁK). The latter was an early precursor to the name S. Caradhras “Redhorn” in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s; Taragaer was eventually abandoned (RS/419, 433).

Derivatives

• ᴹ✶tarkā ✧ PE19/058
• ᴹQ. tarka “horn [of animals]” ✧ Ety/TARÁK
• N. tarag “horn; steep mountain peak” ✧ Ety/TARÁK

Element in

• ᴺS. soethor “drinking-horn”

Variations

• TARÁK ✧ Ety/TARÁK
• tā̀rakā́ ✧ PE19/058