ᴹQ. ranta n. “course” (Category: Path)
The word ᴹQ. ranta “course” appeared in a page of the verbal roots from Quenya Verbal System (QVS) written in 1948 as a derivative of ᴹ√RAT “go in a line (as a road)” (PE22/127), likely as a cognate to S. rant which Tolkien often translated as “course” or “lode” (LotR/341; RC/775). While the page of 1948 roots containing ranta was rejected, the Sindarin word rant survived, most notably as an element in Celebrant “Silver Lode”. For “lode” compare Old English “lād”, basis for Modern English “lode”, which originally meant “way, course”.
Conceptual Development: A possible precursor is ᴱQ. raume “running, course” in the Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√RAẆA having to do with running and chasing (QL/79).
Neo-Quenya: Notes from the late 1960s had S. rant “course” derived from primitive ✶rantā meaning “tracks and trails of travellers or explorers that had become habitual and could be followed by others”, though in this note Tolkien said it “was also, especially in Sindarin, applied to the courses of rivers” (NM/363). In this document the root √RAT meant “to find a way” and “applied to persons journeying in the wild; to travel in roadless land; and also to streams and rivers and their courses” (NM/363). All this seems to indicate [ᴺQ.] ranta “course” remains viable for purposes of Neo-Quenya, though unlike its Sindarin equivalent I would not use it for veins of ore.
Reference ✧ PE22/127 ✧ “course”
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
ᴹ√RATA > ranta | [ranta] | ✧ PE22/127 |