Q. úcárima adj. “hard to do, difficult” (Category: Difficult)
A word glossed “hard to do, difficult” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, a negated form of cárima “able to be done” (PE22/156). This word is from the brief period in 1969 where Tolkien decided that the main negative root was √LA, and ú- meant only “bad, hard, difficult, unfavourable”.
Neo-Quenya: For most of the 1960s, the prefix ú- was used for negation, and thus úcárima is likely to be interpreted as “*undoable, unmakeable” for those Neo-Quenya writers that subscribe to u-negation; see the entry on the Quenya negative for discussion. To minimize ambiguity, I would instead use hraia or hranga to mean “difficult” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, and urucárima for “hard to make / do”.
Reference ✧ PE22/156 ✧ úkárima “hard to do, difficult”
Elements
ú- | “no, not, un-, in-; hard, difficult, bad, uneasy; hardly, with difficulty, ‘badly’” | ✧ PE22/156 (ū) |
cárima | “feasible, possible (to do), able to be done” |