√KANAT root. “four”
This root was established as the basis for “four” very early, though the earliest known Elvish word for “four” was actually ᴱQ. nelde from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/65), which became “three” later on (PE14/49). In the Gnomish Lexicon written soon after, the Gnomish word for “four” was G. cant (GL/25), and by the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, the Qenya word likewise became ᴱQ. kanta “four” (PE14/49, 82). The Quenya word kept this form thereafter, and the Noldorin form became N. canad in The Etymologies of the 1930s, where the root ᴹ√KANAT “four” explicitly appeared for the first time (Ety/KÁNAT). The words and root for “four” remained the same thereafter (VT42/24-26; VT47/15-16; VT48/10), with occasional minor (and transient) variations such as √KENET (VT47/41).
References ✧ VT42/24, 26; VT47/12, 15-16, 41; VT48/10
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