Q. #massa n. “bread” (Category: Bread)
A word for “bread” appearing as massa (VT43/12) or massë (PE17/52) in Tolkien’s later writings, most notably as an element in Q. massánië “breadgiver” (PM/404). It was in competition with, and possibly replaced, the word masta “bread”. The distinction between the two was discussed in notes from 1960s (PE17/52):
Assume a Primitive Eldarin derivation *mbassē “(baked) bread”. The other derivatives were *mbasta with short final, an infinitive or verbal noun formation denoting a single action of the stem .. and *mbazdā denoting the passive result of the action, and when used substantivally a single product of this: mbazda would thus mean baked or a baked thing ... In Quenya we have masse “bread” as a material, and masta “a cake or loaf” (zd > st).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I prefer to use massa as the typical word for “bread” rather than massë, to avoid conflict with other words like [ᴹQ.] masse “where”. I would also use masta as a more general word for baked goods, including bread but also other baked things like cakes and loafs.
References ✧ PE17/52; VT43/18
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
massamma | 1st-pl-exclusive-poss | “*our bread” | ✧ VT43/18 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
✶mbassē > masse | [mbassē] > [massē] > [masse] | ✧ PE17/52 |