Q. lelya-¹ v. (ya-formative) “to go, proceed (in any direction), travel” (Category: to Go)
A verb appearing in the Quendi and Eldar essay (Q&E) from 1959-60, glossed “go, proceed (in any direction), travel” and with a strong past form lende, derived from primitive ✶ledja- based on the root √LED (WJ/363).
Conceptual Development: This verb went through quite a number of revisions, the most stable element being its past form lende “went”. The first iteration of this verb appeared in The Etymologies as ᴹQ. lesta- “to leave” [presumably *led+ta] under a draft entry for the root ᴹ√ELED “go, depart, leave” (Ety/ELED), but that entry was deleted and the meaning of the extended root was revised to ᴹ√ELED “star-folk”. Elsewhere in The Etymologies Tolkien had lenna- “go” [presumably *led+na] with past form lende “went, departed” under the root ᴹ√LED “go, fare, travel” (Ety/LED; EtyAC/LED). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road Christopher Tolkien gave linna “go” (LR/368), but in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne stated the actual form was lenna (VT45/27).
The past form lende appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writings of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, typically glossed “went” (LR/47, 56, 72; SD/310), but sometimes “came” (LR/56; SD/56; PE17/65; VT27/7). These two translations were not contradictory if we assume the verb meant “proceed (in any direction)” and so could mean “go” or “come” depending on circumstance and the relative position of the speaker. Tolkien did not given another version of its stem form until lelya- [led+ya] appeared in the Q&E essay of 1959-60, as noted above (WJ/363). Another related verb form lenda- “go free” [le-n-d+a] appeared in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 beneath a never-before-seen root √TIG and verb tinga- “go (for a long while)”, both verbs derived via nasal-infixion from their root, but an “X X” was written in the margins next to √TIG, which seems to indicate this was a transient idea (PE22/157 and note #70).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume the stem form is lelya- “travel, go, proceed (in any direction)”. I would further assume lelya- implies a longer journey (“travel”) than the most generic verb for “go”, which is Q. men-; see that entry for discussion.
References ✧ WJ/363
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| lende | past; strong-past | ✧ WJ/363 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Q. #lenna- v. (na-formative) “to come” (Category: to Come)
References ✧ PE16/96; PE17/65, 139
Inflections
| (e)lende | past; strong-past | ✧ PE17/139 | |
| lende | past; strong-past | ✧ PE16/96; PE16/96 | |
| lendes | past 3rd-sg; strong-past | “he came” | ✧ PE17/65 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √LED > (e)lende | [lende] | ✧ PE17/139 |
ᴹQ. lenna- v. (na-formative) “to go, depart; to come” (Category: to Go)
References ✧ Ety/LED; EtyAC/LED; LR/47, 56, 72; SD/56, 310; VT27/7
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Inflections
| lende | past; strong-past | “went, departed” | ✧ Ety/LED |
| lende | past; strong-past | “went” | ✧ LR/47; LR/56; SD/310 |
| lende | past; strong-past | “came” | ✧ LR/56 |
| lende | past; strong-past | “has gone” | ✧ LR/72 |
| lende | past | “came” | ✧ VT27/7 |
| lendien | perfect 1st-sg | “I have come” | ✧ SD/56 |
| nilendie | perfect 1st-sg; reformed-perfect pronoun-prefix | “I have come” | ✧ SD/56 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ√LED > lenna | [ledna-] > [lenna-] | ✧ Ety/LED |
ᴹQ. lesta- v. (ta-formative) “to leave” (Category: to Depart, Go Away)
References ✧ Ety/ELED
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| lende | past; strong-past | ✧ Ety/ELED |
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ√ELED > lesta- | [ledta-] > [lesta-] | ✧ Ety/ELED |