Eldamo : Quenya : cas

Q. cas (car-) n. “head” (Category: Head)

Q. cas (car-), n. “head, [ᴱQ.] top, ⚠️summit” (Category: Head): ᴹQ. cas³ “case, vessel”; ᴱQ. ormin “top”

This is the Quenya word for “head”, with a stem form of car- because medial s generally became z and then r, but the s was preserved when final. This word can refer to the head of people and animals, as well as the metaphorical “head” (or top) of other things, in much the same way that Q. tál “foot” can refer to their base.

Conceptual Development: This word was established very early in Tolkien’s writing, being derived from the root ᴱ√KASA “head” all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/45), but its exact form varied as Tolkien changed his mind on the phonetic development of s in Quenya. Its form in the Qenya Lexicon was in fact ᴱQ. kar (kas-), since in Early Qenya period medial s survived and it was final s that became r (PE12/26). This kar (kas-) was the usual word for head in the 1910s and 20s, but in the typescript version of the Early Qenya Grammar Tolkien instead revised it to ᴱQ. kas (kast-) “head” (PE14/72 and note #5).

In noun declensions from the late 1920s and early 1930s, Tolkien instead had cas (car-), reflecting a conceptual shift in the phonologic development of s (PE13/112-113; PE21/22). However, for reasons unclear, the form ᴹQ. kár (kas-) was restored in The Etymologies written around 1937 under the root ᴹ√KAS “head” (Ety/KEM), despite s > z > r being the normal medial phonetic development in this period (PE19/33). This abnormal form slipped into The Lord of the Rings itself as part of the name Q. Eldacar “Elfhelm” (LotR/1038).

Tolkien generally used the form cas for “head” in his later writings (PE19/103; VT49/17), but in his notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien was forced to contrive another explanation for Eldacar:

What is -kar in names. How could it stand for helm? E.g. as stem *kāsā (√KAS, head) would give kāra, but in compound forms -kāsă > -kas. Would not an ă be lost before voicing of s or at least before z > r (PE17/114).

In this note Tolkien considered having Q. carma “helm” < kas-mā, but discarded the idea since he felt karma “tool or weapon” < KAR “do, make” + mā was the more likely meaning. He then said “Eldă|kāzā in compounds to -kār(ă) > -kar” despite its phonological implausibility, and indeed kāza/kára appeared in a discussion of helms within 1964 notes on Dalath Dirnen (DD: PE17/188).

As for the sense “top”, there is better evidence for it among Tolkien’s earlier writings, such as the glosses “head, top” in Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (PE14/79) and the early-1930s allative form kasta “up (to the top)” (PE21/22). I see no reason to assume this alternate meaning did not survive in Tolkien’s later conception of the language.

References ✧ PE17/188; PE19/103; VT49/17

Glosses

“head” ✧ PE19/103 (kas); VT49/17 (kas)

Variations

kára ✧ PE17/188
kas ✧ PE19/103; VT49/17

Inflections

kaz-

stem

✧ PE19/103

Element In

ᴺQ. candóla “crown of head”
ᴺQ. !cáralannë “bandana, kerchief, (lit.) head-cloth”
ᴺQ. !caraxo “skull, *(lit.) head-bone”
ᴺQ. !quaccas “tadpole, (lit.) frog head”
Q. carma¹ “helm”

Derivations

< ✶kas “head” ✧ PE17/188 (kāza)
- < √KAS “head”

Phonetic Developments

✶kāza > kára

[kāsa] > [kāza] > [kāra]

✧ PE17/188

ᴹQ. kas¹ n. “head” (Category: Head)

See Q. cas for discussion.

References ✧ EtyAC/KAS; PE21/16, 19, 22, 58

Glosses

“head” ✧ PE21/16; PE21/19; PE21/22
“top, summit” ✧ EtyAC/KAS (kas)

Variations

kas ✧ PE21/16; PE21/19; PE21/22; PE21/58 (kas); EtyAC/KAS (kas)

Inflections

kallo	ablative; assimilated	“from on high”	✧ PE21/22
karullo	ablative		✧ PE21/22
†kallut	ablative dual; assimilated		✧ PE21/22
†kallon	ablative plural; assimilated		✧ PE21/22; PE21/22
karillon	ablative plural		✧ PE21/22
kara	accusative		✧ PE21/22
kasta	allative; assimilated	“up (to the top)”	✧ PE21/22
karintan	allative plural		✧ PE21/22
†kastan	allative plural; assimilated		✧ PE21/22
karen	dative		✧ PE21/22
karo	genitive		✧ PE21/22
karmen	instrumental		✧ PE21/22
kasse	locative; assimilated	“on high”	✧ PE21/22
karissen	locative plural		✧ PE21/22
†kassen	locative plural; assimilated		✧ PE21/22
kas	nominative		✧ PE21/22
karin	nominative plural		✧ PE21/22
karwa	possessive		✧ PE21/22
karinwa	possessive plural		✧ PE21/22
kardon	similative		✧ PE21/22
†kasson	similative		✧ PE21/22
karindon	similative plural		✧ PE21/22

Element In

ᴹQ. kallo tallo “up and down (again)” ✧ PE21/22

Cognates

N. câs “top, summit” ✧ EtyAC/KAS (câs)

Derivations

< ᴹ√KAS “head” ✧ Ety/KAS
< ᴹ✶kas “head” ✧ PE21/58 (kast)
- < ᴹ√KAS “head” ✧ PE18/35 (KAS)

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ√KAS > kas

[kas]

✧ EtyAC/KAS

ᴱQ. kas (kast-) n. “head, top, summit” (Category: Head)

See Q. cas for discussion.

References ✧ PE14/69, 71-72, 78-79; PE15/78; PE16/112-115, 136

Glosses

“head” ✧ PE14/69; PE14/71; PE14/72; PE16/113; PE16/136; PE14/71 (kar); PE14/72 (kar)
“head, top” ✧ PE14/79
“top, summit” ✧ PE15/78

Variations

kas ✧ PE14/69; PE14/71; PE14/72; PE14/79; PE15/78; PE16/112; PE16/113; PE16/136
kar ✧ PE14/71; PE14/72

Changes

kar >> kas ✧ PE14/71; PE14/72
kasi >> kasti ✧ PE14/72

Inflections

kallo	ablative	“from off (one’s) head, from the top of”	✧ PE14/79
kallo	ablative		✧ PE16/113
karullo	ablative		✧ PE16/113
kara	accusative		✧ PE16/112; PE16/113; PE16/136
kari	accusative plural		✧ PE16/112
karya	adjectival		✧ PE16/113
karíte	adjectival		✧ PE16/113
kasta	allative	“onto (one’s) head, to the top of”	✧ PE14/79
kasta	allative	“to the top”	✧ PE15/78
kasta	allative		✧ PE16/113
kariko	comitative		✧ PE16/113
†karde	dative		✧ PE16/113
karen	dative		✧ PE16/112; PE16/113
karur	dative dual		✧ PE16/114
karir	dative plural		✧ PE16/112
karu	dual		✧ PE16/112
karut	dual		✧ PE16/114
karo	genitive		✧ PE16/112; PE16/113
karu	genitive dual		✧ PE16/114
kari	genitive plural		✧ PE16/115
karion	genitive plural		✧ PE16/112
karinen	instrumental		✧ PE16/112
karínen	instrumental plural		✧ PE16/112
kasse	locative	“on the ... head (or top)”	✧ PE14/78
kasse	locative	“on (one’s) head, on top of”	✧ PE14/79
kasse	locative	“on top, on top of (with genitive)”	✧ PE15/78
kasse	locative		✧ PE16/113
kasisse	locative plural	“on the ... peaks”	✧ PE14/78
kasisse(n)	locative plural		✧ PE14/78
kas	nominative		✧ PE16/112; PE16/113
†karu	nominative dual		✧ PE16/112
karun	nominative dual		✧ PE16/112
karunt	nominative dual		✧ PE16/114
karin	nominative plural		✧ PE16/112; PE16/115
karika	partitive		✧ PE16/112
kari	plural		✧ PE14/69; PE16/112; PE16/115
kasi	plural		✧ PE14/72; PE15/78
kasti	plural		✧ PE14/72; PE15/78
†karanon	similative		✧ PE16/113
kardon	similative		✧ PE16/113

Element In

ᴱQ. kallo “off, from off, from on top of, from on”
ᴱQ. kasse “above”
ᴱQ. tára·kasse Taniqetildo, tára·kasisse hu·sórie “on the high top of Taniqetil, on the high peaks he sat” ✧ PE14/78
ᴱQ. tára·kasse Taniqetildo, tára·kasisse hu·sórie “on the high top of Taniqetil, on the high peaks he sat” ✧ PE14/78

Derivations

< ᴱ√KASA “head”

ᴱQ. kar (kas-) n. “head” (Category: Head)

See Q. cas for discussion.

References ✧ PE14/42-44, 46-47, 117; PE15/73; PME/45; QL/30, 45

Glosses

“head” ✧ PE14/42; PE14/43; PE14/43; PE14/117; PE15/73; PME/45; QL/45

Variations

kar ✧ PE14/42; PE14/43; PE14/43; PE14/44; PE14/117; PE15/73; PME/45; QL/45

Inflections

kallo	ablative	“from the top (of)”	✧ PE14/47
kasto	allative	“to the top (of)”	✧ PE14/47
kasse	locative	“on the ... head”	✧ PE14/46
kasse	locative	“on the head, on top of”	✧ PE14/47
kasi	plural		✧ PE14/43; PE15/73
kasti	plural		✧ PE14/117
#kas	stem		✧ QL/30
kas-	stem		✧ PE14/42; PE14/44; QL/45

Element In

ᴱQ. ankasse(a) “lofty, tall, (lit.) up-headed, high-headed” ✧ QL/30 (ankasse)
ᴱQ. tára·kasse Taniqetildo, tára·kasisse hu·sórie “on the high top of Taniqetil, on the high peaks he sat” ✧ PE14/46

Cognates

G. cas “head, skull”

Derivations

< ᴱ√KASA “head” ✧ QL/45

Phonetic Developments

ᴱ√KASA > kar

[kas] > [kar]

✧ QL/45