Q. vehtë n. “[a span of] life; habitat, haunt” (Category: to Live; Living; Life)
A noun for “life” appearing in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 derived from primitive {✶we’te [weʒte] >>} ✶weg-tē “activity, occupation” (PE17/189). Tolkien said that vehte meant:
not Life in general or as a principle, but (a period of) individual activity, as in vehtequentale “biography”. It was used therefore sometimes almost like nóre “land” - of the place where a person, people etc. lived and had their business, i.e. habitat, haunt. So Beleriand might be described as an Eldavehte, a habitation, haunt or place occupied by Eldar.
Thus vehte refers to a span of life or activity (temporal or physical), and in this sense was the basis for words like vehtequentalë “biography = *life-history” as well as various place names as habitats where people lived.
References ✧ PE17/189-190
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| ✶weg-tē > vehte | [wegtē] > [wektē] > [βektē] > [βextē] > [βexte] > [vexte] | ✧ PE17/189 |
| √WE’E > we’te > wehte > vehte | [weɣtē] > [wextē] > [βextē] > [βexte] > [vexte] | ✧ PE17/190 |