S. thar prep. and pref. “across, athwart, over” (Category: Across, Athwart)
A preposition or prefix for “across, over” or most properly “athwart” (PE17/34). In a rejected note Tolkien said that this word meant “across, properly not of position across or beyond but of act of crossing, or act[ual] position ‘athwart’ ... in names of districts, reached by crossing an obstacle, it became used like ‘Trans-’ (as ‘Transvaal’), as in Thargelion [Land beyond Gelion]” (PE17/34). Despite this note’s rejection I think this explanation remains valid. Thus thar is “across” in the sense “crossing” or “laying across” rather than “on the other side”. It was derived from the root √THAR of similar meaning (PE17/14; Ety/THAR).
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had preposition and adverb G. adr “across, athwart” as well as adjective G. {aðra >> athra >>} adr(a) meaning either “lying athwart” or “situated on far side” (GL/17). These Gnomish words were related to ᴱQ. arta, and thus clearly derived from the early root ᴱ√TARA having to do with crossing (QL/89).
References ✧ PE17/14, 34; SA/thar
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| ✶þara- > thar | [tʰara] > [θara] > [θar] | ✧ PE17/34 |
N. #thar prep. and pref. “across, beyond” (Category: Across, Athwart)
Reference ✧ Ety/THAR ✧ Thar- “across, beyond”
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| ᴹ√THAR > Thar- | [tʰar-] > [θar-] | ✧ Ety/THAR |
G. adr prep. and adv. “across, athwart” (Category: Across, Athwart)
References ✧ GL/17; PE13/108
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G. adr(a) adj. “lying athwart; situated on far side” (Category: Across, Athwart)
References ✧ GL/17, 20, 46; LT2A/Artanor
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