Q. norta- v. (ta-causative) “to ride, [lit.] make run (specially used of riding horses or other animals)” (Category: to Ride)
A verb for “ride” in notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s as a causative verb based on the root √NOR “run”, thus more literally “make run, specially used of riding horses or other animals” (PE17/168). As examples of its use, Tolkien gave the phrases nortanen “I rode” and onortanen rokko “I rode a horse”. The function of the prefix o- in the latter phrase isn’t entirely clear, but Vyacheslav Stepanov suggested it might be o- “together”, so that “I rode a horse = I made a horse run together [with me]”. If so, it may be the case that o- is used when the verb has a direct object (onortanyes “I ride [together with] it”) and is omitted when the verb has no object (nortal sí “you ride now”).
Conceptual Development: See the entry for ᴱQ. lehta- “ride” for a discussion of earlier “ride” verbs.
References ✧ PE17/168
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| nortanen | past 1st-sg | “I rode” | ✧ PE17/168: with ellipsis of the object |
| onortanen | past 1st-sg | “I rode” | ✧ PE17/168: [meaning of “o-” prefix unclear] |
Elements
| nor-¹ | “to run (or leap, of animals or men)” |
| -ta | “causative verb suffix” |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √NOR > norta- | [norta-] | ✧ PE17/168 |
ᴱQ. lehta- v. “to ride, move (tr.)” (Category: to Ride)
This verb first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in its root form ᴱ√LEHE “come, be sent, approach”, with a past tense lenge (QL/52). At this point its Qenya stem form is probably something like ᴱQ. *lé-, since “h ... between vowels > ɣ > vanished” in the early Qenya of the 1910s (PE12/18). The English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s had a similar verb ᴱQ. lehe- or ᴱQ. lehta- “ride”. See the entries for √LEN and √LED for later iterations of these roots.
References ✧ PE15/76; PE16/132
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| lehtane | past | ✧ PE15/76 |
Element In
Derivations