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Q. tancata- v. (ta-formative) “to make firm, fix, confirm” (Category: Sure, Certain)

Q. tancata-, v. (ta-formative) “to make firm, fix, confirm” (Category: Sure, Certain)

This one is tricky. Q. tankata- is the cognate of N./S. tangad(a)- which is the normal example Tolkien used to justify the N./S. past tense suffix -ant, via analogy with half-strong past tense N./S. tangant and Q. tankante.

However, according to Q. descriptions, this verb would be expected to have a weak past **tankatáne. Thus I think tankata- actually represents conceptual vacillations on Tolkien’s parts from divergent ideas for the evolution of past tenses of Q and S, which he seems not to have resolved.

As evidence of this, see Tolkien’s aborted attempt to devise a new origin for the S past tense suffix on PE22/157:

Make a Q. past continuous. was eating. mātante. istante, oryante, ortante. (?More) like (?aorist) in syntax. and also helps to explain wide[?] use of -ant as past in S. [added underneath] better mātānē > mātane. istane (PE22/157).

References ✧ PE17/76; PE22/157

Glosses

Variations

Inflections

tankatalye aorist 2nd-sg-polite ✧ PE17/76
tankante past; half-strong-past ✧ PE17/76
tankatealye present 2nd-sg-polite ✧ PE17/76

Elements

-tā “verb suffix (transitive), causative” ✧ PE17/76

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

tankātā- > tankata [taŋkātā] > [taŋkatā] > [taŋkata] ✧ PE22/157

ᴹQ. tankata- v. “to make fixed or firm, confirm” (Category: Sure, Certain)

Reference ✧ PE22/114 ✧ tañkatā́ “make fixed, firm, confirm”

Cognates

Derivations