ᴱ√ELE¹ root. “drive, push, thrust, send forth”
A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “drive, push, thrust, send forth”, with derivatives like “spear” and “thrust” (QL/35). It was also the basis for the rootᴱ√LEHE¹ “come, be sent, approach” (QL/52). There are indications in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon that Tolkien gradually gave up this root: he first gave the forms G. elta- “to thrust, dig, poke (inward)” and G. elt “a dig, a poke (probe)”, then apparently revised them to G. elta-/eltha- “draw, tug, lug” and G. elt “a tug, lug”, representing a semantic shift from “push” to “pull” (GL/32).
These Gnomish forms were all eventually deleted and replaced by G. eltha- “to alter, change” and G. elt “a change”. These replacements are sufficiently distinct in meaning that I think they represent the introduction of a new root *ᴱ√ELE² connected to “wonder” and “otherness”; see that entry for details. Meanwhile, it seems the Gnomish “thrust” words were transferred to the root ᴱ√ḶTḶ, as in G. ilta- “to stick in, prod, prick” (GL/51).
References ✧ QL/35, 52
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Derivatives