Ad. rahat- v. (triconsonantal-verb) “to break, rend” (Category: to Break)

Ad. rahat- v. (triconsonantal-verb) “to break, rend” (Category: to Break)

A verb appearing in the Lament of Akallabêth with the past-tense translations “broke” and “rent” (SD/247, VT24/12), so meaning “to break, rend”. In the final version of the Lament it appeared as yurahtam “they rent”. The initial element of this form is the 3rd persons masculine plural suffix yu- “they”, while its final element is the plural verbal suffix -m, both in agreement with the plural subject Bârîm “Lords”. This leaves the basic verb form rahta, which is the aorist tense according to the theories used here.

In the previous (second draft) version of the Lament, the verb form was urahta with the 3rd persons masculine singular suffix u- “he”, and no plural suffix -m. This is consistent with the subject in this version, which was the singular Bârun “Lord”.

Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/22) that this verb may be related to Q. rac- “to break” (MC/223). It could also be related to the contemporaneous ᴹQ. hat-¹ “to break asunder” (Ety/SKAT).

Conceptual Development: In the first draft of the Lament, the form was rakkhatū, indicating the earliest form of the verb may have had the verb stem rakhat- instead of later rahat-.

References ✧ SD/247, 311-312; VT24/12

Changes

Inflections

yurahtam 3rd-pl-masc aorist plural “broke” ✧ SD/247
yurahtam 3rd-pl-masc aorist plural “they rent” ✧ VT24/12
urahta 3rd-sg-masc aorist   ✧ SD/312
urahhata 3rd-sg-masc past   ✧ SD/312
rakkhatū past; draft “broke asunder” ✧ SD/311

Element In