Q. fanta- v. (ta-formative) “to veil, cloak, mantle” (Category: to Hide, Conceal)
The Quenya verb form of the root √PHAN meaning “veil, cloak, mantle”, appearing in a lengthy discussion of this root from the mid-1960s (PE17/173-180). In the last draft of these notes Tolkien specified that fanta- was a ta-formative verb from √PHAN + tă, originally with both a strong past and perfect based directly on the root: fáne [“veiled”] and afánie [“has veiled”] (PE17/180). In modern times its past has become a weak past fantane, through presumably its strong perfect survived.
Neo-Quenya: In a 2023-11-21 post on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested this word might also apply to sound, so having the additional sense “*muffle”.
References ✧ PE17/174-176, 179-180; VT43/22
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| fantanē- | past | ✧ PE17/180: later [weak] past tense substituted for older strong past tense | |
| †fāne- | past; strong-past | ✧ PE17/180 | |
| fantaner | past plural | “cloaked” | ✧ PE17/174 |
| fantaner | past plural | “veiled” | ✧ PE17/175 |
| afāniē- | perfect; strong-perfect | ✧ PE17/180 |
Elements
| √PHAN | “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” | ✧ PE17/179 |
| ✶-tă | “verb suffix (intransitive)” | ✧ PE17/180 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶phantā- > fanta- | [pʰanta-] > [ɸanta-] > [fanta-] | ✧ PE17/174 |
| √phan- > fanta- | [pʰanta-] > [ɸanta-] > [fanta-] | ✧ VT43/22 |