√MA root. “interrogative base”
This root is the basis for Elvish question words. When it first appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien said ᴱ√MA was the “root of indef[inites]” (GL/55), and it served as the basis for the indefinitive suffix G. -(u)m and ᴱQ. -(u)ma (GL/55; PE14/42, 71). In the Gnomish Lexicon, question words were derived from the root ᴱ√DO instead: G. don “who”, G. dos “when”, G. dui “where”, etc. (GL/30). There are no signs of interrogative ᴱ√DO in Tolkien’s later writings, but indefinite -(u)ma survived until at least the late 1940s (PE23/99, 105).
By the time Tolkien wrote the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem around 1930, Quenya question words also generally began with ma-: ᴱQ. man kiluva kirya ninqe? “Who shall see a white ship?” (MC/213). This remained true thereafter, and the same seems to be true of Sindarin as well, though we have far fewer examples: S. ar·phent Rían Tuor·na: man agorech?, untranslated but apparently: “*and said Rían to Tuor: what have we done?” (VT50/5). The “interrogative base” √MA is mentioned in Quenya Notes from 1957 (QN: PE17/162) and again in notes from around 1968 (VT47/19).
√MA was not completely divorced from indefinites in Tolkien’s later writings, however, given late 1940s indefinite suffix -(u)ma (PE23/99, 105) and his use of Q. ma for an indefinite neuter pronoun “(some)thing” as opposed to the indefinite personal pronoun Q. mo “(some)one” (PE22/154; VT42/34). The exact relationship of interrogative √MA with these indefinite forms is not entirely clear, however.
References ✧ PE17/161-162; PE23/135, 144; VT47/19
Glosses
Derivatives
ᴱ√DO root. “*interrogative base”
An interrogative root in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s that served as the basis for various Gnomish question words (GL/30). It was distinct from ᴱ√MA, which at this early stage was the basis for the indefinite marker, not interrogatives (GL/55). It seems that by the late 1920s, ᴱ√MA has become an interrogative, as seen in the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem. There is no sign of interrogative ᴱ√DO past Tolkien’s earliest writings.
Reference ✧ GL/30 ✧ do-
Derivatives
‽ᴱ√MA root. “root of indef[inite]”
Reference ✧ GL/55 ✧ ‽ma- “root of indef[inite]”
Related
Derivatives