STRONG I-A — Root vowel lengthening in basic verbs

The majority of Strong I preterites in Goldogrin belong to basic verbs (Strong I-A), i.e., verbs that are directly formed from a root without the addition of a derivative suffix, such as nag chew, gnaw < NAKA bite, cwel- fade, wither < QELE- perish, die, decay, fail, nor- run, roll < NORO run, ride, spin, gwidh- weave < GWIĐI- *weave, and tul- bring; come to < TULU- fetch, bear, bring; move, come.7

Goldogrin and Qenya also possessed a number of sonant verbs, i.e., verbs from roots with the vowels ḷ, ṇ, ṛ (e.g., KḶKḶ gather, SṆTṆ esteem, and MṚĐṚ grind in QL). These were all evidently Strong I-A verbs in origin, though this is not readily apparent in the descendant languages, primarily due to different developments of short ḷ, ṇ, ṛ versus long ḹ, ṇ̄, ṝ. For example, cwintha- (cwanthi) to fill seems to form its preterite by qualitative ablaut (substitution of one stem vowel for another), but it actually derives from vocalic lengthening of the vowel Ṇ in the root QṆTṆ: present stem *qṇt- > cwinth-, Strong I-A preterite stem *qṇ̄t- > cwanth-. Given the complexity of the phonological and analogical processes involved in the sonant verbs, they are presented in a separate section below, following the discussion of the weak verb classes.

STRONG I-B — Root vowel lengthening in derived verbs

Derived verbs consist of a root (usually verbal) + a derivative suffix (‑tha, ‑ta, ‑na, etc.). Sometimes the suffix changes the meaning of the root, e.g., making it causative; compare basic sog- drink with derived soctha- give to drink, quench, both from SOKO (PE12:85). But often a derivative suffix does not change the meaning of the root but merely acts as a sort of extension; e.g., antha-(1) give < ANA- give, send towards (PE12:31).

The derivative suffix used in the present tense of Strong I-B verbs does not appear in the preterite form, which instead exhibits the bare verb-stem conjugated in the same manner as the Strong I-A verbs. For example, cartha- make, finish consists of a stem car- (= KARA- do, make in QL) + derivative suffix ‑tha, while the preterite côri lacks the suffix ‑tha, being formed directly from the verb-stem car- with vocalic lengthening and addition of the suffix ‑i. The same vocalic changes that occur in the preterites of Strong I-A verbs (ā, ē, ō, ī, ū > ô, î, û, ai, au) also occur in Strong I-B verbs.

• antha-(1) (ōni) give.
• cacha-, also cancha (cachui or côgi) laugh.
• caltha- (côli) wax, grow, flourish. [caltha- << cal-.]
• cartha- (côri) make, finish. [cartha- << car-.]
• gôtha- or gai (gui) possess, have, hold.
• gwista (gwais) be ignorant of, not to know.
• hosta- (hûsi) gather, collect.
• intha-(2) (aini) go; fare, proceed.
• ista- (aisi) know, am aware, perceive, feel.
• rautha- (rôvi) hunt, chase, pursue.
• saptha- (†sôbi or sapthani) to dig, to bite into.
• teltha- (irregular pret. tîli) cover in (close with a roof, lid, canopy, etc.).
• tertha-, tercha- (irregular pret. tîri) devour, destroy.
• thin- or thinta- (thaini) skim.
• urna- (auri) blaze, burn (intr.). [urna- << urtha-, with no pret. given.]
• us- also usta- (ausi) leave, depart.

Numerous examples of Qenya Strong I-B preterites also occur in the Qenya Lexicon, though only two have direct equivalents in the Gnomish Lexicon:

• Gn. antha-(1) give, pret. ōni — Q anta- gives, pret. āne.
• Gn. rautha- hunt, chase, pursue, pret. rôvi — Q rauta- chase, hunt, pursue, pret. rāve.

The preterite gwais of gwista be ignorant of, not to know lacks the suffix ‑i. It is difficult to determine whether this is intentional or a slip; two other examples of Strong I preterites without final ‑i occur in GL: tath- count, pret. tôth (given as tôth[i] in the published text, on the assumption that this form was a slip), and cur- curdle, pret. caur — but both of these entries were deleted (a later version of the entry for cur- gives the preterite as cauri).

Two preterites in this group are called irregular: tîli, pret. of teltha- cover in, and tîri, pret. of tertha-, tercha- devour, destroy. Since these two preterites appear to be typical Strong I-B verbs, it is probable that irregular was meant to describe the Strong I-B class as a whole, in contrast to the far more common weak derived verbs, which outnumber the strong derived verbs by about three to one.

STRONG II-A — Nasal infixion in basic verbs

Most of the Strong II preterites in Goldogrin occur in basic verbs (Strong II-A) with stems ending in the voiced stops b, d, g from original p, t, k — the Qenya Phonology notes that the combinations mp, nt, nk were ones particularly favoured by Qenya (PE12:25), and clearly the same held true for Goldogrin. There are also a few Strong II-A verbs with stems ending in the spirants dh, th. Many Strong I-A verbs also have stems ending in b, d, g, dh, th, and it is not clear in most cases why some basic verbs with these final consonants formed their preterites by vowel lengthening while others employed nasal infixion. A few verbs of this form have both Strong I and Strong II preterites: gada- (gôdi, archaic †ganthi) join, gwidh- (gwaidhi, †gwinni) weave, hadha- (hodhi, †hanni) cling, and nag (nôgi and nanci) chew. The Strong II pret. †ganthi of gada- join is called archaic, and the poetic Strong II prets. †gwinni and †hanni are probably also older forms, suggesting that Strong II verbs tended to gravitate toward the dominant Strong I class.

Notably absent from the Strong II-A preterites are stems ending in r, l, s, v, w, m, n, ng, all of which are found as final consonants in the Strong I-A preterites; apparently stems ending in these consonants were not receptive to nasal infixion — clearly a factor in the dominance of the Strong I verbs, since this meant that a larger number of verb-stems were suitable for that class. Basic stems ending in f did allow for nasal infixion, but while there are seven Strong I-A verbs of this type, e.g., caf- (côfi) to taste, there is only one occurrence of a stem ending in f in the Strong II class, the Strong II-B derived verb tefla- (temfi) to scorn < TEFE (whence Q teve- (tembe, tēve) hate, dislike); see the discussion of Strong II-B verbs below.

Tolkien appears to have hesitated over the medial development of original mp, nt, nk in Goldogrin, and several Strong II-A preterites ending in ‑mpi, ‑nti as first written were later emended to ‑mphi, ‑nthi; e.g., gab- (gampi) bark >> gab- (gamphi),12 and hada (hanti) throw at >> hada (hanthi). None of the Strong II-A preterites ending in ‑nci were emended to ‑nchi, although an example of this change does occur in the sonant verbs (see below), in which the analogical pret. flinci of flig- hew was emended to flinchi. Tolkien did not carry out these changes systematically or completely; the impulse to emend ‑mpi, ‑nti, ‑nci >> ‑mphi, ‑nthi, ‑nchi seems to have died out after the L-entries in GL.13

STRONG II-B — Nasal infixion in derived verbs

The small Strong II-B class consists of derived verbs that form their preterite by nasal infixion. Just as in the Strong I-B class, the derivative suffix used in the present tense of Strong II-B verbs does not appear in the preterite, which is formed instead from the bare verb-stem, conjugated in the same manner as the Strong II-A verbs: tefla- to scorn, bare stem tef- > pret. temfi. There are only two verbs in GL that belong to this class:

• sibra-, †sib- (simpi) weep, whimper.
• tefla- (irregular pret. temfi) to scorn.

The pret. temfi is called irregular, probably for the same reason that two Strong I-B preterites were also labeled as irregular: it is far more common for derived verbs to have a weak preterite. A rejected earlier pencil entry gives this verb as Strong II-A: tef- (temfi-) to scorn. GL also has a rejected entry odra or od(2) (onti) am able, can that belongs to the Strong II-B verbs (odra, with bare stem od- > pret. onti).

All attested Strong II-B verbs end in the derivative suffixes ‑la (tefla- scorn) or ‑ra (sibra- weep, rejected odra can); in fact, the only preterites given in GL for derived verbs in ‑la, ‑ra are the three Strong II-B forms just cited. However, there are a substantial number of derived verbs in ‑la and ‑ra given in GL without any indication of the preterite form, e.g., fugla- smoke (a pipe) (cp. fug- (faugi) smoulder), rumla- make a noise (cp. rum noise); and fadra- to sate, weary; feed up (cp. fad enough), cwivra- awaken (intr.) (cp. cwiv- (cwaivi) am awake). While many of these verbs ending in ‑la, ‑ra would accommodate Strong II-B preterites — e.g., fugla- smoke, pret. *func(h)i; fadra- sate, pret. *fant(h)i — it is clear that others such as rumla- make a noise and cwivra- awaken would have to form their preterite in some other fashion, since their stems (rum-, cwiv-) end in consonants that are not receptive to nasal infixion.

Derived verbs in ‑tha:

• bactha- (bacthi) walk.
• ciloba- or ciloptha- (pret. always cilopthi) twitter, chirp, chirrup.
• cuitha- (cuithi) am alive, live.
• gratha- (grôthi, grathi) rub, scratch, fray.
• gultha- (gulthi) endure.
• gwirtha- (gwirthi, properly to uir) not to wish, not mean to, mean not to.
• haitha- (haithi) hie, go, fare, walk.
• lentha- (lenthi) come towards speaker, approach, draw near.
• lintha- (linthi and linthani) sound (tr.); strike or ring bell, etc.; play an instrument.
• mactha- (macthi) slay, kill.
• murtha- (murthi) dream.
• mútha- (mûthi) depart, go, leave.
• nactha- (nacthi) bite.
• nictha (nicthi) it is raining, hailing, is snowing.
• rôtha· (rôthi) embrace.
• sactha- (sacthi) fight.
• tortha- (torthi) scorch.

Several Weak I forms in GL were rejected. The entry baidha- to clothe (with no preterite given) replaced an earlier version deleted in ink: baitha- to clothe, pret. baithi. The verb bara- or barna- dwell in, till (tr.) land was first written as bartha-, and the entry originally included a preterite barthi that was subsequently struck out, perhaps at the same time that bartha- was emended to bara- or barna-. The verb dortha- to settle (tr. and intr.) originally included tr. pret. dorthi (Weak I) and intr. dorthani (Weak III), both of which were struck out and not replaced. The entry for sô- wash clean, bathe (tr. & intr.) was first written as sôtha- (sôthi) bathe, tr. & intr.

The verb gwirtha- not to wish is unusual in that it is an analogical present tense, said to be a new formation modeled after pret. gwirthi, which is properly the preterite of uir- not to wish. In the preterite form, the u- in uir- (neg. û- + îr- am willing) became consonantal u̯-, which regularly developed into gw- in initial position; thus *u̯irthi > gwirthi (compare u̯iri > gwir- look and u̯ar > gwar- watch, PE11:46).15 So while gwirthi was in origin a Weak II preterite formed by suffixion of ‑thi to uir-, it came to be perceived as the Weak I preterite of analogical gwirtha-.

Derived verbs in ‑ta:

• nosta- (nosti, ‑athi) am born.
• palta- (palti, ‑tathi) beat.

Derived verbs in ‑u:

• celu-, celwa- (celwi-) trickle.
• felu (felwi) seem.
• lenu, pl. lenwin (lenwi(r)) come towards speaker, approach, draw near.
• nelu (nelwi) ring (tr. & intr.).
• pelu- (pelwi) fence, enclose; usually in form gobelu-, gobelwi.
• telu- (telwi) close, end, finish.

An entry lenu- (lenwi) to stretch, extend in length, trail was deleted, probably because Tolkien decided to assign this verb the meaning come, approach instead (as above). The verb belu-, belwa- (beluthi) unroll, unfurl (intransitive); belly (of sails), swell was first written as belu- (belwi-) unroll, unfurl.

The entry for lenu come, approach cites plural forms for both the present and preterite tenses: present pl. lenwin, with lenwi(r) = pret. sg. lenwi, pret. pl. lenwir. Present plurals marked by the suffix ‑in are well attested in GL, e.g., na is, pl. nain; tû get, acquire, pl. tuin or tuvin; and û not to be, not to do, pl. uin(1) (this list is not exhaustive). The form lenwir is our only example of a preterite plural in ‑r, although the Gnomish Grammar refers to the existence in G. of an ‑r plural sign in verbs (PE11:10). The only other recorded example of a preterite plural in Goldogrin appears in the entry for the negative verb û- not to be, not to do, which originally included pret. ûthi, ûthin. Here ûthin has the plural ending ‑n instead of ‑r (the reading ‑n in the manuscript is clear). However, both ûthi and ûthin were struck out and not replaced.

Other:

• cacha-, also cancha (cachui or côgi) laugh.
• cwas- and cwath- (pret. to both is either cwanthi or cwasti) shake, nod, wag (tr. & intr.)
• na-(1) (thi) is. [thi << ni.]

The verbs cacha- or cancha laugh, cwas- and cwath- shake, nod, wag, and na-(1) is fall outside of the three main Weak I sub-categories, and all three have unusual preterite forms.

cacha-, cancha laugh has two preterites, cachui or côgi — in the manuscript, the ending ‑ui in the first form is clear; it cannot be read as **cachni or **cachai. This verb derives from the root KAKA laugh given in QL (Q kakin I laugh), perhaps by gemination of the second consonant: *kakka- > Gn. cacha-; compare Q hakka, Gn. hacha the hams, buttocks. The ungeminated stem is seen in the pret. côgi (< *kāk-).16 The stem of the alternate present tense cancha was formed instead by nasal infixion: *ka‑n‑k- > cancha (compare Q kankale laughter in QL). The final diphthong ‑ui in pret. cachui is puzzling. It might result from the final ‑a of cacha- becoming ‑o with the addition of pret. ‑i: *cacha-i > *cacho-i > cachui (oi regularly becomes ui in Goldogrin). A possible parallel occurs in the pair alfa swan, alfuil swan, the latter apparently from alfa + fem. ‑il (compare ainil, fem. form of Ain a God). However, given that alfa is from earlier alchwa (Q alqe), the ‑uil in alfuil may simply result from *alchw-il > *alchuil > alfuil, so this is not definitive corroboration of *a-i > ui in Goldogrin. The forms glóna- to dawn and glonaith it dawns (with apparent pronominal ‑ith; see Goldogrin Pronouns by Patrick H. Wynne) also serve as a counterargument to this development. On the other hand, there is a tendency in Goldogrin for a (of whatever origin) to become o before certain consonants in unstressed final syllables. The Gnomish Grammar states that unaccented ‑an universally becomes ‑on (PE11:13), as in coma disease (in which the ‑a is from ‑ē; cp. the Qenya cognate qāme), gen. comon, with the same change seen in dative comor. The change ‑as > ‑os is also attested, as in leptha finger pl. lepthos, and odinthas 17 with variant odinthos (ibid.). Perhaps the consonantal ı̯ in the original preterite suffix ‑ı̯ē (see the discussion of gôtha- (gui) possess above) had a similar effect in cachui to that of ‑n, ‑r, ‑s in comon, comor, lepthos.17

The verbs cwas- and cwath- shake, nod, wag (tr. & intr.) are clearly cognate with the root QASA in QL, whence Q qasa- (qasse) shake, flap, nod, rustle (intr.) The Goldogrin forms suggest that there were originally two variant roots *qas- and *qath-, which fell together as QASA in Qenya (in which intervocalic th became s) but remained distinct in Goldogrin (in which th was retained). cwanthi is a Strong II-A preterite, formed by nasal infixion of cwath-. cwasti appears to have originated as the Weak I preterite of a derived verb *cwasta- (compare nosta- am born, pret. nosti), perhaps a causative form make something shake or nod — and although the present tense of this derived verb did not survive, its preterite was absorbed into the paradigm of cwas-, cwath-, perhaps accounting for why these Goldogrin verbs are transitive and intransitive, while Q qasa- shake is only intransitive. On a separate page in GL there is another entry for cwas- wag, shake, flap (tr.), with Strong I-A preterite cwôsi. It is possible that this represents a different conception of this verb from that in the entry for cwas- and cwath-, or it could indicate that cwas- (cwôsi) came to be regarded as exclusively transitive in contrast to intransitive cwath-, with cwanthi and cwasti used as the preterites of either form.

The entry in GL for na-(1) is describes this verb as quite irregular, referring to the fact that the preterite thi and participle ol· derive from different roots than the present stem,18 a phenomenon called suppletion. The preterite of na-(1) as first written in GL was ni, a Weak I form from the same root as the present. This was replaced by thi, which also appears to be a Weak I preterite, the present tense of which would be *tha- is, although this form does not occur as an independent verb in the Goldogrin material. However, the causative/inchoative verbal suffix ‑tha (applied to verbal, adjectival, and nominal stems) is probably cognate; examples include captha- startle < cab- jump, leap, fairtha- set free < fair free, and fuitha to fall (of night); to grow dark < fui night. Compare the IE root *bheu-, *bhū- come into being, become, source of the verb to be in many of the descendant languages, including English be, Welsh bod, Latin fuī I have been, etc.19 This same IE root was the source of the Latin imperfect tense marker ‑ba- (amō I love, amābam I was loving), in light of which it seems unlikely to be coincidental that the Weak II and Weak III preterite suffixes ‑thi and ‑ni (see below) are identical in form to preterite thi and its earlier form ni. There is, however, no evidence suggesting that the Goldogrin preterite was a continuous or progressive past tense.

WEAK II-A — Suffixion of ‑thi in basic verbs

In most Weak II-A verbs, the suffix ‑thi is added directly to the present stem, whether this ends in a consonant or a vowel, e.g., gai to possess, pret. gaithi; ol- appear, seem, pret. olthi. In two instances, the final ‑a in the present stem is dropped before ‑thi is added: ciloba- chirp, pret. cilopthi; and sana- can, pret. santhi.

• ciloba- or ciloptha- (pret. always cilopthi) twitter, chirp, chirrup.20
• gai to possess (gaithi he had).
• haw-, hau (hui < hôwi; or hauthi) to lie.
• îr- (airi or irthi) am willing; will, intend to, mean to.
• lin- (laini & linthi) sound (intr.).
• ol- (ûli or olthi) appear, seem.
• pâ- (pôthi or pâthi) do, put.
• rô- (rûthi or rôthi) remain, stay, stand — (dat.) endure.
• sana- (sôni or santhi) can, know how to; have knowledge, craft or skill.
• sô- (sôthi; also sûvi and sûthi) wash clean, bathe (tr. & intr.)
• tir- (tairi or tirthi) look for, look out for, watch for, await, expect.
• tul- (tauli or tulthi) bring; come to.
• tur- (turthi, tauri) can, have power to.
• ug- (unthi) negative verb.
• uir- (uthairi or gwirthi) not to wish, not mean to, mean not to. [For gwirthi as the preterite of uir-, see the discussion of the Weak I verb gwirtha- above.]

Rejected Weak II-A forms in GL include en(1) (enthi) am called, an entry that was emended to enn name; and gwara- (gwarathi) wander, roam, travel (far), which was emended to gwada- with the same gloss, but with no preterite provided. Also, the entry in GL for the negative verb û- not to be, not to do originally included Weak II-A preterites ûthi and ûthin (singular and plural, respectively), but these were struck out. However, the Weak II-A verbs include another negative verb ug-, with pret. unthi. The entry for û- negative prefix with any part of speech (a separate entry from the verb û- not to be) states that this prefix also often occurred in the strengthened forms ug-, um-, un-, ub-. The strengthened forms ug- and un- are apparently used verbally in ug- (unthi), with ug- used for the present stem and un- for the preterite.

The verbs pâ- do, rô- remain, and sô- wash clean,21 in addition to their Weak II preterites (pâthi, rôthi, sôthi), also have alternate mixed-class preterite forms in which the Weak II suffix ‑thi is added to a Strong I-A form of the verb-stem (pâ- > pô-, rô- > rû-, sô- > sû-): thus pâ-, pret. pôthi; rô-, pret. rûthi; sô-, pret. sûthi. GL also includes a deleted entry fâ- (fothi) have, hold, possess that has a mixed-class form as its only preterite. sô- has a third preterite, the purely Strong I-A form sûvi (the etymology of which is discussed above under the Strong I-A verbs).

WEAK II-B — Suffixion of ‑thi in derived verbs

The Weak II-B verbs end in the derivative suffixes ‑ta, ‑tha and ‑u, ‑wa:

• belu-, belwa- (beluthi) unroll, unfurl (intransitive); belly (of sails), swell.
• enu-, enwa- (enuthi) am called, am named.22
• ilta- (iltathi) to stick in, prod, prick. [The preterite form only appears in the sentence on iltathi nin pieg *he stuck me with a pin.]23
• lantha- (lantathi) fall onto, settle on, alight. [lantha- << lanta-.]
• nosta- (nosti, ‑athi) am born.
• palta- (palti, ‑tathi) beat.

Rejected Weak II-B forms in GL include the entry canca- (cancathi) to laugh; the preterite was emended to canghathi, and then the entire entry was struck out, being replaced later in the same group of entries (listed under the headword cag a joke, jest) by cacha-, also cancha (cachui or côgi) laugh. The entry for elma- marvel at, admire originally included pret. elmathi, but this preterite was struck out and not replaced.24 The verb lantha- fall onto was lanta- as first written, and its pret. lantathi has a light pencil stroke through it, perhaps indicating that it was rejected (probably at the same time that lanta- was emended in pencil to lantha-).