Another name for the Bay of Belfalas (Côf Belfalas), appearing in a rejected section of Tolkien’s essay on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor (VT42/15). It is a combination of côf “bay”, gwaeren “windy” and the original name of the region: Bel. As pointed out by Christopher Tolkien, the “windy Bay of Bel” was mentioned in the poem “The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon” from the Adventures of Tom Bombadil. The section where this name appeared was rejected because Tolkien revised the history of the name Bel (UT/247), so it is possible that the name of the bay remained valid.
Sindarin
côf
noun. bay
côf
noun. bay
côf gwaeren bel
place name. Windy Bay of Bel
côf belfalas
place name. Bay of Belfalas
Sindarin name for the “Bay of Belfalas”, appearing in a rejected section of Tolkien’s essay on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor (VT42/15). It is a combination of côf “bay” and Belfalas. The section was rejected because Tolkien revised the history of the name Bel (UT/247), so it is possible that the name of the bay remained valid.
Conceptual Development: In draft maps for The Lord of the Rings from the 1940s, this bay was labeled N. Cobas “Haven” (TI/312, WR/434). The bay was unlabeled in the maps for the published version of The Lord of the Rings.
côf
bay
(noun) 1) côf (i gôf, o chôf, construct cof), pl. cŷf (i chŷf), 2) (small landlocked bay) hûb (i chûb, o chûb, construct hub) (harbour, haven), pl. huib (i chuib)
côf
bay
(i gôf, o chôf, construct cof), pl. cŷf (i chŷf)
hûb
bay
(i chûb, o chûb, construct hub) (harbour, haven), pl. huib (i chuib)
The earliest iteration of this word seems to be G. gobos “haven” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, cognate to ᴱQ. kôpa(s) (GL/40). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, Tolkien had ᴱN. cû “bay, cove”, again as a cognate of ᴱQ. kópa (PE13/141). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was N. hûb “haven, harbour, small landlocked bay” derived from the root ᴹ√KHOP (Ety/KHOP). In notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, Tolkien use S. côf “bay” in a pair of names: S. Côf Belfalas “Bay of Belfalas” and S. Côf Gwaeren Bel “Windy Bay of Bel”, but the section where it appeared was rejected (VT42/15).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use the 1930s form hûb for “bay”, because (a) it is the latest form that was not rejected and (b) is compatible with an attested Quenya form ᴹQ. hópa of the same meaning.