Quenya 

tol

island, isle

tol noun "island, isle" (rising with sheer sides from the sea or from the river, SA:tol, VT47:26). In early "Qenya", the word was defined as "island, any rise standing alone in water, plain of green, etc" (LT1:269). The stem is toll-; the Etymologies as published in LR gives the pl. "tolle" (TOL2), but this is a misreading for tolli (see VT46:19 and compare LT1:85). The primitive form of tol is variously cited as ¤tolla (VT47:26) and ¤tollo (TOL2).

lónë

noun. *isle, isle, [ᴹQ.] island, remote land difficult to reach

An element in the name Q. Avallónë “Outer Isle”, thus likely “[remote] isle”.

Conceptual Development: A similar form ᴹQ. lóna “island, remote land difficult to reach” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as the only derivative of the root ᴹ√LONO (Ety/LONO). This root was connected to the ablative element ᴹ√ “✱from” (EtyAC/LŌ, LONO), so “remote land” is likely the original meaning. This word lóna was an element of the name ᴹQ. Avalóna “Outer Isle”, which ultimately became Q. Avallónë (S/260), a name that Tolkien said was “signifying the isle that lies nighest unto the Valar in Valinor” (MR/175 footnote). Thus lónë appears to be an updated version of ᴹQ. lóna, probably of similar meaning.

Derivations

  • “ablative, from a place within the world”

Element in

tol

noun. island, (steep) isle

tollë

noun. island, (steep) isle

The most common Quenya word for isle or island, appearing in both a short form tol (toll-) and longer form tolle, an element in many names. Strictly speaking it only “applied to those [islands] that rose up from the water with sudden and sheer sides” (VT47/28), but in practice it seems to have been used for all kinds of islands. Its short form tol was used as pseudo-prefix in names (VT47/13, 28) such as Tol Eressëa and Tol Uinen, and thus in more ordinary phrases its longer form tolle is more likely.

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. tol (toll-) appeared with the gloss “an island, any rise standing alone in water, plain of grass, etc.” derived from the root ᴱ√TOLO (GL/94). It appeared as toll- “isle” in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/94) and as tolle “island” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s beside its shorter form tol (PE16/139).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s it appeared as ᴹQ. tol “island” as a derivative of primitive ᴹ✶tollo (Ety/TOL²). It appeared several times in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, in one place as short tol < ✶tollă (VT47/26 note #35), but Tolkien gave a more complete description in the final version of these documents:

> TOL “stand up (out and above neighbouring things)” ... A frequent topographical application was to islands that rose up from the water (sea or river) with sheer sides ... Cf. Q. tolle “a steep isle”. This was used in form Tol- as a prefix to the isle’s name: as in Tol-eressea (VT47/10 and p. 13 note #14).

Cognates

  • S. tol(l) “island, (high steep-sided) isle” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/13

Derivations

  • TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/10; VT47/28
  • tollă “island” ✧ VT47/26
    • TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ VT47/26

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
tol > tol[tol]✧ SA/tol
TOL > tolle[tolle]✧ VT47/10
tollă > tol[tolla] > [toll] > [tol]✧ VT47/26
TOL > tolle[tolle]✧ VT47/28

Variations

  • tol ✧ SA/tol; VT47/26
  • tolle ✧ VT47/13; VT47/28
Quenya [SA/tol; VT47/13; VT47/26; VT47/28] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lóna

island, remote land difficult to reach

lóna (2) noun "island, remote land difficult to reach" (LONO (AWA) ). Obsoleted by #1 above?

Sindarin 

tol(l)

noun. island, (high steep-sided) isle

The most common Sindarin word for “island”, strictly speaking only for islands with sheer sides as opposed to [N.] caer for flat islands. It was a derivative of the root √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things)” (VT47/10-11). In most names it appears as tol, probably as a semi-prefix, but as an independent word it is probably toll (Ety/TOL), especially given its Quenya cognate Q. tollë (VT47/13, 28).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where it appeared as G. tol “an isle (with high steep coasts)” (GL/71), probably already a derivative of the root ᴱ√TOLO as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Tol Eressëa; QL/94). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s it appeared as ᴱN. dol “island” (PE13/142), but that seems to have been a transient idea since it was N. toll “island” in The Etymologies of the 1930, again derived from the root ᴹ√TOL, more specifically from the primitive form ᴹ✶tollo (Ety/TOL²). The form tol appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings, and in several places he emphasized that it was for islands with steep sides (RC/333; VT47/28).

Cognates

  • Q. tollë “island, (steep) isle” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/13

Derivations

  • TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/10

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
TOL > Tol[tol]✧ VT47/10

Variations

  • Tol ✧ RC/333; RC/333; UT/054; VT47/13; VT47/28
  • tol ✧ SA/tol
Sindarin [RC/333; SA/tol; UT/054; VT47/13; VT47/28] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tol

noun. island, (steep) isle rising with sheer sides from the sea or from a river

Sindarin [Ety/394, S/438, VT/47:13, RC/333-334] Group: SINDICT. Published by

toll

island

toll (i doll, o tholl, construct tol), pl. tyll (i thyll)

toll

island

(i doll, o tholl, construct tol), pl. tyll (i thyll)

Primitive elvish

tollă

noun. island

Derivations

  • TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ VT47/26

Derivatives

  • Q. tollë “island, (steep) isle” ✧ VT47/26
Primitive elvish [VT47/26] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

tol

noun. island, isle

toll

noun. island, isle

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. tol “island” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶tollo “island” ✧ Ety/TOL²
    • ᴹ√TOL “*stand up” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶tollo > toll[tollo] > [toll]✧ Ety/TOL²
ᴹ✶tollo > tyll[tolli] > [tulli] > [tylli] > [tyll]✧ Ety/TOL²

Variations

  • Tol ✧ LR/284; LR/305; LR/407; TI/345; WR/326
  • Toll ✧ TI/268
Noldorin [Ety/TOL²; LR/284; LR/305; LR/407; TI/268; TI/345; WR/326] Group: Eldamo. Published by

toll

noun. island, (steep) isle rising with sheer sides from the sea or from a river

Noldorin [Ety/394, S/438, VT/47:13, RC/333-334] Group: SINDICT. Published by

Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Qenya 

tol

noun. island

Cognates

  • N. toll “island, isle” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶tollo “island” ✧ Ety/TOL²
    • ᴹ√TOL “*stand up” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶tollo > tol[tollo] > [toll] > [tol]✧ Ety/TOL²

Variations

  • tolle ✧ EtyAC/TOL²
Qenya [Ety/TOL²; EtyAC/TOL²] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lóna

noun. island, remote land difficult to reach

Derivations

  • ᴹ√LON “*island” ✧ Ety/AWA; Ety/LONO

Element in

  • ᴹQ. Avalóna “Outer Isle” ✧ Ety/AWA; Ety/LONO

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√LONO > lóna[lōna]✧ Ety/AWA
ᴹ√LONO > lóna[lōna]✧ Ety/LONO

Variations

  • lóna ✧ Ety/AWA; Ety/LONO
Qenya [Ety/AWA; Ety/LONO] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Middle Primitive Elvish

lon

root. *island

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. lóna “island, remote land difficult to reach” ✧ Ety/AWA; Ety/LONO

Variations

  • LONO ✧ Ety/AWA; Ety/LONO
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/AWA; Ety/LONO; EtyAC/LONO] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tollo

noun. island

Changes

  • tollotollo “island (in sea)” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Derivations

  • ᴹ√TOL “*stand up” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. tol “island” ✧ Ety/TOL²
  • N. toll “island, isle” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Element in

Variations

  • toll- ✧ PE22/126
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/TOL²; EtyAC/TOL²; PE22/126] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

mineth

noun. island

A word in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “island” (GL/57), probably connected to the root ᴱ√MINI in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon as suggested by Christopher Tolkien, as it was the basis of other words for raised objects like ᴱQ. mindon “turret” (LT1A/Minethlos; QL/061).

Derivations

  • ᴱ√MINI “*tower” ✧ LT1A/Minethlos

Element in

  • G. Minethlos “Argent Isle” ✧ GL/57; LT1A/Minethlos
Gnomish [GL/57; LT1A/Minethlos] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Noldorin

dol

noun. island

Early Noldorin [PE13/142] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

tolle

noun. island

tolome

noun. island

A noun in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “island”, a more elaborate form of ᴱQ. tol of similar meaning (QL/94). It also appeared as tolome “island” in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/94).

Early Quenya [PME/094; QL/094] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tol

noun. island, isle

Cognates

  • G. tol “isle (with high steep coast)” ✧ LT1A/Tol Eressëa

Derivations

  • ᴱ√TOLO “*stick up” ✧ LT1A/Tol Eressëa; QL/094
    • ᴱ√TOŁᵂO “[unglossed]” ✧ PE12/016

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√TOLO > Tol[toll] > [tol]✧ QL/094

Variations

  • tolle ✧ PE16/139
  • Tol ✧ QL/094
Early Quenya [LT1/085; LT1A/Tol Eressëa; LT1A/Tolli Kuruvar; PE16/139; PE16/147; PME/094; QL/094] Group: Eldamo. Published by