pêl (i bêl, construct pel) (fence, fenced field, garth), pl. peli (i pheli), the latter forms reflecting the stem pele- (root __, LR:380).
Sindarin
pêl
noun. *fenced field, [N.] fenced field
pêl
enclosure
pêl
fence, fenced field
pêl (i bêl, construct pel) (enclosure, garth), pl. peli (i pheli), the latter forms reflecting the stem pele- (root __, LR:380)
pêl
garth
pêl (i bêl, construct pel) (fence, fenced field, enclosure), pl. peli (i pheli), the latter forms reflecting the stem pele- (root __, LR:380)
pêl
enclosure
(i bêl, construct pel) (fence, fenced field, garth), pl. peli (i pheli), the latter forms reflecting the stem pele- (root PEL(ES), LR:380).
pêl
fence, fenced field
(i bêl, construct pel) (enclosure, garth), pl. peli (i pheli), the latter forms reflecting the stem pele- (root PEL(ES), LR:380)
pêl
garth
(i bêl, construct pel) (fence, fenced field, enclosure), pl. peli (i pheli), the latter forms reflecting the stem pele- (root PEL(ES), LR:380)
A noun appearing as an element is several later names such as Pelargir “Garth of Royal Ships” (RC/535) and Pelennor “Fenced Land” (PE17/65). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. pêl was glossed “fenced field, [Old English] tūn” under the root ᴹ√PEL(ES) (Ety/PEL(ES); EtyAC/PEL(ES)). The Old English word “tūn” means “enclosure” and was the ancestor of modern English “town”. It seems that as a suffix, -bel (mutated pel) could likewise refer to a settlement analogous to English “-ton, -ham”, such as in Calembel “Greenham” (RC/537).
In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road the form was pel (LR/380), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne indicated the actual form was pêl in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT46/8), in keeping with the principle that short vowels generally lengthened in monosyllables. This word has an unusual plural peli, where the final i was retained because it was originally non-final, preserved before an *s* > *h* that was ultimately lost: ancient plural pelesi > pelih(i) > modern plural peli.
Conceptual Development: Similarly derived words in Tolkien’s early iterations of the language include G. pless “fence, hedge” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√PELE “fence in” (GL/64; QL/73) and ᴱN. helai “fence” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s derived from primitive ᴱ✶pelesa (PE13/147).