tâl

noun. foot; [lower] end

The Sindarin word for “foot”, derived from the root √TAL of similar meaning (SA/celeb; Ety/TAL). As an element in compounds, it could also refer to the “end” of something, especially the lower end, as in Ramdal “Wall’s End” (S/122; Ety/TAL). This word probably may be used metaphorically for the “foot” of things like mountains and pedestals.

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to G. tâl (tald-) “foot” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/68), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√TALA “support” as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT2A/Talceleb). Tolkien experimented with some variant forms like ᴱN. tail or taul in documents from the 1920s (PE13/123, 153), but N. tâl “foot” was restored in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√TAL “foot” (Ety/TAL) and Tolkien seems to have stuck with that form thereafter.

tâl

flat space

_ n. _flat space, platform. Q. talan or talma. >> talan

talan

flat space

pl1. telain** **_ n. _flat space, platform. Q. talan or talma. >> tâl

tâl

foot

(body-part and unit of measure) tâl (i dâl [LR:298], o thâl), also -dal in compounds; pl. tail (i thail). In LR:390 s.v.

tâl

foot

(i dâl [LR:298], o thâl), also -dal in compounds; pl. tail (i thail). In LR:390 s.v.

pôd

foot

(of animal) pôd (i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. pŷd (i phŷd).

pôd

foot

(i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. p**ŷd (i ph**ŷd).

telluin

sole of the foot

(i delluin, o thelluin), pl. tellyn (i thellyn). *Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” telloein, tellen (LR:384 s.v. *

tâl

noun. foot; (lower) end

tâl

noun. foot

pôd

noun. animal's foot

tāl

noun. foot

talam

root. flat space, flat space, [ᴹ√] floor, ground; base, root, foundation

tál

noun. foot, foot; [ᴹQ.] bottom, [ᴱQ.] lowest part

The Quenya word for “foot” derived from the root √TAL of similar meaning (PE19/103; VT49/17; Ety/TAL). Given its Sindarin cognate S. tâl (not ✱✱taul) its ancient stem form must have had a short vowel, with the long vowel in the uninflected form the result of the subjective noun case which lengthened the base vowel of monosyllables (PE21/76). Q. tál could also refer to the bottom of things (PE21/21, 76) analogous to English “foot of the mountain” and similar phrases.

Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was ᴱQ. tala “foot” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TALA “support” (QL/88), a form also appearing in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/88). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s it became ᴱQ. tál with plural tăli indicating an ancient short vowel (PE14/43, 76). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, ᴹQ. tāl had inflected forms with tal-, again indicating a short vowel in the stem (PE21/21), and likewise with the (1930s-style) genitive form talen in The Etymologies written around 1937 (Ety/TAL). Most of its later appearances also imply a short vowel in the stem, the main exception being the plural form táli in the 1950s version of the Nieninquë “poem”.