_ n. _flat space, platform. Q. talan or talma. >> talan
Sindarin
tâl
noun. foot; [lower] end
tâl
flat space
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.
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.