This word only occurs in the place name Imloth Melui, a vale where roses grew
Sindarin
talath
noun. flat surface, plane
talath
noun. flat land, plain, (wide) valley
talath
noun. flat lands, plain, vale
Derivations
- √TAL “foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support”
Element in
- S. Talath Dirnen “Guarded Plain” ✧ S/168; SA/talath
- S. Talath Rhúnen “East Vale” ✧ SA/talath
Variations
- talad ✧ PE17/150 (
talad)- Talath ✧ S/168
talu
adjective. flat
imloth
noun. flower-valley, flowery vale
imrath
noun. long narrow valley with a road or watercourse running through it lengthwise
lad
noun. plain, valley
imlad
noun. deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides (but a flat habitable bottom)
im
noun. valley, valley; [N.] dell, deep vale
An archaic element meaning “valley” that survived only in compounds, a derivation of ✶imbi “between” (VT47/14). The basic sense “valley” was transferred to its more elaborate form imlad as in Imladris “Rivendell”, and †im “valley” fell out of use due to its conflicted with other words like the reflexive pronoun im.
Conceptual Development: N. imm “dell, deep vale” was mentioned in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√IMBE, alongside its elaboration N. imlad of the same meaning (Ety/IMBE).
Derivations
Element in
- S. imlad “deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides, gap, gully, deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides, gap, gully, [N.] dell, glen” ✧ VT47/14
- S. Imloth Melui “Lovely or Sweet Flower-valley” ✧ VT42/18
- S. imrad “path or pass between mountains or trackless forest, *(lit.) valley path” ✧ VT47/14
- S. imrath “long narrow valley with road or watercourse running through it lengthwise, *(lit.) valley course”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶imbi > imm > im [imbi] > [imbe] > [imb] > [imm] > [imm] > [im] ✧ VT47/14 Variations
- im ✧ VT42/18; VT47/14
tum
noun. deep valley, under or among hills
imrad
noun. a path or pass (between mountains, hills or trackless forest)
talath
flat surface
(i dalath, o thalath) (plane, flatlands, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath, LR:353 s.v. DAL. Compare the Talath Dirnen or ”Guarded Plain” mentioned in the Silmarillion.
talath
wide valley
(i** dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, plane, flatlands, plain), pl. telaith (i** thelaith). *Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath, LR:353 s.v.*
talath
dal
Dirnen or ”Guarded Plain” mentioned in the Silmarillion.
talath
wide valley
talath (i dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, plane, flatlands, plain), pl. telaith (i thelaith). Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath_, LR:353 s.v.
talath
plain
(noun) 1) talath (i dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, plane, flatlands, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath_, LR:353 s.v.
talath
plain
(i dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, plane, flatlands, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). *Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath, LR:353 s.v. DAL. Compare the Talath Dirnen or ”Guarded Plain” mentioned in the *Silmarillion.
talath
surface
(i dalath, o thalath) (plane, flatlands, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). *Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath, LR:353 s.v. DAL. Compare the Talath Dirnen or ”Guarded Plain” mentioned in the *Silmarillion.
talath
plane
talath (i dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, flatlands, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath_, LR:353 s.v.
talath
plane
(i dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, flatlands, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). *Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath, LR:353 s.v. DAL. Compare the Talath Dirnen or ”Guarded Plain” mentioned in the *Silmarillion.
talath
flat surface
talath (i dalath, o thalath) (plane, flatlands, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath_, LR:353 s.v.
talath
flatlands
talath (i dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, plane, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath_, LR:353 s.v.
talath
flatlands
(i dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, plane, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). *Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath, LR:353 s.v. DAL. Compare the Talath Dirnen or ”Guarded Plain” mentioned in the *Silmarillion.
palath
surface
1) palath (i balath, o phalath), pl. pelaith (i phelaith). 2) (flat surface) talath (i dalath, o thalath) (plane, flatlands, plain, [wide] valley), pl. telaith (i thelaith). Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath_, LR:353 s.v.
palath
surface
(i balath, o phalath), pl. pelaith (i phelaith).
laden
flat
1) laden (plain, wide, open, cleared), pl. ledin (for ”N” lhaden pl. lhedin, LR:368 s.v. LAT), 2) *talu (lenited dalu, analogical pl. tely). Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” dalw (LR:353 s.v. DAL; notice how dalath from the same root was changed to talath in Sindarin).
laden
flat
(plain, wide, open, cleared), pl. ledin (for ”N” lhaden pl. lhedin, LR:368 s.v. LAT)
talu
adjective. flat
Derivations
- √TAL “foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support”
talu
flat
(lenited dalu, analogical pl. tely). Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” dalw (LR:353 s.v. DAL; notice how dalath from the same root was changed to talath in Sindarin).
imloth
flowering valley
(pl. imlyth) (VT42:18).
imrath
valley
(long narrow valley with a road or watercourse running through it lengthwise) imrath (pl. imraith)
laden
plain
(adjective) laden (flat, wide, open, cleared), pl. ledin (suggested Sindarin forms for ”Noldorin” lhaden pl. lhedin, LR:368 s.v. LAT)
laden
plain
(flat, wide, open, cleared), pl. ledin (suggested Sindarin forms for ”Noldorin” lhaden pl. lhedin, LR:368 s.v. LAT)
lâd
valley
(lowland, plain), construct lad, pl. laid
lâd
plain
(valley, lowland), construct lad, pl. laid
nand
valley
1) nand (construct nan) (wide grassland, land at the foot of hills with many streams), pl. naind, coll. pl. nannath (VT45:36), 2) lâd (lowland, plain), construct lad, pl. laid, 3) (long narrow valley with a road or watercourse running through it lengthwise) imrath (pl. imraith).
nand
valley
(construct nan) (wide grassland, land at the foot of hills with many streams), pl. naind, coll. pl. **nannath **(VT45:36)
A word appearing as an element in the names S. Talath Dirnen “Guarded Plain” (S/168) and S. Talath Rhúnen “East Vale” (S/124). Christopher Tolkien gave this word the glosses “flat lands, plain” in The Silmarillion appendix (SA/talath).
Possible Etymology: This word was probably connected to the root √TAL “foot” in some way, which had other elaborations referring to flatness, such as √TALAM “a flat space” (PE17/52). Perhaps it was based on ✱√TALATH. In notes from 1964 (PE17/150; see below) Tolkien also considered giving the root √TALAT the sense “ground (bottom)”, so primitive ✱talatte is another possibility, though elsewhere √TALAT was usually a triconsonantal root unrelated to √TAL.
Conceptual Development: In earlier writings, this word was dalath. The first appearance of this earlier word was as ᴱN. dalath “vale” in the ᴱN. Nebrachar poem from around 1930 (MC/217). It appeared as N. dalath “flat surface, plane, plain” in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√DAL “flat” (Ety/DAL). In the contemporaneous Silmarillion drafts the name “Guarded Plain” appeared as N. Dalath Dirnen (LR/299). In Silmarillion drafts from the 1950s and 60s, this name was revised to S. Talath Dirnen (WJ/140).
Tolkien was vacillating on this issue as late as 1964, where in some etymological notes on the name Daleth Dirnen (DD) he first wrote: “DAL-, bottom, ground, (in Quenya > LAD-). Alter dalath to dalad, low lying / flat ground” but then above this wrote “X Dalath Dirnen. dalath won’t do = ‘plain’. {alter to talad. no that = slip, fall} TALAT = ground (bottom). hence TALAT- fall down” (PE17/150). Here he seems to have rejected dalath, but did not quite finish the transformation to talath, first considering talad as an alternative but rejected it because should mean “slip, fall” instead. He eventually settled on talath though, as indicated by the Silmarillion revisions mentioned above.