tel

root. close, end, complete, come to an end

Tolkien used words beginning with tel- or tyel- for “end” and these were intermixed with “roof” words, but the exact arrangements evolved over Tolkien’s life. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, the base root was ᴱ√TELE “cover in” with derivatives like ᴱQ. tel (teld-) “roof” and ᴱQ. telimbo “canopy; sky”, along with a vocalic extension ᴱ√TEL+U “to finish, close, end, complete” having derivatives like the verb ᴱQ. telu- of the same meaning and ᴱQ. telwa “last, late” (QL/90-91). Both the base root and its extension had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. teld “roof” vs. G. telu “end” (GL/70).

In the Early Qenya Word Lists of the 1920s, however, Tolkien gave the words ᴱQ. talle “ended” and ᴱQ. talma “end” (PE16/143, 144) versus ᴱQ. telu- “cover, roof” and ᴱQ. telume “firmament” and (QL/134, 142). Indeed, in The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had unglossed ᴹ√TEL with the vocalic extension ᴹ√TELU having derivatives like ᴹQ. telme “hood, covering” and ᴹQ. telume/N. telu “roof (of heaven)” (Ety/TEL). The primitive verb form ✶telu- “roof in” appeared in Quendian & Common Eldarin Verbal Structure (EVS1: PE22/98) from the 1930s and again in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure from the early 1950s (EVS2: PE22/135), and finally one more time with the gloss “roof in, put the crown on a building” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 (WJ/411).

The “end” words went down a different route. In The Etymologies Tolkien gave ᴹ√KYEL “run out, come to an end” as an etymological variant of ᴹ√KEL “go, run (especially of water), ✱flow”; ᴹ√KYEL had derivatives like ᴹQ. tyel- “to end, cease” and ᴹQ. tyelima “final” (Ety/KEL, KYEL). Tolkien mentioned this etymological variation of √KEL “flow” vs. √KYEL “cease, come to an end” in both the first and second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s and around 1950 respectively (TQ1: PE18/58; TQ2: PE18/103), and the two variants were also mentioned in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 (PE22/114). However, in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure of the early 1950s Tolkien gave √TEL “close, end, complete” with vocalic extension telu “roof in” (PE22/135), a paradigm repeated in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, though with a bit less certainty:

> The stem ✱TELE, the primary sense of which appears to have been “close, end, come at the end” ... This was possibly distinct from ✱tel-u “roof in, put the crown on a building”, seen in Q telume “roof, canopy” ... But ✱telu may be simply a differentiated form of ✱TELE, since the roof was the final work of a building (WJ/411).

The conceptual development seems to be 1910s ᴱ√TELE “cover” vs. ᴱ√TEL-U “end” >> 1920s ✱ᴱ√TALA “end” vs. ᴱ√TELU “cover” >> 1930s-1950 ᴹ√KYEL “end” vs. ᴹ√TEL(U) “✱cover” >> early 1950s √TEL “end” vs. √TELU “roof in”. Thus Tolkien ultimately came full circle back to his original root forms, but with reversed meanings.

See also the root √TELES for discussion of the conceptual shifts in the derivation of Q. Teleri “Hindmost”.

telu

root. roof in, put the crown on a building

tel

roof

tel noun "roof" (LT1:268). Rather tópa in Tolkiens later Quenya.

tyel

end

tyel (1) noun "end", stem tyeld- as in the pl. form tyeldi (FS, KYEL; the pl. form tyeldi_ was misread as "tyelde" in the Etymologies as printed in LR; cf. VT45:25 for this correction)_. Cf. tyelma.

tel-

verb. to end, finish (intr.)

tyel-

verb. end, cease

tyel- (2) vb. "end, cease" (KYEL)

tel

noun. end

metta

end

metta noun "end"; Ambar-metta "world-end, the end of the world" (EO); mettarë *"end-day" = New Years' Eve in the Númenórean calendar and the Steward's Reckoning, not belonging to any month (Appendix D). The word Mettanyë, heading the final part of the poem The Trees of Kortirion, would seem to be related (LT1:43)

tópa

roof

tópa noun "roof" (TOP)

tópa-

verb. roof

tópa- vb. "roof" (TOP)

tele

noun. end, rear, hindmost part

meth

noun. end

meth

noun. end

methen

adjective. end, final

orthel-

verb. to roof, screen above

tele

end

(i dele, o thele), pl. teli (i theli). In ”Noldorin”, the pl. was telei (LR:392 s.v. TELES).

telu

roof

(noun, high roof) telu (i delu, o thelu) (dome), pl. tely (i thely);

telu

roof

(i delu, o thelu) (dome), pl. tely (i thely);

tel-

verb. to end, finish, be done

meth

end

(noun) 1) meth (i veth), pl. mith (i mith). Note: the word is also used as an adjective ”last”. 2) (rear, hindmost part) tele (i dele, o thele), pl. teli (i theli). In ”Noldorin”, the pl. was telei (LR:392 s.v. TELES). 3) ( maybe primarily ”last point in line; last of a series of items”) #methed (i vethed), pl. methid (i methid). Isolated from the name Methedras, the last in a line of mountain peaks.

medui

adjective. end

adj. end, final, last. Ai na vedui Dúnadan. Mae g'ovannen. 'Ah! At last, Dúnadan ! Well met !'. m > v after preposition.

methed

noun. end

methed

noun. end

A word for “end” attested in later writings as an element in the names Methed-en-Glad “End of the Wood” (UT/153) and possibly Methedras “Last Peak” of the Misty Mountains (LotR/429; RC/366). The word methed is clearly a noun in the first name, but Methedras might actually be the adjective [N.] methen “end” + ras(s) “peak” with *nr* > *dhr*, since Tolkien sometimes represented dhr as dr in drafts of The Lord of the Rings. Compare draft [N.] Caradras vs. published Caradhras.

lanc

sudden end

(sharp edge, sudden end, brink), pl. lainc, coll. pl. langath.

manadh

final end

(i vanadh) (fate, fortune [usually = final bliss]), pl. menaidh (i menaidh).

meth

end

(i veth), pl. mith (i mith). Note: the word is also used as an adjective ”last”.

methed

end

(i vethed), pl. methid (i methid). Isolated from the name Methedras, the last in a line of mountain peaks.

methen

end

(adj.) methen (lenited vethen; pl. methin) (VT45:34)

methen

end

(lenited vethen; pl. methin) (VT45:34)

nass

sharp end

(point, angle, corner), construct nas, pl. nais.

orthel

roof

(verb.) orthel- (i orthel, in erthelir for archaic in örthelir) (screen above);

orthel

roof

(i orthel, in erthelir for archaic in örthelir) (screen above); 

toba

roof over

(i** doba, i** thobar) (cover). Cited as a ”Noldorin” infinitive in -o (tobo).**

tobas

roof, roofing

(i** dobas, o thobas), pl. tebais (i** thebais) for archaic pl. töbais (VT46:19)

neg

noun. end