tol-

verb. to come

The basic Sindarin verb for “to come”, well attested from the 1930s-1960s and derived from the root √TUL of similar meaning (Ety/TUL; PE17/166; PE22/168; VT44/25). The Sindarin o was the result of the usual sound change whereby [[s|short [u] became [o]]] in Sindarin’s phonetic development.

Conceptual Development: A verb G. tul- appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, but there its meaning was “(1) bring; (2) come to” (GL/71), and in one place Tolkien said its original meaning was “to support” (GL/69). This is in keeping with the broader meaning of the early root ᴱ√TULU, which was glossed “fetch, bear, bring; move, come; (originally) uphold, support, bear, carry” (QL/95).

Tol-ereb

noun. lonely island (Tol-eressea)

toll (“island”) + ereb (“isolated, lonely”)

tol

noun. island, (steep) isle rising with sheer sides from the sea or from a river

tol-in-gaurhoth

place name. Isle of Werewolves

The name of Tol Sirion after it was inhabited by Sauron and his minions, translated “Isle of Werewolves” (S/156), a combination of tol(l) “island”, the plural in of the definite article i and the class-plural of gaur “werewolf” using the suffix hoth “host” (SA/gaur, hoth).

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name was Tol-na-Gaurhoth (SM/311, LR/284).

tol(l)

noun. island, (high steep-sided) isle

The most common Sindarin word for “island”, strictly speaking only for islands with sheer sides as opposed to [N.] caer for flat islands. It was a derivative of the root √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things)” (VT47/10-11). In most names it appears as tol, probably as a semi-prefix, but as an independent word it is probably toll (Ety/TOL), especially given its Quenya cognate Q. tollë (VT47/13, 28).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where it appeared as G. tol “an isle (with high steep coasts)” (GL/71), probably already a derivative of the root ᴱ√TOLO as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Tol Eressëa; QL/94). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s it appeared as ᴱN. dol “island” (PE13/142), but that seems to have been a transient idea since it was N. toll “island” in The Etymologies of the 1930, again derived from the root ᴹ√TOL, more specifically from the primitive form ᴹ✶tollo (Ety/TOL²). The form tol appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings, and in several places he emphasized that it was for islands with steep sides (RC/333; VT47/28).

Tol-in-Gaurhoth

noun. isle of werewolves

toll (“island”) + in (pl. gen. article) + gaur (“werewolf”) + hoth (class plural suffix) #[HKF] with collective plurals ending in -hoth, the article can be optionally singular, cf. Naur dan i ngaurhoth.

tolo

verb. come!

tol

come

tol- (i dôl, i thelir). The present tense tôl is attested (WJ:254). MAKE COME, see FETCH

tol

come

(i dôl, i thelir). The present tense tôl is attested (WJ:254).

toll

island

toll (i doll, o tholl, construct tol), pl. tyll (i thyll)

toll

island

(i doll, o tholl, construct tol), pl. tyll (i thyll)

tol galen

place name. Green Isle

An island in the river Adurant translated “Green Isle” (S/123), a combination of tol(l) “island” and the lenited form of calen “green” (SA/tol, calen).

Conceptual Development: The name N. Tol-galen also appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/305) and at one point in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s was considered as name for Tol Brandir (TI/271).

tolodh

cardinal. eight

The Sindarin number “eight” derived from the root √TOLOD, probably from primitive ✱✶tolodō, where the [[s|[d] became [ð] after a vowel]] as usual.

Conceptual Development: The earliest attested word for “eight” was G. uvin in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s (GL/75), replacing rejected ung. In The Etymologies from the 1930s it became N. toloth from the root ᴹ√TOLOTH, similar to but not quite the same as ᴹQ. tolto from the root ᴹ√TOLOT (Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT).

In some notes from the 1950s, Tolkien used S. tolod (PE17/95), apparently deciding both Quenya and Sindarin were derived from the same root √TOLOT. Later still, toloth reappeared, but it was rejected and replaced by tolodh (toloð: VT42/25, 31). When Tolkien revisited the Elvish number system in the 1960s, he changed the t to a d in the root form for “eight” (VT47/11) and established tolodh as its Sindarin form (VT48/6).

Neo-Sindarin: I personally prefer tolodh as the Sindarin word for “eight”, but some Neo-Sindarin writers use the older (and perhaps better known) toloth. It seems Tolkien had considerable trouble deciding on the primitive root for “eight”, so any of these forms could be valid (VT47/31).

Tol(l)ondren

noun. stone isle

toll (“island”) + gond (“stone”) + ren (adjectival suffix)

tolod

cardinal. eight

tolodh

cardinal. eight

Tolkien emended toloth to tolodh, cf. VT/42:31 (and also VT/48:6). If we are to follow him, a word such as tolothen would be incorrect, unless the two forms coexisted

tar-

verb. to stand

tollui

eighth

(lenited dollui). (VT42:15; Tolkien may have abandoned the form [t]olothen occurring in lenited form dolothen in an earlier source, SD:129)

tolophaen

cardinal. eighty

toloth

cardinal. eight

toloth, tolodh;

toloth

eight

tolodh;