tumbo

noun. deep vale, valley, deep vale, valley, [ᴱQ.] dale

This word was used for “valley” or “vale” for much of Tolkien’s life. In notes from the 1940s Tolkien specified it was a “deep valley with hi[gh] sides though often a wide extent” (PE22/127) and in notes from the late 1960s Tolkien described it as a valley which was “more or less circular, but deeply concave, and had high mountains at the rim” (NM/351).

Conceptual Development: The earliest appearance of this word was as ᴱQ. tumbo “dale, vale” in the Qenya Lexicon as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√TUM(B)U (QL/95). It reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹQ. tumbo “deep valley under or among hills” derived from ᴹ√TUB (Ety/TUB), and again in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 as a derivative of ᴹ√TUB with the gloss “deep valley with hi[gh] sides though often a wide extent” as noted above (PE22/127).

In Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s it was given as the equivalent of Q. tumbalë “depth or deep vale” (PE17/81). In notes from the late 1960s it was described as a valley that was “more or less circular, but deeply concave, and had high mountains at the rim” as noted above, with a primitive form ✶tumbu (NM/351), the same primitive form it had in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/TUB). Thus it seems this word and its basic meaning was pretty well established in Tolkien’s mind.

tumbo

(deep) valley

tumbo (stem *tumbu-, given the primitive form ¤tumbu) noun "(deep) valley", under or among hills (TUB, SA:tum), "depth" (PE17:81). - In early "Qenya", the gloss was "dark vale" (LT1:269). See tumba.

Tumbolatsin

tumbolatsin

Tumbolatsin noun (place-name, apparently incorporating tumbo) (LAT)

tumba

adjective. deep valley, [ᴹQ.] deep, lowlying; [Q.] deep valley

The adjective ᴹQ. tumba “deep, lowlying” appeared in rough (and ultimately rejected) notes on irregular verbs from the Quenya Verbal System of the late 1940s as a derivative of ᴹ√TUB “fall low, go down” (PE22/127). In a 1961 letter to Rhona Beare tumba was glossed “deep valley” as an element in the Entish phrase Q. Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna Tumbaletaurëa Lómëanor “Forestmanyshadowed-deepvalleyblack Deepvalleyforested Gloomyland” (Let/308; LotR/467), but I think this is only an approximate translation, and the word is better understood as adjectival in sense: “✱like a deep valley”. As further evidence of this, in notes from the late 1960s the form tumba was changed to a more typical noun form Q. tumbo in the name Q. i Tumbo Tarmacorto “the Vale of the High Mountain Circle” (NM/351).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d treat this word as an adjective only, and use Q. tumbo for the noun.

tumba

deep valley

tumba noun "deep valley" (Letters:308; SA:tum and TUB gives tumbo "valley, deep valley"); apparently an extended form *tumbalë in tumbalemorna "deepvalleyblack" or (according to SA:tum) "black deep valley", also tumbaletaurëa "deepvalleyforested"; see Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna...

nal

dale, dell

nal, nallë noun "dale, dell" (LT1:261)