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.

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 of the 1940s 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 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.

Cognates

• S. tum “valley, vale, (deep) valley, vale; [ᴱN.] flat vale” ✧ SA/tum; NM/351

Derivations

• ✶tumbu “deep vale” ✧ NM/351
  • ᴹ√TUB “to fall low[?], go down (below normal ground level), (esp.) to go down (sink, dive) into water”

Element in

• Q. i Tumbo Tarmacorto “the Vale of the High Mountain Circle” ✧ NM/351
• Q. Tumbalemorna “deepvalleyblack” ✧ SA/tum
• Q. Utumno “Deep-hidden” ✧ SA/tum

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶tumbu > Tumbo	[tumbu] > [tumbo]	✧ NM/351

Variations

• Tumbo ✧ NM/351

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...

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.

Changes

• Tumba → Tumbo ✧ NM/351

Element in

• Q. tumbalë “depth, deep valley”
• Q. Tumbaletaurëa “Deepvalleyforested” ✧ Let/308

Variations

• Tumba ✧ NM/355 (Tumba)

Tumbolatsin

tumbolatsin

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

nal

dale, dell

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