Túna (also Tún) place-name, used of the hill on which Tirion was built (Silm, TUN, KOR), derived from a stem (TUN) apparently meaning simply *"hill, mound".
Quenya
túna
place name. Túna
Túna
hill, mound
túnarin
proper name. Túnarin
A replacement for Koreldarin in the drafts to the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2) from around 1950 (PE18/75), reflecting the change of the city’s name from Kôr to Túna.
ambo
hill, rising ground
ambo noun "hill, rising ground" (Markirya, PE17:92), "mount" (PE17:157), allative pl. ambonnar "upon hills" in Markirya (ruxal' ambonnar "upon crumbling hills") According to VT45:5, ambo was added to the Etymologies as a marginal note.
ambona
noun. hill
amun
hill
amun (amund-) noun "hill" (LT2:335; in Tolkien's later Quenya ambo)
coron
mound
coron (1) noun "mound" (SA); Coron Oiolairë ("Koron"), place-name: the "Mound of Eversummer" where the Two Trees grew. Also contracted Corollairë (WJ:401) and Corlairë (MR:107); both are spelt with an initial k in the sources.
coron
noun. mound, mound; [ᴹQ] globe, ball
A word glossed “mound” in the name Q. Koron Oiolaire “Mound Ever-summer” in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (SA/coron; WJ/401). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, ᴹQ. koron was glossed “globe, ball” and was derived from the root ᴹ√KOR “round” (Ety/KOR). If this was its primary meaning, then perhaps it could also refer to round hills as hemispheres. In The Etymologies, its stem form was korn- as indicated by its (Middle Quenya) genitive kornen, likely the result of the Quenya syncope; the same reduction in inflected forms may have applied to the later version of the word as well.
cumbë
mound, heap
cumbë ("k")noun "mound, heap" (KUB)
tundo
hill, mound
tundo noun "hill, mound" (TUN)
umbo
hill, lump, clump, mass
umbo, umbon noun "hill, lump, clump, mass" (PE17:93)
The name of the hill in Valinor where the Elves settled and built the city of Tirion (S/59). Its exact meaning is obscure, but it probably developed from the root ᴹ√TUN from which the related word [ᴹQ.] tundo “hill, mound” was also derived (Ety/TUN), so perhaps it simply meant “✱Hill”.
Conceptual Development: The first precursor of this name appeared towards the end of the Lost Tales: Tûn, the (?Gnomish) name of the Elvish city on the hill, replacing the older name of the city ᴱQ. Kôr (LT2/202), which in turn became simply the name for the hill itself. The name Tûn was probably inspired by Old English “tún (enclosed dwelling)”, from which modern English “town” developed (LT2/292).
In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, Tûn was replaced by its Quenya equivalent ᴹQ. Túna (LR/119), which was glossed “Hill City” (LR/222). The name ᴹQ. Tún/Túna appeared in The Etymologies as a derivative of the root ᴹ√TUN, from the primitive form ᴹ✶Tūnā̆ (Ety/TUN). This entry is the basis for the derivation given above. Christopher Tolkien noted that Tún was an “unlikely Quenya form”, but Tolkien might have imagined it developing for primitive ᴹ✶Tūnă after the short final -ă was lost.
In later writings, the city was renamed Tirion and Túna became the name of the hill, although this replacement was gradual and Túna sometimes appeared as the name of the city as well (MR/8, 180). The conceptual development of this name was therefore ᴱQ. Kôr (town and hill, LT1/122-3) >> (?G.) Tûn (town only, LT2/202, SM/87) >> ᴹQ. Túna (town only, LR/119, Ety/TUN) >> Q. Túna (town and hill, MR/8) >> Q. Túna (hill only, MR/180, S/59). See the entry on Tirion for further discussion of the development of related names.