tolodh;
Sindarin
tolothen
ordinal. eighth
tolothen
ordinal. eighth
anglennatha i varanduiniant erin dolothen ethuil
will approach the Bridge of Baranduin on the eighth day of Spring
toloth
cardinal. eight
toloth
eight
tollui
ordinal. eighth
A Sindarin word for “eighth” appearing as {tolthui >>} tollui in notes on numbers associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, an adjective form of tolodh “eight” using the suffix -ui (VT42/25; VT42/31-32 note #37). In author’s note 5 of that document, Tolkien said that tolthui was from the Southern dialect of Sindarin, and that in modern pronunciation this had become long voiceless lh (VT42/27). Earlier drafts of The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor had tolhui “eighth” (VT42/10), likely reflecting this modern pronunciation.
It is possible that the revision {tolthui >>} tollui also reflects this change of pronunciation of lth, but Patrick Wynne suggested (and I agree) that it actually reflects the change of Q. {toltea >>} toldëa “eighth” from the same document (VT42/31-32 note #37). This indicates the underlying root was revised from {√TOLOT >>} TOLOD, a root change appearing in other documents from this period (VT47/31-33). If so, then the ancient ld would in Sindarin develop into lð and then into voiced ll, so that tollui with voiced long ll would be the expected pronunciation.
Conceptual Development: The King’s Letter from around 1950 had mutated dolothen “eighth” (SD/129), likely based on earlier [N.] toloth “eight” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT) with a different adjective suffix -en. The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. ungra “eighth” based on {ung >>} G. uvin “eight” (GL/75).
tollui
eighth
tollui (lenited dollui). (VT42:15; Tolkien may have abandoned the form [t]olothen occurring in lenited form dolothen in an earlier source, SD:129)
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)
tolhui
ordinal. eighth
tolhui
ordinal. eighth
tollui
ordinal. eighth
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
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).
tolthui
ordinal. eighth
tolthui
ordinal. eighth
toloth, tolodh;