tál

noun. foot, foot; [ᴹQ.] bottom, [ᴱQ.] lowest part

The Quenya word for “foot” derived from the root √TAL of similar meaning (PE19/103; VT49/17; Ety/TAL). Given its Sindarin cognate S. tâl (not ✱✱taul) its ancient stem form must have had a short vowel, with the long vowel in the uninflected form the result of the subjective noun case which lengthened the base vowel of monosyllables (PE21/76). Q. tál could also refer to the bottom of things (PE21/21, 76) analogous to English “foot of the mountain” and similar phrases.

Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was ᴱQ. tala “foot” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TALA “support” (QL/88), a form also appearing in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/88). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s it became ᴱQ. tál with plural tăli indicating an ancient short vowel (PE14/43, 76). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, ᴹQ. tāl had inflected forms with tal-, again indicating a short vowel in the stem (PE21/21), and likewise with the (1930s-style) genitive form talen in The Etymologies written around 1937 (Ety/TAL). Most of its later appearances also imply a short vowel in the stem, the main exception being the plural form táli in the 1950s version of the Nieninquë “poem”.

Cognates

• S. tâl “foot; [lower] end”

Derivations

• ✶tāl “foot”
  • √TAL “foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support”

Element in

• Q. attalya “biped, *(lit.) two-footed”
• ᴺQ. cantalya “four-legged, quadruped, (lit.) four-footed”
• Q. táli lantalasselingië “*with feet like the music of falling leaves” ✧ PE16/096
• ᴺQ. tallimë “ankle, (lit.) foot-link”
• Q. taltil “toe, *(lit.) foot-tip”
• Q. taltol “big toe”
• Q. Tyeleptalëa “Silver-footed”

Variations

• tal ✧ PE19/103
• tāl ✧ VT43/16; VT49/17

tâl

flat space

_ n. _flat space, platform. Q. talan or talma. >> talan

tâl

noun. foot; [lower] end

The Sindarin word for “foot”, derived from the root √TAL of similar meaning (SA/celeb; Ety/TAL). As an element in compounds, it could also refer to the “end” of something, especially the lower end, as in Ramdal “Wall’s End” (S/122; Ety/TAL). This word probably may be used metaphorically for the “foot” of things like mountains and pedestals.

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to G. tâl (tald-) “foot” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/68), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√TALA “support” as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT2A/Talceleb). Tolkien experimented with some variant forms like ᴱN. tail or taul in documents from the 1920s (PE13/123, 153), but N. tâl “foot” was restored in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√TAL “foot” (Ety/TAL) and Tolkien seems to have stuck with that form thereafter.

Cognates

• Q. tál “foot, foot; [ᴹQ.] bottom, [ᴱQ.] lowest part”

Derivations

• Os. tal
  • ✶tāl “foot”
  • √TAL “foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support”

Element in

• S. Celebrindal “Silverfoot” ✧ SA/celeb; SA/tal
• S. Labadal “Hopafoot”
• S. Ramdal “Wall’s End” ✧ SA/tal
• S. tad-dal “two-legged, two-legged, *biped”
• ᴺS. tallif “ankle”
• S. talraph “stirrup” ✧ UT/313
• ᴺS. talvad “footpath”

Variations

• tal ✧ SA/celeb; SA/tal

talan

flat space

pl1. telain** **_ n. _flat space, platform. Q. talan or talma. >> tâl

tâl

foot

(body-part and unit of measure) tâl (i dâl [LR:298], o thâl), also -dal in compounds; pl. tail (i thail). In LR:390 s.v.

tâl

foot

(i dâl [LR:298], o thâl), also -dal in compounds; pl. tail (i thail). In LR:390 s.v.

telluin

sole of the foot

(i delluin, o thelluin), pl. tellyn (i thellyn). *Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” telloein, tellen (LR:384 s.v. *

pôd

foot

(of animal) pôd (i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. pŷd (i phŷd).

pôd

foot

(i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. p**ŷd (i ph**ŷd).

tāl

noun. foot

Derivations

• √TAL “foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support”

Derivatives

• Q. tál “foot, foot; [ᴹQ.] bottom, [ᴱQ.] lowest part”
• Os. tal
  • S. tâl “foot; [lower] end”

Variations

• tal ✧ PE21/75

talam

root. flat space, flat space, [ᴹ√] floor, ground; base, root, foundation

Derivatives

• ✶talam “floor; flat space, platform, floor; flat space, platform, [ᴹ✶] ‘flet’; ground”
  • Q. talan “flat space, platform, flat space, platform; [ᴹQ.] floor, ground” ✧ PE17/052
  • Q. talma “flat space, platform” ✧ PE17/052
  • S. talan “platform, flat space, flet [Middle English = ‘floor’]” ✧ PE17/052
  • S. talf “wang, flat field, topographical flat area” ✧ PE17/052
• ✶talmā “basis”
  • Q. talma “basis, basis, [ᴹQ.] foundation, base, root; [ᴱQ.] end” ✧ PE21/80
• Q. talan “flat space, platform, flat space, platform; [ᴹQ.] floor, ground” ✧ PE17/052
• Q. talma “flat space, platform” ✧ PE17/052
• ᴺQ. talma- “to found”
• S. talan “platform, flat space, flet [Middle English = ‘floor’]” ✧ PE17/052
• S. talf “wang, flat field, topographical flat area” ✧ PE17/052

Elements

Word	Gloss
TAL	“foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support”

Variations

• talam ✧ PE17/052

tâl

noun. foot

tâl

noun. foot; (lower) end

Cognates

• ᴹQ. tál “foot; bottom” ✧ Ety/TAL

Derivations

• ᴹ√TAL “foot” ✧ Ety/TAL

Element in

• N. Celebrindal “Silverfoot”
• N. lheben teil brann i annon ar neledh neledhi gar godrebh “five foot high the door and three may walk abreast” ✧ TAI/150
• N. Rhamdal “Wall’s End” ✧ Ety/TAL
• N. Narothal “Firefoot” ✧ RS/351

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√TAL > tâl	[tal] > [tāl]	✧ Ety/TAL
ᴹ√TAL > teil	[tali] > [teli] > [teil]	✧ Ety/TAL

Variations

• tal- ✧ Ety/TAL

pôd

noun. animal's foot