A name the Sindarin used for the Petty Dwarves when they first believed they were only animals, a combination of the plural of lavan “animal” and the plural of tad-dal “two-legged” (WJ/388).
Sindarin
tad-dal
adjective. two-legged, two-legged, *biped
tad-dal
noun/adjective. biped, two-legged animal
levain tad-dail
collective name. Petty Dwarves, (lit.) Two-legged Animals
Levain tad-dail
noun. two-legged animals
levain (pl. of lavan “animal, four-footed beast”), tad (“two”) + tail (pl. of tal “foot”)
tad-dal
two-legged
(lenited dad-dal), pl. tad-dail.
tad-dal
biped
(also as adj. ”two-legged”) *tad-dal (i dad-dal, o thad-dal), pl. tad-dail (i thad-dail)
tad-dal
biped
(i dad-dal, o thad-dal), pl. tad-dail (i thad-dail)
tad-dal
two-legged
(adj. and noun ”biped”) tad-dal (lenited dad-dal), pl. tad-dail.
tad
cardinal. two
tâd
cardinal. two
tâd
cardinal. two
The usual Sindarin word for “two” derived from ✶tata, a variant of √ATATA that was the basis for Q. atta “two” (PE17/14; VT42/27; Ety/TATA). It appears with both a short vowel as tad and a long vowel as tâd. I think the long-vowel form is the most correct one, but the short-vowel form is used for prefixes or when the word is not emphasized in a phrase.
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. atha “two”, but this was deleted and revised to G. atha as the “pl. 3rd person pronoun” (GL/20) and no new word for “two” was given.
tâd
cardinal. two
- tâd (in compounds tad-, as in tad-dal ”two-legged”), 2) (adjectival prefix) ui- (twi-, both).
tâd
two
(in compounds tad-, as in tad-dal ”two-legged”)
ui
two
(twi-, both).
A word for “two-legged” = “✱biped” appearing only in its plural form tad-dail (WJ/388), a combination of tâd “two” and the lenited plural of tâl “foot”.