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

tal(da)

adverb. to the bottom

Derivations

• ✶tald(a) “to the foot” ✧ PE21/76; PE21/76

Element in

• ᴺQ. taldëa “bottom”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶tald > tăl	[tald] > [tal]	✧ PE21/76
✶talda > talda	[talda]	✧ PE21/76

Variations

• tăl ✧ PE21/76
• talda ✧ PE21/76

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

teil

tal

, the plural is cited in archaic form teil**.**

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).

tal

root. foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support

This root was the basis for “foot” words for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√TALA “support” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, but its derivatives were broken into two groups, the first with derivatives like ᴱQ. tala “foot” and ᴱQ. talas “sole”, and the second with derivatives like ᴱQ. tala- “carry, bring; weigh”, ᴱQ. talan “burden” and ᴱQ. talma “a weight, measure” (QL/88). This probably represents a blended root ᴱ√TALA and ✱ᴱ√DALA as suggested by Roman Rausch (HPG/§2.1), since there were derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon that began with both t- and d-: G. tâl “foot” and G. talc “upright” (GL/68) vs. G. dalech “(upright) stone” and G. daltha- “erect, set up”.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the root ᴹ√DAL “flat” seems unrelated to any of its meanings from the 1910s, but ᴹ√TAL “foot” was clearly a continuation of the 1910s root, with derivatives like ᴹQ. tál/N. tâl “foot” and an extended root ᴹ√TALAM “floor, base, ground” with derivatives like ᴹQ. talan (talam-)/N. talaf “floor, ground” (Ety/TAL). Both the root ᴹ√TAL “foot” and its extension ᴹ√TALAM “base, root, foundation” were mention in the contemporaneous Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants (PE21/56), whereas ᴹ√TAL “foot” was mentioned in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s (PE21/70). The extended form √talam- “flat space” appeared again in notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings written in the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/52), and both Q. tál and S. tâl “foot” appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings.

Derivatives

• ✶tāl “foot”
  • Q. tál “foot, foot; [ᴹQ.] bottom, [ᴱQ.] lowest part”
  • Os. tal
  • S. tâl “foot; [lower] end”
• ᴺQ. talaitë “footed”
• S. talath “flat lands, plain, vale”
• ᴺS. talu “flat”

Element in

• √TALAM “flat space, flat space, [ᴹ√] floor, ground; base, root, foundation”
• ᴺQ. pattal “hoof”

Variations

• tal ✧ PE21/70

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

tâl

noun. foot

pôd

noun. animal's foot