talat

root. to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin; slipping, sliding, falling down; ground (bottom), to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin; slipping, sliding, falling down; ground (bottom); [ᴹ√] slide down, incline, slope, lean, tip, topple over

This root was connected to the name Q. Atalantë “Downfall(en)” as a sort of multilingual pun on “Atlantis”. The first appearance of this root was as unglossed ᴱ√TḶTḶ in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. talta “shaky, wobbling, tottering; sloping, slanting” and ᴱQ. tilt- “make slope, incline (tr.), decline, shake at foundations, make totter” (QL/93). Further signs of this early root can be found in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s where Tolkien gave ᴱ✶tḹtá > ᴱN. tlad “hillside, slope” and ᴱ✶tḷtā́ > ᴱN. tleth/ᴱQ. tilta “slanting” (PE13/165).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root appeared as ᴹ√TALAT “to slope, lean, tip” with derivatives like ᴹQ. talta-/N. atlanna- “to slope” and ᴹQ. talta/N. talad “an incline” (Ety/TALÁT). The root was mentioned regularly thereafter, mostly in a verbal sense with glosses like “incline, slope, slide down” (PE18/38), “slip (downwards)” (PE18/61), “topple over, slip down” (SD/249), “slip (down)” (PE18/85) and “collapse, fall in ruin” (PM/158). In notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien gave the root a noun sense “ground (bottom)” alongside “fall down” (PE17/150) and in a 1964 letter to Christopher Bretherton gave it the sense “slipping, sliding, falling down” (Let/347).

Derivatives

• ✶talat- “slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin” ✧ PE18/085
  • Q. talta- “to slip, slide down, fall, to slip, slide down, collapse, fall, [ᴹQ.] slip down, slope” ✧ PE17/186; PE17/186; PE17/186; PE17/186; PE17/186; PE22/133
  • Os. taltha- “to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin” ✧ PE22/133
  • ᴺS. taltha- “to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin”
  • T. talta- “to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin” ✧ PE22/133
• ✶taltā “tottering, unsteady” ✧ PE18/089
  • Q. talta “tottering, unsteady, tottering, unsteady, [ᴱQ.] shaky, wobbling; [ᴹQ.] sloping, tilted, leaning, inclined, [ᴱQ.] slanting” ✧ PE18/089
• ✶tatalat- “totter, keep on slipping” ✧ PE18/085
• Q. Atalantë “Downfall(en)” ✧ Let/347; PM/158

Variations

• talat ✧ Let/347

talat-

verb. slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin

Derivations

• √TALAT “to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin; slipping, sliding, falling down; ground (bottom), to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin; slipping, sliding, falling down; ground (bottom); [ᴹ√] slide down, incline, slope, lean, tip, topple over” ✧ PE18/085

Derivatives

• Q. talta- “to slip, slide down, fall, to slip, slide down, collapse, fall, [ᴹQ.] slip down, slope” ✧ PE17/186; PE17/186; PE17/186; PE17/186; PE17/186; PE22/133
• Os. taltha- “to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin” ✧ PE22/133
  • ᴺS. taltha- “to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin”
• T. talta- “to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin” ✧ PE22/133

Element in

• ✶taltas- “begin to slip down” ✧ PE22/135

Variations

• TALAT ✧ PE17/186
• atalat ✧ PE18/085
• atlat- ✧ PE18/085
• talta ✧ PE18/086
• talta- ✧ PE22/134