tol

island, isle

tol noun "island, isle" (rising with sheer sides from the sea or from the river, SA:tol, VT47:26). In early "Qenya", the word was defined as "island, any rise standing alone in water, plain of green, etc" (LT1:269). The stem is toll-; the Etymologies as published in LR gives the pl. "tolle" (TOL2), but this is a misreading for tolli (see VT46:19 and compare LT1:85). The primitive form of tol is variously cited as ¤tolla (VT47:26) and ¤tollo (TOL2).

tol

noun. island, (steep) isle

tollë

noun. island, (steep) isle

The most common Quenya word for isle or island, appearing in both a short form tol (toll-) and longer form tolle, an element in many names. Strictly speaking it only “applied to those [islands] that rose up from the water with sudden and sheer sides” (VT47/28), but in practice it seems to have been used for all kinds of islands. Its short form tol was used as pseudo-prefix in names (VT47/13, 28) such as Tol Eressëa and Tol Uinen, and thus in more ordinary phrases its longer form tolle is more likely.

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. tol (toll-) appeared with the gloss “an island, any rise standing alone in water, plain of grass, etc.” derived from the root ᴱ√TOLO (GL/94). It appeared as toll- “isle” in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/94) and as tolle “island” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s beside its shorter form tol (PE16/139).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s it appeared as ᴹQ. tol “island” as a derivative of primitive ᴹ✶tollo (Ety/TOL²). It appeared several times in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, in one place as short tol < ✶tollă (VT47/26 note #35), but Tolkien gave a more complete description in the final version of these documents:

> TOL “stand up (out and above neighbouring things)” ... A frequent topographical application was to islands that rose up from the water (sea or river) with sheer sides ... Cf. Q. tolle “a steep isle”. This was used in form Tol- as a prefix to the isle’s name: as in Tol-eressea (VT47/10 and p. 13 note #14).

Cognates

• S. tol(l) “island, (high steep-sided) isle” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/13

Derivations

• √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/10; VT47/28
• ✶tollă “island” ✧ VT47/26
  • √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ VT47/26

Element in

• ᴺQ. pertol “peninsula”
• Q. Tol Eressëa “Lonely Isle” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/13; VT47/28
• ᴺQ. tollesta “archipelago”
• Q. Tol Uinen “*Island of Uinen”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√tol > tol	[tol]	✧ SA/tol
√TOL > tolle	[tolle]	✧ VT47/10
✶tollă > tol	[tolla] > [toll] > [tol]	✧ VT47/26
√TOL > tolle	[tolle]	✧ VT47/28

Variations

• tol ✧ SA/tol; VT47/26
• tolle ✧ VT47/13; VT47/28

tul-

come

tul- vb. "come" (WJ:368), 1st pers. aorist tulin "I come" (TUL), 3rd pers. sg. tulis "(s)he comes" (VT49:19), perfect utúlië "has come" (utúlien "I am come", EO), utúlie'n aurë "Day has come" (the function of the 'n is unclear; it may be a variant of the article "the", hence literally "the Day has come"). Past tense túlë "came" in LR:47 and SD:246, though an alternative form *tullë has also been theorized. Túlë in VT43:14 seems to be an abnormal aorist stem, later abandoned; tula in the same source would be an imperative. Prefixed future tense entuluva "shall come again" in the Silmarillion, future tuluva also in the phrase aranielya na tuluva* "may thy kingdom come" (VT44:32/34), literally apparently "thy kingdom, be-it-that (it) will come". In early "Qenya" we have the perfects tulielto "they have come" (LT1:114, 270, VT49:57) and tulier "have come", pl., in the phrase I·Eldar tulier "the Eldar have come"(LT1:114, 270). Read probably utúlieltë, Eldar utúlier** in LotR-style Quenya.

tul-

verb. come

lóna

island, remote land difficult to reach

lóna (2) noun "island, remote land difficult to reach" (LONO (AWA) ). Obsoleted by #1 above?

tol

noun. island, (steep) isle rising with sheer sides from the sea or from a river

tolo

verb. come!

tol(l)

noun. island, (high steep-sided) isle

The most common Sindarin word for “island”, strictly speaking only for islands with sheer sides as opposed to [N.] caer for flat islands. It was a derivative of the root √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things)” (VT47/10-11). In most names it appears as tol, probably as a semi-prefix, but as an independent word it is probably toll (Ety/TOL), especially given its Quenya cognate Q. tollë (VT47/13, 28).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where it appeared as G. tol “an isle (with high steep coasts)” (GL/71), probably already a derivative of the root ᴱ√TOLO as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Tol Eressëa; QL/94). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s it appeared as ᴱN. dol “island” (PE13/142), but that seems to have been a transient idea since it was N. toll “island” in The Etymologies of the 1930, again derived from the root ᴹ√TOL, more specifically from the primitive form ᴹ✶tollo (Ety/TOL²). The form tol appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings, and in several places he emphasized that it was for islands with steep sides (RC/333; VT47/28).

Cognates

• Q. tollë “island, (steep) isle” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/13

Derivations

• √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/10

Element in

• ᴺS. perthol “peninsula”
• S. Tol Brandir “Tindrock, (lit.) Isle of the Great Steeples” ✧ RC/333; VT47/13; VT47/28
• S. Tol Falas “*Island of the Shore”
• S. Tol Galen “Green Isle” ✧ SA/tol
• S. Tol-in-Gaurhoth “Isle of Werewolves” ✧ UT/054
• S. Tol Morwen “*Island of Morwen”
• S. Tol Sirion “*Island of Sirion”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√TOL > Tol	[tol]	✧ VT47/10

Variations

• Tol ✧ RC/333; RC/333; UT/054; VT47/13; VT47/28
• tol ✧ SA/tol

tol

come

tol- (i dôl, i thelir). The present tense tôl is attested (WJ:254). MAKE COME, see FETCH

tol

come

(i dôl, i thelir). The present tense tôl is attested (WJ:254).

toll

island

toll (i doll, o tholl, construct tol), pl. tyll (i thyll)

toll

island

(i doll, o tholl, construct tol), pl. tyll (i thyll)

tol

root. stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head

This was the root for islands and other things that “stick up” for much of Tolkien’s life. This root appeared as unglossed ᴱ√TOLO in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. tol “an island”, ᴱQ. tolda “hill with a flat top; town on a hill”, and ᴱQ. tolmen “boss (of shield), isolated round hill” (QL/94). The derivative G. tol “an isle (with high steep coasts)” appeared in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as well (GL/71). The root appeared as ᴹ√TOL in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. tol/N. toll “island” (Ety/TOL²); the alternate root ᴹ√TOL was the basis for words for “eight” in this document. The root was mentioned several times in writings on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, with glosses like “stand up (out and above neighboring things)” (VT47/10) or “stick up or out” (VT47/28), and Tolkien said it:

> mostly applied to things that were, relatively to those that they were contrasted with, also larger and thicker: e.g. mountain-tops, very tall trees, or a tall strong man (VT47/10).

In this last respected it was the basis for various words for “thumb” and “big toe”, and could be contrasted with √TIL used for the tips of smaller things, including the smaller fingers and toes. √TOL also had extended form √TOLOB with derivative ✶tolbā “a protuberance, esp. one designed for a purpose: a knob or rounded tool-handle” (VT47/11), and in these 1960s documents (unlike in the 1930s) it was the basis for the root √TOLOD “eight” due to the prominence of the middle finger (finger 3 and 8) in counting (VT47/11).

Changes

• TOL → TOL “stick up or out” ✧ VT47/28

Derivatives

• ✶tollă “island” ✧ VT47/26
  • Q. tollë “island, (steep) isle” ✧ VT47/26
• ✶tolya “prominent” ✧ VT47/16
  • Q. tolya “prominent” ✧ VT47/16
• Q. tollë “thumb” ✧ VT47/26
• Q. tolbo “big toe; stump, stub; thumb” ✧ VT47/10; VT47/28
• Q. tollë “island, (steep) isle” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/10; VT47/28
• Q. tolma “protuberance contrived to serve a purpose, knob, short rounded handle, knob, (short rounded) handle, protuberance contrived to serve a purpose” ✧ VT47/28
• ᴺQ. tolmen “boss (of shield), isolated round hill”
• Q. tolyo “sticker-up” ✧ VT47/10; VT47/11; VT47/16; VT47/28
• S. tol(l) “island, (high steep-sided) isle” ✧ SA/tol; VT47/10

Element in

• √TOLOB “*protuberance” ✧ VT47/10
• √TOLOD “eight” ✧ VT47/11; VT47/16
• Q. tolpë “thumb” ✧ VT47/28
• Q. toltil “thumb” ✧ VT47/26
• Q. taltol “big toe” ✧ VT47/10
• S. estola- “to encamp, *erect tents”
• S. toleg “*sticker-up”
• T. tolmo “thumb” ✧ VT47/28

Variations

• tol ✧ SA/tol; VT47/16

tollă

noun. island

Derivations

• √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ VT47/26

Derivatives

• Q. tollë “island, (steep) isle” ✧ VT47/26

tul-

verb. come, is coming, has come, is here

Element in

• ✶le tulir “come ye!” ✧ PE22/140
• ✶lḗ tuli, tuli lḗ, āle tuli! “come (you)!, now you, come!” ✧ PE22/140; PE22/140; PE22/140
• ✶sē tuli, tuli sḗ, āse tuli! “let him come! etc.” ✧ PE22/140; PE22/140; PE22/140

tol

noun. island, isle

tol-

verb. to come

toll

noun. island, (steep) isle rising with sheer sides from the sea or from a river

toll

noun. island, isle

Cognates

• ᴹQ. tol “island” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Derivations

• ᴹ✶tollo “island” ✧ Ety/TOL²
  • ᴹ√TOL “*stand up” ✧ Ety/TOL²

Element in

• N. Tol Varad “Defended Isle” ✧ WR/326
• N. Toll-ereb “*Lonely Isle” ✧ Ety/TOL²
• N. Tolharn “Stoneait” ✧ TI/345
• N. Toll-ondren “Carrock” ✧ TI/268
• N. Tolfalas
• N. Tol Fuin
• N. Tol-galen “Green Isle” ✧ LR/305
• N. Tol-na-Gaurhoth “Isle of Werewolves” ✧ LR/284
• N. Tolsirion
• N. Tol Thû ✧ LR/407

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶tollo > toll	[tollo] > [toll]	✧ Ety/TOL²
ᴹ✶tollo > tyll	[tolli] > [tulli] > [tylli] > [tyll]	✧ Ety/TOL²

Variations

• Tol ✧ LR/284; LR/305; LR/407; TI/345; WR/326
• Toll ✧ TI/268