Sindarin 

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

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
√TOL > Tol[tol]✧ VT47/10

Variations

  • Tol ✧ RC/333; RC/333; UT/054; VT47/13; VT47/28
  • tol ✧ SA/tol
Sindarin [RC/333; SA/tol; UT/054; VT47/13; VT47/28] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tol

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

Sindarin [Ety/394, S/438, VT/47:13, RC/333-334] Group: SINDICT. Published by

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)