toldo

cardinal. eight

The Quenya number “eight” derived from the root √TOLOD, probably from primitive ✱✶tolodō, with the middle vowel lost due to the Quenya syncope.

Conceptual Development: The earliest attested Qenya word for “eight” was ᴱQ. umna in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s (GL/75), but when Tolkien composed the number lists in the Early Qenya Grammar from the 1920s, it was revised to ᴱQ. tolto (PE14/49, 82). In The Etymologies from the 1930s it remained ᴹQ. tolto from the root ᴹ√TOLOT (Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT).

When Tolkien revisited the Elvish number system in the 1960s, he first used tolto (VT47/32), but he later changed the t to a d in both the Quenya form and the root (VT48/6).

Neo-Quenya: I personally prefer toldo as the Quenya word for “eight”, but some Neo-Quenya writers use the older (and perhaps better known) tolto. It seems Tolkien had considerable trouble deciding on the primitive root for “eight”, so any of these forms could be valid (VT47/31).

Cognates

• S. tolodh “eight” ✧ PE17/095; VT48/06

Derivations

• √TOLOD “eight” ✧ VT47/31

Element in

• Q. toldëa “eighth”
• Q. to(lo)sta “one eighth”
• ᴺQ. tolquain “eighty”
• ᴺQ. toloquain “eighty”
• ᴺQ. toloquëan “eighty”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√TOLOT > tolto	[toloto] > [tolto]	✧ VT47/31

Variations

• tol-to ✧ PE17/095
• tolto ✧ VT47/32

tolto

cardinal. eight

tolto cardinal "eight" (TOL1-OTH/OT), variant toldo (VT48:6). Ordinal toltëa "eighth" (VT42:31), with variant toldëa (VT42:25) to go with toldo.

tolto

cardinal. eight

sarnincë

noun. pebble

A neologism for “pebble” coined by Paul Strack in 2018 specifically for Eldamo (updated from sardincë to sarnincë in 2021), a diminutive form of Q. sar (sarn-) “stone”. There are a number of Early Qenya words for “pebble” from the 1910s and 20s, but all have various issues for adapting them to Neo-Quenya.

Cognates

• ᴺS. sarneg “pebble”

Elements

Word	Gloss
sar	“stone (small)”
-incë	“diminutive ending”

tolod

cardinal. eight

tolodh

cardinal. eight

Tolkien emended toloth to tolodh, cf. VT/42:31 (and also VT/48:6). If we are to follow him, a word such as tolothen would be incorrect, unless the two forms coexisted

tolodh

cardinal. eight

The Sindarin number “eight” derived from the root √TOLOD, probably from primitive ✱✶tolodō, where the [[s|[d] became [ð] after a vowel]] as usual.

Conceptual Development: The earliest attested word for “eight” was G. uvin in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s (GL/75), replacing rejected ung. In The Etymologies from the 1930s it became N. toloth from the root ᴹ√TOLOTH, similar to but not quite the same as ᴹQ. tolto from the root ᴹ√TOLOT (Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT).

In some notes from the 1950s, Tolkien used S. tolod (PE17/95), apparently deciding both Quenya and Sindarin were derived from the same root √TOLOT. Later still, toloth reappeared, but it was rejected and replaced by tolodh (toloð: VT42/25, 31). When Tolkien revisited the Elvish number system in the 1960s, he changed the t to a d in the root form for “eight” (VT47/11) and established tolodh as its Sindarin form (VT48/6).

Neo-Sindarin: I personally prefer tolodh as the Sindarin word for “eight”, but some Neo-Sindarin writers use the older (and perhaps better known) toloth. It seems Tolkien had considerable trouble deciding on the primitive root for “eight”, so any of these forms could be valid (VT47/31).

Changes

• toloth → toloð ✧ VT42/25

Cognates

• Q. toldo “eight” ✧ PE17/095; VT48/06

Derivations

• √TOLOD “eight”

Element in

• ᴺS. paedolodh “eighteen”
• S. tollui “eighth” ✧ VT42/25
• S. tolothen “eighth” ✧ SD/129
• ᴺS. tolophaen “eighty”

Variations

• tolod ✧ PE17/095
• toloð ✧ VT42/25; VT48/06
• toloth ✧ VT42/31 (toloth)

toloth

cardinal. eight

toloth, tolodh;

toloth

eight

tolodh;

tollui

eighth

(lenited dollui). (VT42:15; Tolkien may have abandoned the form [t]olothen occurring in lenited form dolothen in an earlier source, SD:129)

sarneg

noun. pebble

A neologism for “pebble” coined by Paul Strack in 2021 specifically for Eldamo, a diminutive form of S. sarn “stone”.

Cognates

• ᴺQ. sarnincë “pebble”

Elements

Word	Gloss
sarn	“(small) stone, pebble; stony (place), (small) stone, pebble; stony (place); [N.] stone as a material”

tolot

cardinal. eight

Cognates

• Q. tolyo “sticker-up” ✧ VT48/06

Variations

• toloþ ✧ VT48/21

tolot

root. eight

tolod

root. eight

The earliest Elvish words for “eight” were ᴱQ. {ungo >>} umna and G. {ung >>} uvin in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/75), but in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s it became ᴱQ. {telte >>} tolto (PE14/49). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root ᴹ√TOL-OTH/OT “eight” as the basis for ᴹQ. tolto and N. toloth of the same meaning (Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT); in this document it was distinct from ᴹ√TOL which was the basis for “island” words.

In documents on Elvish numbers from the late 1960s, Tolkien vacillated between √TOLOTH (VT42/30 note #52), √TOLOT (VT42/24; VT47/31) and √TOLOD (VT47/11) for the form of this root, but in the more polished versions of these documents he seems to have settled on √TOLOD > Q. toldo, S. toloð (VT48/6). In this last iteration, Tolkien connected the root √TOLOD to the root √TOL “stick up” due to the prominence of the middle fingers (3 and 8) in counting (VT47/11); see the entry on √TOL for discussion.

Derivatives

• Q. toldo “eight” ✧ VT47/31
• Q. tolyo “sticker-up” ✧ VT47/33
• ᴺS. tolob “eighteen”
• S. tolodh “eight”

Variations

• tol-ot ✧ VT42/24
• tol-oth ✧ VT42/30
• tolod- ✧ VT47/11; VT47/32
• tolod ✧ VT47/16
• TOLOT ✧ VT47/31
• tolot ✧ VT47/33

toloth

cardinal. eight

Tolkien emended toloth to tolodh, cf. VT/42:31 (and also VT/48:6). If we are to follow him, a word such as tolothen would be incorrect, unless the two forms coexisted

toloth

cardinal. eight

Cognates

• ᴹQ. tolto “eight” ✧ Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT

Derivations

• ᴹ√TOL-OTH/OT “eight” ✧ Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√TOL¹-OTH/OT > toloth	[tolotʰo] > [toloθo] > [toloθ]	✧ Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT