Noldorin 

côl

noun. gold (metal)

A word appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√KUL “gold (metal)” (Ety/KUL). Tolkien updated this entry to change the root’s gloss to “golden-red”, after which its Noldorin derivative became N. coll “red”, while elsewhere in The Etymologies the word for “gold (as metal)” became N. malt (Ety/SMAL).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. †culu used poetically for “gold”, cognate to ᴱQ. kulu “gold” (GL/27) and thus derived from the same early root ᴱ√KULU (QL/49). G. culu was also given as an example noun for declensions in the contemporaneous Gnomish Grammar (PE11/14).