S. tum n. “valley, vale” (Category: Dale, Valley)
A word for a valley or vale derived from primitive ✶tumbu, specifically meaning a deep valley surrounded on all sides as described by Tolkien in notes from the late 1960s: “Those [valleys] such as the valley of Gondolin which were more or less circular, but deeply concave, and had high mountains at the rim were called *tumbu (NM/351)”. Its most notable use was in the name Tumladen for the hidden valley where Nargothrond lay (S/115).
Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien had {tum >>} G. tûm “valley” (GL/71), probably a derivative of the early root ᴱ√TUM(B)U as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Tombo; QL/95). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱN. tumb or tum “flat vale” (PE13/154), and in The Etymologies of the 1930s there was N. tum “deep valley under or among hills” from the root ᴹ√TUB (Ety/TUB). The most complete description of this word in Tolkien’s later writings was in notes on Galadriel and Celeborn from the late 1960s, with the meaning given above (NM/351). In this late 1960s note the primitive form was given as ✶tumbu, which is the same primitive form Tolkien gave in The Etymologies (Ety/TUB).
References ✧ NM/351, 363; SA/tum
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| ✶tumbu > Tum | [tumbu] > [tumbo] > [tumbo] > [tumb] > [tumm] > [tumm] > [tum] | ✧ NM/351 |
N. tum n. “(deep) valley” (Category: Dale, Valley)
References ✧ Ety/TUB; RS/419
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| dûn | soft-mutation; t-mutation | “valley” | ✧ RS/419 |
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| ᴹ✶tumbu > tum | [tumbu] > [tumbo] > [tumbo] > [tumb] > [tumb] > [tumm] > [tum] | ✧ Ety/TUB |
ᴱN. tum(b) n. “flat vale” (Category: Dale, Valley)
References ✧ PE13/154
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G. tûm n. “valley” (Category: Dale, Valley)
References ✧ GL/71; LT1A/Tombo
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