§ tarakil ’Trotter’ (WR:390,395)
§ Tarakon >> Tarantar >> Telkontar (WR:395)
This is another set of earlier names for ’Trotter’, obviously in Quenya. As Aragorn says:
But Trotter shall be the name of my house, if ever that be established; yet perhaps in the same high tongue it shall not sound so ill, and tarakil I will be and all the heirs of my body. (WR:390)
Later, Tarantar is translated as ’Trotter’ and Telcontar as ’Strider’ (SD:121).
Both tarakil and Tarakon seem to contain #tarak- with two different name-formative suffixes -il and -on attached. A sufficient explanation is problematic, since the only suitable root TARÁK- means ’horn (of animals)’ > Q. tarka ’horn’. However, Goldogrin had the word tarc ’root’ (Q. tarka, GL:69) beside târ ’a horn’. And since we know TÉLEK- ’stalk, stem, leg’ yielding telch ’stem’ in Noldorin and telko ’leg’ in Qenya, we could suppose that ’leg’ and ’root’ may also share a common origin *tarak-.
Another root in question is √TĂR ’stand, intransitive’ (PE17:186) – the meaning ’stand’ could have likewise yielded ’leg’. Compare TAL- ’foot’ and its extension TALAM- ’floor, base, ground’.
On the other hand in the Qenya Lexicon the roots TARA and TARAMA ’to batter, thud, beat’ are given with derivatives like Q. taru ’horn’, tartan ’hammer’ (QL:89). The Gnomish equivalents are mentioned as DAR-, D(A)RAM-, DAM and in The Etymologies we find TAM- ’knock’, NDAM- ’hammer, beat’, all probably being onomatopoetic, describing a beating sound. Hence, a related root *TARA(K)- could have yielded ’trot, tread’ also by the time of The Etymologies. In this context compare Q. pata- ’rap, tap (of feet)’, patake ’clatter’, patakatapaka ’rat-a-tat’ with later ap-pata ’walk behind, on a track or path’ (WJ:387).
Tarantar could be from *TARAM- with the suffix -tar being either name-formative as -il, -on; or a reduplication of the initial element. Alternatively, we may be dealing here with a verb #taranta- *’trot’ and agentive formation, as for instance Q. mahta- ’wield a weapon, fight’, mahtar ’warrior’ (MAK-).
Telkontar seems to be formed with Q. telko ’leg’ as already mentioned; and #-ntar may be playing here the same role as in Tarantar, i.e. either indicating that a name was formed from telko (perhaps via the verb #telkonta- *’trot’ or *’stride’) or forming the compound *’leg-tread, leg-trot’.
Yet another possibility is suggested by Q. tornanga ’hard-iron = iron-hard’ (PE17:56), a formation of a adjective + noun, yielding a noun. From this word we can isolate #torna ’hard’ which looks suspiciously close to -ntar, but of course has to be from *TOR- rather than TAR-. However, -ntar might be an adjectival formation *’upstanding, firm’, so that Telkontar would mean *’firm of foot’, being a nominalized adjective.