Moot has a number of meanings related to the discussion of ideas. First, as a noun, it has an archaic English (i.e. used in England) definition as a rural meeting. Then more currently, as an adjective, a sense to describe a point that is open to argument, e.g. this point is moot, and another to indicate that a point has no practical significance. Finally, moot can be used as a verb in both senses to bring a question into discussion or consign it to being of no further worth discussing. Then of course, there is the moot court, used in law schools as a fictitious institution in which to argue hypothetical or moot cases.
Therefore, moot is the obvious choice to describe a meeting of Ents, who more than anything, love to spend large amounts of time considering an issue from all directions, and I am sure that Tolkien used the word intentionally.
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