irregular, compare: tathor @@@
Noldorin
neth
feminine name. Nessa
neth
adjective. young
neth
adjective. young
nethwelein
proper name. Younger Gods
nethra
noun. ?heart, core
nest
noun. ?heart, core
dineth
feminine name. Nessa
thêl
noun. sister
A word for “sister” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√THEL or THELES of the same meaning, with an irregular plural thelei (Ety/THEL). It had a more elaborate form muinthel, the equivalent of muindor “(dear) brother”, with an initial element muin “dear”.
Neo-Quenya: In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien introduced a new word nethel for “sister” from the root √NETH (VT47/14). However, I think thêl and related words might be retained to mean a “metaphorical sister”, a close female associate who may or may not be related by blood, as with such words as gwathel “[sworn] sister, associate”. In this paradigm, I would assume muinthel still refers to a sister by blood, with an added connotation of strong affection. I think it’s best to assume the irregular Noldorin plural pattern was reformed to the normal Sindarin plural thîl.
nem
noun. nose
A word for “nose” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, with archaic form nemb and derived from ᴹ√NEÑ-WI (Ety/NEÑ-WI), an elaboration of the shorter root ᴹ√NEÑ (EtyAC/NEÑ-WI). The mb is a result of the Old Noldorin change of labialized velars into labials (ñw > ñgw > mb), a sound change that also occurred in Sindarin.
Conceptual Development: Similar but earlier “nose” words include G. nûn {“a nostril” >>} “a nose (of men only)” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/61) and ᴱN. {nheth >>} neth “nose” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/151).
nîth
noun. youth
muinthel
noun. sister
dess
noun. young woman
An archaic word in The Etymologies of the 1930s for “young woman” derived from ON. ndissa under the root ᴹ√NDIS (Ety/NDIS), where the i became e via a-affection. Tolkien said of dess that it “does not [survive] except as contributing to sense ‘woman’: cf. bess properly ‘wife’” (EtyAC/NDIS). Hence this word was no longer used in modern language.
gwathel
noun. sister, associate
gwîn
adjective. young
gwîr
feminine name. Weaver
muinthel
noun. sister
nathron
noun. weaver, webster
nem
noun. nose
nemb
noun. nose
nesta
noun. ?heart, core
nîth
noun. youth
thêl
noun. sister
Noldorin equivalent of ᴹQ. Nessa appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s, derived from the same primitive root ᴹ√NETH (Ety/NETH, Nι). Given its Quenya form, the primitive form of this name might have been ✱✶netthā.