tî

noun. line, row, line, row; [G.] straight

A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “line, row”, derived from primitive ᴹ✶tēñe under root TEÑ (Ety/TEƷ). It might replace N. tê “line, way” < ᴹ✶teʒē based on the earlier form of the root ᴹ√TEƷ (Ety/TEƷ), or the two words might co-exist: with tî the result of long *ē* becoming *ī* [✱tēñ(e) > tī(ʒ)] and tê retaining e because the e was not long primitively [✱teñē > teʒe > tē].

Conceptual Development: ᴱN. tî or tí “line” appeared in the Early Noldorin Grammar and Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/121, 154). The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. tî as an adjective meaning “straight” but also a noun meaning the same thing as either G. tion “a straight line” or G. tê “mark, line; track; path” (GL/69, 71).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume tê and tî coexist, with tê “line, way” used for a continuous line, but tî for a line or row of discrete items, as in [N.] tiwdi “alphabet, (lit.) ✱letter-row”. I would further assume they were based on the later root √TEG “line” (PE19/97), from primitive ✱tegē and ✱tēge respectively.

tî

noun. line, row