tyellë

noun. grade, order, step (in a stairway or ladder), grade, step (in a stairway or ladder), order

A word appearing in its plural form tyeller “grades” in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E as applied to the rows of the tengwar chart (LotR/1118). In notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien said its proper meaning was “grade, order” (PE17/122), but in notes from the late 1960s Tolkien said it meant “grade, also a step in a stairway, ladder”, and was derived from the root √KJEL “go down slowly, especially go down by degrees” (PE17/157).

tyellë

grade

tyellë noun "grade" (pl. tyeller is attested) (Appendix E), "grade, order; a step in a stairway, [or in a] ladder" (PE17:122, 157)

tyellesta

noun. ladder

A neologism for “ladder” coined by Tamas Ferencz, an elaboration of tyellë “step”. I think it is better to use attested rantala published in 2022 after Ferencz coined this neologism.

-a

it is said

-r nominative plural ending regularly used on nouns ending in -a, -i, -ië, -o, -u, e.g. Ainur, Valar, tier. Occasionally it is added also to nouns ending in -ë (that normally take the ending -I in the pl.). This seems to regularly happen in the case of nouns in -lë (see #fintalë, mallë, tyellë), sometimes also otherwise (see Ingwë, wendë, essë #1). This plural ending was ("it is said") first used by the Noldor (PM:402).

rantala

noun. ladder

A word for “ladder” in notes from the late 1960s derived from primitive ✶ranthlā based on √RATH “climb” (NM/363).