Q. tillë n. “tip, point; [within compounds] finger, toe” (Category: Point)
A word in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s meaning “tip, point”, also used to refer to fingers and toes, especially in compounds (VT47/10). It was derived from the root √TIL. Drafts of these document instead had tile and tilma, of which Tolkien said:
The difference between tilma, tile and inga was that the former could point in any direction, but inga was only applied to shapes pointing upwards and meant “top”; and whereas til- was usually applied to ends notably thinner and sharper than the stem, inga referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad (VT47/28).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. {tilme >> tilla >>} tille “eyelash” under the early root ᴱ√TILI² (QL/92).
Neo-Quenya: Since tille referred to fingers and tilde to mountains, I would assume tille was more narrow and blunt, as opposed to tilde which was sharper and more angular. I would also use tille for “eyelash” as in Early Qenya, or less ambiguously *hentille.
References ✧ VT47/10, 26, 28
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| tilli | plural | “tips, points” | ✧ VT47/10 |
| tilli | plural | “toes” | ✧ VT47/26 |
| -til | suffix | ✧ VT47/26 |
Element In
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √TIL > tille | [tille] | ✧ VT47/26 |
| √TIL > tilma | [tilma] | ✧ VT47/28 |