A word in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with forms tess and tessil and glossed “little flower”, also with an archaic or poetic sense “†maiden” (GL/70). In its “flower” sense it may be related to G. teth “bud” appearing below it on the same page. In its “maiden” sense it may be related to ᴱQ. tessa “a maid, maiden” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/91). It may also appear as a mutated element in the (deleted) phrase G. gontha li dessa “boy and girl” (GL/54).