Gloss “carrëa” by Eldamo Import

carrëa

noun. tressure, tressure, *headdress

A noun for “tressure” in notes from the late 1960s derived from ✶cas-raya = √KAS “head” + √RAY “net, lace” (VT42/12). Given this word’s etymology, Tolkien was probably using “tressure” with its Middle English sense = “headdress”.

Variations

  • carrea ✧ PE22/159; VT42/12

Derivations

  • kasraya “a tressure” ✧ PE22/159; VT42/12

Cognates

  • S. cathrae “tressure, *headdress” ✧ PE22/159; VT42/12

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
karrai > carrea[casraja] > [casrea] > [cazrea] > [carrea]✧ PE22/159
cas-raya > carrea[casraja] > [casrea] > [cazrea] > [carrea]✧ VT42/12
Quenya [PE22/159; VT42/12] Group: Eldamo. Published by
Tom Bombadil #618

What does tressure mean? I never heard that word and I can't find it in dictionaries and the internet too. Is it a hairnet?

Dírheron #619

Yes, as shown in cathrae but I think of it more of a snood than a lunch lady hairnet

Tamas Ferencz #620

According to dictionaries the main meaning now is in heraldry, but Tolkien probably used it in its original sense. From m-w.com:

Definition of tressure

1 : a narrow orle usually enriched with fleurs-de-lis

2 : an inner encircling ornamentation on a coin or medal bordering the device The plack … had as obverse a crowned shield in a tressure of arches … — Coins, 1975

History and Etymology for tressure

Middle English tressour, from tressour, tressure band for the hair, headdress, from Middle French tresseor, tressure, from tresser to tress + -or, -ure