nel

adverb. thrice

nelma

noun. needle

A word appearing as ᴱQ. nelma “needle” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, but Tolkien vacillated on whether it was derived from the early root ᴱ√NELE “point” or ᴱ√NEME “✱sew” (QL/65). As a derivative of ᴱ√NEME, Tolkien considered an alternate form nemya. The word nelma “needle” also appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/65).

Neo-Quenya: I would retain ᴺQ. nelma “needle” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, but as a derivative of √NEL since √NEM “sew” did not survive in Tolkien’s later writing. In Quenya of the 1930s and later, the root √NEL was generally glossed “three”, but was still associated with pointed things like in √NELEK “tooth” due to triangular shapes.

neldest(y)a

adjective. one third

neldesto

fraction. one third

nele

noun. tooth

nelkea

cardinal. thirteen

nel(de)kainen

cardinal. thirty

nyat

noun. tooth

ole

cardinal. three