nís (niss-, as in pl. nissi) noun "woman" _(MR:213. The Etymologies gives _nis (or nissë), pl. nissi: see the stems NDIS-SĒ/SĀ, NI1, NIS (NĒR), VT46:4; compare VT47:33. In Tolkien's Quenya rendering of Hail Mary, the plural nísi occurs instead of nissi; this form is curious, since nísi would be expected to turn into *nízi, *_níri** (VT43:31). VT47:33 suggests that Tolkien at one point considered _niþ- as the older form of the stem, which etymology would solve this problem (since s from older þ does not become z > r). Even so, the MR forms, nís with stem niss-, may be preferred. - Compare †ní, #nína, nisto, Lindissë.
Quenya
nís
noun. woman
nís
woman
ní
woman, female
†ní (2) noun "woman, female" (NI1, INI (NĒR ) ). Not to be confused with ní as a stressed form of the pronoun ni "I".
nísinen
place name. *Fragrant Water
A lake near Eldalondë “so named from the abundance of sweet-smelling shrubs and flowers that grew upon its banks” (UT/168). This name might be a compound of the verbal element nis- (“to smell sweetly”?) seen in nísima “fragrant” and the noun nén “water”, therefore meaning something like “✱Fragrant Water” (as suggested by Helge Fauskanger, QQ/Nísinen).
nisto
noun. large woman
An augmentative form of nís “woman” given as nisto “large woman” in notes from 1968 (VT47/33).
nissë
woman
nissë noun "woman" (NDIS-SĒ/SĀ, NI1, NIS, VT47:33); see nís. Note: nissë could apparently also mean "in me", the locative form of the 1st person pronoun ni, q.v.
nisto
large woman
nisto noun "large woman" (compare nís) (VT45:33)
nísimaldar
place name. Fragrant Trees
Nísimaldar
fragrant trees
Nísimaldar noun "Fragrant trees", a region in Númenor (UT:167; evidently #nísima "fragrant", attested here only, + aldar "trees").
Nísinen
fragrance-water
Nísinen noun *"Fragrance-water", a lake in Númenor (UT:168)
nísima
fragrant
#nísima adj. "fragrant", isolated from Nísimaldar, q.v.
nísima
adjective. fragrant
nissë
noun. woman
Nísimaldar
Nísimaldar
The name means 'Fragrant Trees', and it was so called because of the great variety of rare and beautiful trees that grew there.
Lindissë
woman
Lindissë fem.name, perhaps lin- (root of words having to do with song/music) + (n)dissë "woman" (see nís). (UT:210)
nína
woman
#nína (gen.pl. nínaron attested) noun "woman" (VT43:31; this word, as well as some other experimental forms listed in the same source, seem ephemeral: several sources agree that the Quenya word for "woman" is nís, nis [q.v.])
nes-
sweet smelling
nes- ?verb/?root "sweet smelling" (PE17:100); cf. Nísimaldar
wenci
woman, maiden
wenci ("k") noun, apparently a diminutive form of the stem wēn- "woman, maiden". It is possible that this is meant to be Common Eldarin rather than Quenya; if so the Quenya form would be *wencë (compare nercë "little man") (VT48:18)
The usual Quenya word for “woman” or more exactly a “female person” of any race, in later writings appearing as both nís (MR/213, 226, 229) and nisse (VT47/18, 33). Even in the cases where its singular was nís, its plural form was given as nissi, indicating a stem form of niss-. In rough notes from 1968 Tolkien said “The monosyllabic nouns (especially those with only one stem-consonant) were a small dwindling class often replaced by strengthened forms (as nis- was [by] nisse)” (VT47/18).
Thus it seems the ancient form was ✱nis- from the root √NIS, which like its male counterpart Q. nér “man” inherited a long vowel from the ancient subjective form ✱nīs. But the voiceless s was felt to be intrinsic to word, and it was thus strengthened to niss- in inflected forms to avoid the sound changes associated with an isolated s. From this a longer form nisse was generalized. In practice I think either form can be used, with singular nís being preserved by analogy with nér. However, I think inflected forms are probably all based on nisse, such as genitive nisseo “of a woman” rather than ✱✱nisso.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had both ᴹQ. nis and nisse “woman” derived the root ᴹ√NIS, with plural nissi in both cases (Ety/NIS, NDIS). He explained this variation as follows: “nis was a blend of old nīs (nisen) and the elab[orated] form ✱nis-sē” (EtyAC/NĪ¹). Hence it is was essentially the same as the scenario described above, but in the 1930s the long vowel in ancient nīs did not survive in the later short form nis.
In Quenya prayers of the 1950s, Tolkien experimented with some alternate plural forms nínaron [genitive plural] >> nísi [ordinary plural] (VT43/26-29, 31), the former apparently representing a variant singular form ✱nína, but in later writings plural nissi was restored.