A word appearing in the Declension of Noun from the early 1930s as nis (niks-) or nikse “minnow, little fish” (PE21/20, 27). It reappeared in the Quenya Verbal System from the 1940s in the phrase ᴹQ. niksi koitar nenesse “fish live in water” (PE22/125). It might be related to the root √NIK “small”.
Qenya
nis
noun. woman (of any kindred: elf, human or dwarf)
nis
noun. minnow, ‘little fish’
nisíte
adjective. womanly
nissa
noun. lady
ni
pronoun. I, me
nisse
noun. woman
nikse
noun. minnow, little fish
ni·istas
I know (that)
-nye
suffix. I
heri
noun. lady
nizíte
adjective. womanly
An adjective for “womanly” based on √NIS “woman” appearing in notes from the late 1940s (PE23/87). The actual form given was nizíte. Ordinarily [[q|[z] became [r]]] in modern Quenya, but I think it is possible this word instead of dissimilated back to nisíte to make it more distinct from neríte “manly”. Conceptual Development: The word for “womanly” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s was ᴱQ. anaina, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. anai “woman” (QL/31).
A word for {“a woman” >>} “womanl[y]” in Gnomish Lexicon Slips of the 1910s appearing with variants venă and [ven]in, derived from primitive ᴱ✶u̯enı̯ā̆́- (PE13/118). A similar adjective ᴹQ. wenda “female” < ᴹ√WEN in the 1940s notes mentioned, but this adjective was deleted, presumably replaced by nizíte “womanly” (PE23/87 note #83).