tegē

noun. line, road

teg

root. line

Tolkien used a number of similar roots as the basis for “line” words throughout his life. The earliest of these appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as ᴱ√TEHE [teχe] “pull” (gloss marked with a “?” by Tolkien) with derivatives like ᴱQ. tea “straight”, ᴱQ. telya “attractive; importunate”, and ᴱQ. tie “line, direction, route, road” (QL/90), the last of these surviving more or less unchanged all the way into the published version of The Lord of the Rings (LotR/377). The early root ᴱ√TEHE also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. tê “mark, line; track; path”, G. tî or tion “straight”, and G. tîr “honest; esteem, regard, honour”, originally “straight, upright” (GL/69, 71). Primitive ᴱ✶tegna > ᴱQ. tína/ᴱN. tain “straight” from Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s may represent a shift in the form of the root to ✱ᴱ√TEGE (PE13/153, 165).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root appeared as {ᴹ√TEƷ >>} ᴹ√TEÑ “line, direction” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tie/N. tê “line, way” and ᴹQ. téra/N. tîr “straight, right” (Ety/TEƷ, TEÑ). In the Outline of Phonology Tolkien gave √TEG “line”, whereas √TEÑ was given as the basis for Q. tenna “a thought, notion, idea” and thus clearly with a different meaning; see the entry √TEÑ for further discussion. In any case it is clear that Tolkien considered various ancient velar consonants for the second consonant of this root, all ultimately vanishing in the child languages with similar vocalic effects: 1910s teχ-, 1920s teg-, 1930s {teʒ- >>} teñ- and 1950s teg-.

tê

noun. line, way

tî

noun. line, row

taeg

boundary line

(i daeg, o thaeg) (limit, boundary), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thaeg).

tê

line

(i dê, o thê) (way), pl. tî (i thî), coll. pl. ?teath

lîr

noun. line, line, [N.] row

falas

line of surf

(pl. felais) (beach, shore, coast, strand, foaming shore; the word was especially used of the western seaboard of Beleriand). *(VT42:15)*****

lîr

line

1. lîr (row), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. líriath. 2) tê (i dê, o thê) (way), pl. tî (i thî), coll. pl. ?teath, 3) tî (i dî, o thî) (row), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thî), coll. pl. tíath.

lîr

line

(row), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. líriath.

nothlir

family line

(family tree); no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. nothliriath.

tilias

line of peaks

(i** dilias, o thilias), pl. tiliais (i** thiliais), coll. pl. tiliassath.

tî

line

(i** dî, o thî) (row), no distinct pl. form except with article (i** thî), coll. pl. tíath.