tillë

noun. tip, point; [within compounds] finger, toe, tip, point; [within compounds] finger, toe; [ᴱQ.] eyelash

A word in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s meaning “tip, point”, also used to refer to fingers and toes, especially in compounds (VT47/10). It was derived from the root √TIL. Drafts of these document instead had tile and tilma, of which Tolkien said:

> The difference between tilma, tile and inga was that the former could point in any direction, but inga was only applied to shapes pointing upwards and meant “top”; and whereas til- was usually applied to ends notably thinner and sharper than the stem, inga referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad (VT47/28).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. {tilme >> tilla >>} tille “eyelash” under the early root ᴱ√TILI (QL/92).

Neo-Quenya: Since tille referred to fingers and tilde to mountains, I would assume tille was more narrow and blunt, as opposed to tilde which was sharper and more angular. I would also use tille for “eyelash” as in Early Qenya, or less ambiguously ✱hentille.

tillë

tip, point

tillë (pl. tilli given) noun "tip, point", used with reference to fingers and toes (VT47:10, 26); compare ortil, nútil, q.v.