ᴹQ. lia² n. “fine thread, spider filament” (Category: Thread)
A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “fine thread, spider filament” and derived from ᴹ✶ligā under the root ᴹ√SLIG having to do with spider words (Ety/SLIG). In drafts of Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948, Tolkien gave a second hard-to-read gloss after ᴹQ. lia “many” which might read “lines (straight or string)”, with “string” deleted (PE23/106 note #80); this was probably an allusion to the noun derived from ᴹ√SLIG.
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. lia “twine” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√LI+ya “unite many as one” with derivatives having to do with threads and vines (QL/53).
Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writings, √ungu- became the basis for spider words, but I retain ᴹ√SLIG assuming it has to do with threads and strings to salvage words from the 1910s and 30s. As such I’d use lia for threads and strings that are relatively thin compared to other items of their class, especially those crafted by twining: “fine thread”, a “twine” as a thin cord and by extension things like a “*wire”. I would also use it for “line” but not necessarily one that is straight, such as in a line in a drawing.
References ✧ Ety/SLIG; PE23/106
Glosses
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶ligā > lia | [sligā] > [l̥igā] > [l̥iɣā] > [l̥iā] > [liā] > [lia] | ✧ Ety/SLIG |
ᴱQ. lia n. “twine” (Category: Thread)
References ✧ LT1A/Ungwë Lianti; QL/53
Glosses
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴱ√LI+ya > lia | [lijā] > [lija] > [lia] | ✧ QL/53 |