# թել
## Armenian
### Alternative forms

* թիլ (tʻil) — dialectal

### Etymology

From Old Armenian թել (tʻel).

### Pronunciation

* (Eastern Armenian) IPA: /tʰel/, [tʰel]
* (Western Armenian) IPA: /tel/, [tʰel]
* Audio (Eastern Armenian):(file)

### Noun

թել • (tʻel)
* thread
    բարակ թել ― barak tʻel ― thin thread

#### Descendants

* → Lomavren: թել (tʻel)
* → Ottoman Turkish: تل (tel) (possibly) (see there for further descendants)

## Old Armenian
### Etymology

The origin is disputed. The same word is found in several language groups: Iranian – Persian تیلا (“rope; spinning wheel”), Khotanese [script needed] (ttīla-) (from older *tēla-), Ossetian тел (tel), Northern Kurdish têl, Central Kurdish تێل (têl), تەل (tel); Turkic – Ottoman Turkish تل (tel), Azerbaijani tel, Crimean Tatar tel, Gagauz tel, Kumyk тел (tel), Nogai тел (tel), Turkmen til, perhaps also Karakhanid تِلیٖ (tili, “thong”), Chuvash тал (tal, “strand”); Northeast Caucasian — Avar тел (tel), Dargwa тел (tel), Lezgi тел (tel). The interrelationship of these is not clear; a Turkic origin that has been suggested is unconvincing.
According to some, the Armenian is a native term inherited from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, draw”) or *tek- (“to weave”). The rest are then Armenian borrowings, with a high certainty in case of Turkish.
On the other hand, Bailey derives all from Old Iranian *tarθrya-, from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn; to drill, pierce”), whence notably English thread, the Armenian and Turkic being Iranian borrowings, in case of Turkic perhaps via Armenian. Abaev adduces also Persian تار (târ) as a cognate. Note also Central Kurdish تاڵ (tall, “string, cord”).
Note also Hebrew תּוֹר (tōr, “line”), Jewish Babylonian Aramaic תּוֹרָא (tōrā, “cord, band”), deriving from Akkadian 𒄙 (/⁠turru, ṭurru⁠/, “yarn, twine, wire, string; a twist of fibers”) and the source of obsolete Arabic تُرّ (turr, “plumb line”), possibly related to the native verb *tawar- (“to go about, to circle, to turn about, to encompass, to come around again; to plait, to braid”), or ultimately from Sumerian 𒄙 (dur, “strip”).

### Noun

թել • (tʻel)
* thread, filament; fibre; chord [from 5th c.]
    թել ոսկի ― tʻel oski ― golden thread
    թել արծաթի ― tʻel arcatʻi ― silver thread
    թել երկաթի ― tʻel erkatʻi ― iron or metal wire
    հատանել թելս թելս ― hatanel tʻels tʻels ― to reduce to filaments; to atomize
    թել զթելն յօրինել ― tʻel ztʻeln yōrinel ― to weave thread by thread; to adorn symmetrically
    թելք բանից, պատմութեան ― tʻelkʻ banicʻ, patmutʻean ― the thread of a discourse or story
    հատանել զթել բանին ― hatanel ztʻel banin ― to break the thread of one's argument
    թել կենաց ― tʻel kenacʻ ― the thread of life
    հատանել զթել կենաց ― hatanel ztʻel kenacʻ ― to cut the thread of life, to cut off one's days

#### Derived terms

* թելադիր (tʻeladir)
* թելադրեմ (tʻeladrem)
* թելադրութիւն (tʻeladrutʻiwn)
* ոսկեթել (osketʻel)
* ոսկիաթել (oskiatʻel)

#### Descendants

* Armenian: թել (tʻel), թիլ (tʻil) — dialectal
** → Lomavren: թել (tʻel)
** → Ottoman Turkish: تل (tel) (possibly) (see there for further descendants)

### References

* 1 2 Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1973) “թել”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume II, Yerevan: University Press, pages 169–170
* ↑ Räsänen, Martti (1969) Versuch eines etymologischen Wörterbuchs der Türksprachen (in German), Helsinki: Suomalais-ugrilainen seura, page 471a
* 1 2 Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) “­*t῾ḗlù”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill
* ↑ Cabolov, R. L. (2010) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ kurdskovo jazyka [Etymological Dictionary of the Kurdish Language] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Russian Academy Press Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 401–402
* ↑ Chyet, Michael L. (2003) “թել”, in Kurdish–English Dictionary‎, with selected etymologies by Martin Schwartz, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, page 616
* 1 2 Abajev, V. I. (1979) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume III, Moscow and Leningrad: Academy Press, page 288
* ↑ Tenišev E. R., Dybo A. V., editor (2006), Sravnitelʹno-istoričeskaja grammatika tjurkskix jazykov: Pratjurkskij jazyk-osnova. Kartina mira pratjurkskovo etnosa po dannym jazyka [Comparative Historical Grammar of Turkic Languages: The Proto-Turkic basic language. The World Picture of the Proto-Turkic ethnos (by language data)] (in Russian), volume VI, Moscow: Nauka, pages 811–812
* ↑ Pedersen (Pedersən), Holger (1907) H. Tʻovmas Ketikean, transl., Hayerēn ew dracʻi lezunerə [Armenian and the Neighbouring Languages] (in Armenian), Vienna: Mekhitarist Press, page 234
* ↑ J̌ahukyan, Geworg (1987) Hayocʻ lezvi patmutʻyun; naxagrayin žamanakašrǰan [History of the Armenian language: The Pre-Literary Period]‎ (in Armenian), Yerevan: Academy Press, page 233
* ↑ J̌ahukyan, Geworg (2010) “թել”, in Vahan Sargsyan, editor, Hayeren stugabanakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Asoghik, page 263a
* ↑ Olsen, Birgit Anette (1999) The noun in Biblical Armenian: origin and word-formation: with special emphasis on the Indo-European heritage (Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs; 119), Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, page 200
* ↑ Kraelitz, Friedrich (1913) “Türkische Etymologien”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎ (in German), volume 27, pages 131–132
* ↑ Gayayan, Harutʻyun (1977) “Gorgagorcutʻyan meǰ kiraṙvoġ hayeren pʻoxaṙyal baṙer tʻurkʻerenum [Armenian Borrowings in Turkish, Used in Carpet Making]”, in Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri [Herald of the Social Sciences]‎ (in Armenian), number 8, pages 86–87
* ↑ Bläsing, Uwe (1992) Armenisches Lehngut im Türkeitürkischen am Beispiel von Hemşin (Dutch Studies in Armenian Language and Literature; 2) (in German), Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, pages 13–14
* ↑ Dankoff, Robert (1995) Armenian Loanwords in Turkish (Turcologica; 21), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, page 47
* ↑ Eren, Hasan (1999) “tel”, in Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü [Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language] (in Turkish), Ankara: Bizim Büro Basım Evi, page 400b
* ↑ Bailey, H. W. (1966) “The Sudhana Poem of Ṛddhiprabhāva”, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies‎, volume 29, number 3, page 524
* ↑ Bailey, H. W. (1970) “A Range of Iranica”, in Mary Boyce, Ilya Gershevitch, editors, W.B. Henning memorial volume‎, London: Lund Humphries, pages 30–33
* ↑ Bailey, H. W. (1979) Dictionary of Khotan Saka, Cambridge, London, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University press, page 129b

### Further reading

* Awetikʻean, G., Siwrmēlean, X., Awgerean, M. (1836–1837) “թել”, in Nor baṙgirkʻ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
* Petrosean, Matatʻeay (1879) “թել”, in Nor Baṙagirkʻ Hay-Angliarēn [New Dictionary Armenian–English], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy