This long straight mark takes its name from the more general Quenya word telco, which is interpreted in The Etymologies (in The History of Middle-earth volume V) as 'leg', deriving from a root telek-, 'stalk, stem, leg'. As used in writing, Tolkien specifically defines the term as 'stem' in Appendix II to The Lord of the Rings. In the sense of 'leg', the same root is found in Telcontar, the Elvish form of the name 'Strider'
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