Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 19:57:22 -0000

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From: Nick Grant <GBAJI_at_nysalor.freeserve.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 19:57:22 -0000

Had it remained in normal English use, it probably would have ended up being spelled "thain", along with "rain", "main", and similarly-structured words.

Tolkien used the spelling thain. I'd always considered them variants but I've never checked a dictionary, perhaps he was using the older form to indicate the antiquity of the world.

Nick Grant

PS Having spell checked this before I sent it, I note that of course the MS dictionary didn't have thain.