tanta : [nt.] thread; string; a loom.

A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera, Concise Pali-English and English-Pali Dictionary [available as digital version from Metta Net, Sri Lanka]

Tanta (nt.) [Vedic tantra, to tanoti; cp. tantrī f. string] a thread, a string, a loom J i.356 (˚vitata -- ṭṭhāna the place of weaving); DhA i.424. At J iv.484 tanta is to be corrected to tata (stretched out).
   -- âkula tangled string, a tangled skein, in phrase tantākulajātā guḷāguṇṭhikajāta "entangled like a ball of string & covered with blight" S ii.92; iv.158; A ii.211; Dpvs xii.32. See guḷā; -- āvuta weaving, weft, web S v.45; A i.286; -- bhaṇḍa weaving appliances Vin ii.135; -- rajjuka "stringing & roping," hanging, execution J iv.87; -- vāya a weaver J i.356; Miln 331; Vism 259; DhA i.424.

Pali-English Dictionary, TW Rhys Davids, William Stede,