imbë (2) noun "dell, deep vale" (VT45:18), "wide ravine (between high mountain sides)" (PE17:92)
Quenya
imbë
between
imbë
dell, deep vale
imbë
in(wards)
imbë (3) adv. "in(wards)" (obsoleted by #1 and #2 above?). Changed by Tolkien from imba (VT45:18)
imbë
preposition/adverb. between, among, between, among; [ᴹQ.] in(wards)
Derivations
Element in
- Q. A ancalima imb’ illi “A is brightest of all” ✧ PE17/091
- Q. ancalima imbi eleni “brightest among stars” ✧ PE17/091
- Q. i falmalinnar imbë met “on the foaming waves between us” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
- Q. i falmalinnar imbë met “upon the (many) foaming waves between us (two)” ✧ RGEO/59
- Q. imbë met “between you and me” ✧ VT47/11
- ᴺQ. imbenatsë “internet”
- ᴺQ. imberaima “internet”
- Q. imbë siryat “between two rivers” ✧ VT47/11
- Q. imbi Menel Cemenyë menë Ráno tië “between Heaven and Earth goes the path of the Moon” ✧ VT47/11
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶imbĭ > imbĕ [imbi] > [imbe] ✧ PE17/092 ✶imbi > imbe [imbi] > [imbe] ✧ VT47/11 ✶imbĭ > imbĕ [imbi] > [imbe] ✧ VT47/30 Variations
- imbë ✧ LotR/0377; PE17/091; VT47/30
- imbe ✧ PE17/073; PE17/135; RGEO/59; VT47/11
- imbĕ ✧ PE17/092; VT47/30
- ímbe ✧ RGEO/58
imbë
noun. deep valley, wide ravine, (lit.) tween-land, deep valley, (wide) ravine, [ᴹQ.] glen, dell, (lit.) tween-land
A Quenya noun that is more or less the equivalent of S. imlad for a deep (and relatively narrow) valley or a wider-than-normal ravine.
Conceptual Development: ᴹQ. imbe “dell, deep vale” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as a derivative of ᴹ√IMBE, which was also the basis for N. imm and N. imlad of the same meaning (EtyAC/IMBE). The form imbe “dell” appeared as a (deleted) name for a tengwar in notes on the Feanorian Alphabet from the early to mid 1940s (PE22/52). The word imbe “ravine, glen” appeared in rough (and ultimately rejected) notes on irregular verbs from the Quenya Verbal System of the late 1940s, where Tolkien contrasted it with ᴹQ. tumbo used of wide valleys, indicating imbe meant the valley was narrow (PE22/127). In this note Tolkien again connected imbe to N. im(b)lad as in N. Imladris, and gave the fuller Quenya form ᴹQ. latimbe its actual equivalent.
However in notes from the late 1960s on Galadriel and Celeborn, Tolkien gave Q. imbilat as the equivalent of S. imlad, and mentions primitive ✶imbē as an ancient word for a “cleft of great length in mountains between very high stone walls”, a variant of ✶imbi “between” (NM/355). This contradicts an earlier etymology given by Tolkien for imbe around 1965, where Tolkien said:
> imbĕ < imbĭ [between] is a strengthened form of √IMI “in, within” giving the preposition mī > mi “in” ... The noun imbe (< imbē) is also probably a derivative, or felt to be: meaning a deep valley or wide ravine between high mountain sides (as Rivendell): sc. = “tween-land”. It is possibly from a similar but different stem √IBI, and to be compared with S îf (< ✱īb-), a cliff, a sheer descent (PE17/92).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use imbe as the normal word for “deep valley”, and assume the more elaborate forms latimbe and imbilat exist only as hypothetical counterparts to S. imlad and were not used as actual words. I would also assume imbe is either a narrow valley or a wide ravine, as opposed to Q. tumbo which was a deep valley and Q. nan(do) for a wide valley. I would further assume it was derived from √MI/IMI as in the late 1960s notes on Galadriel and Celeborn, and assume the 1965 derivation from √IBI was a transient idea.
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶imbē > imbe [imbē] > [imbe] ✧ PE17/092 Variations
- imbe ✧ PE17/092
imba
imba
[imba], see imbë #2
imbi
imbi
imbi, pluralized form of imbë #1, q.v.
imbit
imbit
imbit, dualized form of imbë #1, q.v.
nierwes
hive
nierwes noun "hive" (LT1:262)
tumba
deep valley
tumba noun "deep valley" (Letters:308; SA:tum and TUB gives tumbo "valley, deep valley"); apparently an extended form *tumbalë in tumbalemorna "deepvalleyblack" or (according to SA:tum) "black deep valley", also tumbaletaurëa "deepvalleyforested"; see Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna...
tumba
adjective. deep valley, [ᴹQ.] deep, lowlying; [Q.] deep valley
The adjective ᴹQ. tumba “deep, lowlying” appeared in rough (and ultimately rejected) notes on irregular verbs from the Quenya Verbal System of the late 1940s as a derivative of ᴹ√TUB “fall low, go down” (PE22/127). In a 1961 letter to Rhona Beare tumba was glossed “deep valley” as an element in the Entish phrase Q. Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna Tumbaletaurëa Lómëanor “Forestmanyshadowed-deepvalleyblack Deepvalleyforested Gloomyland” (Let/308; LotR/467), but I think this is only an approximate translation, and the word is better understood as adjectival in sense: “✱like a deep valley”. As further evidence of this, in notes from the late 1960s the form tumba was changed to a more typical noun form Q. tumbo in the name Q. i Tumbo Tarmacorto “the Vale of the High Mountain Circle” (NM/351).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d treat this word as an adjective only, and use Q. tumbo for the noun.
Changes
Tumba→ Tumbo ✧ NM/351Element in
- Q. tumbalë “depth, deep valley”
- Q. Tumbaletaurëa “Deepvalleyforested” ✧ Let/308
Variations
- Tumba ✧ NM/355 (
Tumba)
enel
between
enel prep. "between" = "at the central position in a row, list, series, etc. but also applied to the case of three persons" (VT47:11). This preposition refers to the position of a thing between others of the same kind; compare imbë.
mitta
preposition/adverb. between, [ᴹQ.] inwards, into, [ᴱQ.] in; [Q.] between
Derivations
- √MI/IMI “in, within, [ᴹ√] inside” ✧ VT43/30
Element in
- Q. aistana elyë imíca nísi “blessed art thou amongst women” ✧ VT43/30
- Q. Mittalmar “Inlands”
- Q. mittanya- “*to lead (into)”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √mi > mitta- [mitta] ✧ VT43/30 Variations
- mitta- ✧ VT43/30
mitta-
between
mitta- (2) prep. "between" (VT43:30; the final hyphen may suggest that suffixes would normally follow)
fásë
gap, gulf
fásë noun "gap, gulf" (GL:36)
nieres
noun. hive
Elements
Word Gloss nier “(honey) bee”
imbë (1) prep "between" (Nam, RGEO:67, VT47:11, PE17:92). This is "between" referring to a gap, space, barrier, or anything intervening between two other things, like or unlike one another (compare enel). The pluralized form imbi implies "among" of several things (ancalima imbi eleni "brightest among stars"); "in the sense 'among' before plurals [imbë] is usually pluralized > imbi even when a plural noun follows". As pointed out by Patrick Wynne, imbi may also be used in the sense of "between" before two singular nouns connected by "and" (as in the example imbi Menel Cemenyë "between heaven and earth"), whereas imbë is used before dual forms, as in the examples imbë siryat "between two rivers", imbë met "between us". Elided imb' in the phrase imb' illi "among all" (VT47:11, 30). A dual form imbit is also mentioned, used to express "in absolute form the sense 'between two things' when these are not named" (apparently meaning that imbit expresses *"between them" referring to two entities, with no noun following) (VT47:30, PE17:92)