imladris

place name. Imladris

topon. >> imlad, riss

imladris

noun. deep-dale cleft

im (“between, within”) + lad (“plain, valley”) + ris (“a ravine”) The original form of ris is probably riss with the final s dropped at the end of a polysyllable [HKF].

imladris

place name. Rivendell, (lit.) Deep Dale of the Cleft

Sindarin name of Rivendell (LotR/657), a combination of imlad “deep valley” and riss “cleft” (PE17/87), so literally “Deep Dale of the Cleft” (RC/482).

Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, this name first appeared as N. Imlad-ril (rejected) >> Imladrist (TI/120), but was soon revised to Imladris (TI/146), a form that also appeared in The Etymologies with essentially the same derivation as given above (Ety/RIS²).

Cognates

• Wes. Karningul “Rivendell” ✧ LotR/1134; PMI/Imladris; PM/044

Element in

• S. Aerlinn in Edhil o Imladris “*Holy Song of the Elves of Rivendell” ✧ RGEO/62

Elements

Word	Gloss
imlad	“deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides, gap, gully, deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides, gap, gully, [N.] dell, glen”
riss	“cleft, cloven, separate; cleft”

Variations

• Imlad-ris(t) ✧ RC/774