mī

preposition. in, within

Derivations

• √MI/IMI “in, within, [ᴹ√] inside” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/30

Derivatives

• Q. mi “in, in, [ᴹQ.] within” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/30
• S. mi “*in”

Element in

• ᴺS. mî “(to the) inside; into”

imi

root. in

mīni

preposition. between

Derivations

• √MI/IMI “in, within, [ᴹ√] inside” ✧ VT47/11

Derivatives

• S. mîn “[thing] between; gap, space, barrier; anything intervening between two other things” ✧ VT47/11

mi/imi

root. in, within, [ᴹ√] inside

This invertible root had the basic sense “in(side)” for all of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√IMI “in, into” and ᴱ√MĪ² in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. imi “in, inside” and ᴱQ. mitta- “enter” (QL/42, 61). Deleted Gnomish forms like G. bi “in” and G. bin “into” might be derived from a strengthened form of the root ✱ᴱ√MBI (GL/21) but Tolkien said the undeleted prefix bi- or G. ba “in“ had a Qenya cognate ve (GL/20), so I think these were based on some other (abandoned) root.

Both ᴹ√MI “inside” and its inversion ᴹ√IMI “in” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/MI; EtyAC/IMI), though the only derivative of the inversion was ᴹ√IMBE “dell, deep vale” (EtyAC/IMI, IMBE). The root or its inversion appeared a number of times in Tolkien’s later writings as well, up into the 1960s (PE17/41, 92; VT47/11, 30).

Derivatives

• ✶imbi “between” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/11; VT47/30
  • Q. imbë “between, among, between, among; [ᴹQ.] in(wards)” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/11; VT47/30
  • S. im “valley, valley; [N.] dell, deep vale” ✧ VT47/14
  • T. imbe “gap, gully; low/narrow tract between high walls” ✧ VT47/14
• ✶mī “in, within” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/30
  • Q. mi “in, in, [ᴹQ.] within” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/30
  • S. mi “*in”
• ✶mīni “between” ✧ VT47/11
  • S. mîn “[thing] between; gap, space, barrier; anything intervening between two other things” ✧ VT47/11
• Q. imbë “deep valley, wide ravine, (lit.) tween-land, deep valley, (wide) ravine, [ᴹQ.] glen, dell, (lit.) tween-land”
• Q. imíca “among” ✧ VT43/30
• Q. mi “in, in, [ᴹQ.] within” ✧ VT43/30
• Q. mina “into, in, into, in, [ᴹQ.] to the inside” ✧ VT43/30
• Q. mitta “between, [ᴹQ.] inwards, into, [ᴱQ.] in; [Q.] between” ✧ VT43/30
• Q. mitta- “to insert, to insert; [ᴹQ.] to come in, [ᴱQ.] enter” ✧ VT43/30
• S. im “between”
• ᴺS. mîg “among”
• S. minna- “to go in, enter” ✧ PE17/041

Element in

• ᴺQ. (i)missë “inside”
• ᴺS. ivil “inside”

Variations

• MI ✧ PE17/041; PE17/165; VT47/11
• IMI ✧ PE17/092; PE17/155
• mi ✧ VT43/30
• imi ✧ VT47/30

imbi

preposition. between

Derivations

• √MI/IMI “in, within, [ᴹ√] inside” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/11; VT47/30

Derivatives

• Q. imbë “between, among, between, among; [ᴹQ.] in(wards)” ✧ PE17/092; VT47/11; VT47/30
• S. im “valley, valley; [N.] dell, deep vale” ✧ VT47/14
• T. imbe “gap, gully; low/narrow tract between high walls” ✧ VT47/14

Element in

• Q. imbilat “*deep valley” ✧ NM/355
• S. imlad “deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides, gap, gully, deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides, gap, gully, [N.] dell, glen” ✧ NM/355

Variations

• imbĭ ✧ PE17/092; VT47/30

ne

root. *in