The Sindarin word for “one” used when counting multiple things (PE17/95; VT42/25; VT48/6), such as minui “first”. Contrast this with er “one” for single isolated things.
Conceptual Development: This word was very well established, with G. min “one single” appearing all the way back in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/32). Similar forms ᴱN. mind, minn appeared in Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s, but without translation (PE13/150). N. min “one” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√MINI “stand alone, stick out” (Ety/MINI). In one late note it appeared with a long î: mîn “1” (VT42/25).
A Sindarin word for “between” (VT47/11). Tolkien contrasted it with Q. enel by saying:
> It differed from C.E. imbi and mīni (both probably derivatives of MI “in”) in that enel referred to the position of a thing between others of like kind, whereas imbi (Q. imbe) and mīni (S. mîn, min-) referred to a gap, space, barrier, or anything intervening between two other things (like or unlike one another).
The prefixal use of min- can be seen in S. Minhiriath “Between the Rivers” (LotR/1040; UT/261).
Neo-Sindarin: When I first created this entry, I misinterpreted the above description and assumed mîn was actually noun meaning a “gap, space, barrier, or anything intervening between two other things”. As such I accidentally created a neologism. This is a moderately useful neologism, however, so for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would use mîn as preposition, prefix and noun for between, between-, and “a between [thing or place]”. For a pure preposition, see im.