mitta- (2) prep. "between" (VT43:30; the final hyphen may suggest that suffixes would normally follow)
Quenya
mitta-
verb. to insert, to insert; [ᴹQ.] to come in, [ᴱQ.] enter (intr.)
mitta-
between
mitta-
insert
mitta- (1) vb. "insert" (VT43:30)
mitta-
verb. come in
mitta
preposition/adverb. between, [ᴹQ.] inwards, into, [ᴱQ.] in; [Q.] between
A derivative of √MI “in” with various meanings throughout Tolkien’s life. It seems to mean “in” within the name Mittalmar “Inlands” from the mid-1960s. In Quenya prayers of the 1950s, it was briefly used for “among” before being revised to mika (VT43/27-28), and was glossed “between” in accompanying etymological notes (VT43/30). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. mitta or minta was glossed “inwards, [?]into” [the second gloss is difficult to read] under the root ᴹ√MI “inside” (EtyAC/MI). In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s ,ᴱQ. mitta was glossed “in, into, inwards” under the early root ᴱ√MĪ (QL/61).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use mitta as a preposition or adverb meaning “inwards, into”, and would assume the 1950s meaning “between” was transient and abandoned.
mitta
inwards, [?into]
mitta (4) prep. "inwards, [?into]" (Tolkiens gloss is not certainly legible). Also minta. (VT45:34)
mitta
piece
mitta (3) noun "piece" (VT45:81)
mitta-#
verb. infix
infix
minta
inwards, [?into]
minta prep. "inwards, [?into]" (Tolkien's gloss is not certainly legible). Also mitta. (VT45:34)
Mittalmar
midlands
Mittalmar noun the "Midlands" of Númenor (UT:165). May incorporate mitta- "between" and hence *"in the middle".
aistana elyë imíca nísi
blessed art thou amongst women
The third line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. This is a declarative statement. The first word aistana “blessed” is the predicate. The second word elyë “thou” is the subject, the emphatic form of the pronoun lye “you (polite)”. The last two words are the prepositional phrase imíca nísi “among women”, the latter being the plural of nís “woman”. As in the second line, there is no Quenya equivalent of the English word “are (art)” in the final version of the prayer.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> aistana elyë imíca nís-i = “✱blessed [art] thou among woman-(plural)”
Conceptual Development: The first two versions of the prayer used manna for “blessed” instead of aistana. Tolkien considered several different prepositional elements for English “among”: mil (I deleted), mi (I-II), mitta (III deleted), mika (III) before settling on imíca (IV).
In version I-II, he used another word for “women”: nínaron, apparently genitive plural of an otherwise unattested word nína. In version I, he considered and deleted many variants before settling on nínaron. I’ve omitted them from this discussion because they appear nowhere else, and including them would obscure the development of the phrase. For further details, see VT43/27, 31.
| | I | II |III|IV| | |elye|manna|aistana| |{manna na >>}|na manna|nalye|elye| |{mil >>}|mi|{mitta >>} mika|imíca| |[various >>]|nínaron|nísi|
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.
imbë
between
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)
imi
in
imi prep. "in"; see mi (VT43:30)
imi
preposition. in, in, [ᴱQ.] inside
mi
in, within
mi prep. "in, within" (MI, VT27:20, VT44:18, 34, VT43:30; the latter source also mentions the variant imi); mí "in the" (Nam, RGEO:66; CO gives mi; the correct forms should evidently be mi = "in" and mí = mi i "in the"; VT49:35 also has mí with a long vowel, though the gloss is simply "in"). Used in PE17:71 (cf. 70) of people clad "in" various colours, e.g. mi mísë "in grey". Allative minna "to the inside, into" (MI), also mina (VT43:30). The forms mimmë and mingwë seem to incorporate pronominal suffixes for "us", hence ?"in us", inclusive and exclusive respectively. The pronoun -mmë denoted plural inclusive "we" when this was written, though Tolkien would later make it dual instead (see -mmë). Second person forms are also given: mil or milyë *"in you" (sg.), millë "in you" (pl.) (VT43:36). A special use of mi appears in the phrase Wendë mi Wenderon "Virgin of Virgins" (VT44:18); here mi appears superfluous to achieve the desired meaning, but this combination of singular noun + mi + plural genitive noun may be seen as a fixed idiom expressing that the initial noun represents the most prominent member of a class.
mi
preposition. in, in, [ᴹQ.] within
The Quenya preposition for “in”, very well attested. It was derived from the root √MI of the same meaning (PE17/92; VT43/30; VT47/30). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. mi was glossed “in, within” under the root ᴹ√MI “inside” (Ety/MI).
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, the preposition mi appeared (untranslated) in the phrase ᴱQ. Uole·mi·Kūme “Moon King” = “✱Uole in the Moon” (QL/48). The main dictionary had the adverb ᴱQ. imi “in, inside” under the early root ᴱ√IMI (QL/42). In one place in Tolkien’s later writings from the 1950s, the preposition mi “in” had the variant form imi as well (VT43/30).
A verb glossed “insert” in notes from the 1950s derived from the root √MI “in” (VT43/30). ᴹQ. mitta- was also glossed “insert” in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 (PE22/110), but in some sentences in the same document it was translated “come in” used intransitively: ᴹQ. á he mittar “let them come in” and mitt’ā́ “come in!” (PE22/106). It was used to mean “get in” in a phrase from Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC), also from 1948, in the phrase: me·mittanelme i·mbarenna “we got into the house” (PE23/97), with the thing entered in the allative and a reflexive pronoun -lme “us” as the object. In its early appearance in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. mitta- was glossed “enter (intr.)” and derived from the early root ᴱ√MĪ (QL/61).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume mitta- can be used intransitively for “enter [= insert oneself]” and transitively for “insert”, with the thing inserted as the direct object and the thing entered in the allative. Hence mittanen latil i fendenna “I inserted a key into the door” but mittanen i fendenna “I entered [inserted myself] into the door”. With no object or allative, it simply means “go/come in”.