This word only occurs in the place name Imloth Melui, a vale where roses grew
Sindarin
î(r)
pronoun. impersonal plural pronoun
imlad
noun. deep valley, narrow valley with steep sides (but a flat habitable bottom)
imrad
noun. a path or pass (between mountains, hills or trackless forest)
imrath
noun. long narrow valley with a road or watercourse running through it lengthwise
im
noun. valley, valley; [N.] dell, deep vale
imloth
noun. flower-valley, flowery vale
-il
suffix. feminine suffix
A fairly common feminine suffix appearing as -il in Sindarin, either formed on its own or as a variant of the feminine suffix -iel. This suffix was also common Noldorin words in The Etymologies of the 1930s, along with an alternate form -ril that seems to be a feminine agental suffix, the equivalent of masculine -(r)on, seen in pairs like N. melethril/melethron “lover” and N. odhril/odhron “parent” (Ety/MEL, ONO). The -il suffix and its -ril variant are seen all the way back in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s in pairs like G. gwadhril/gwadhron “inhabitant” (GL/47) and G. ainil/ainos “god”, female and male respectively (GL/18). So it seems this feminine suffix was well established in Tolkien’s mind.
î
interjection. indeed
imloth
flowering valley
(pl. imlyth) (VT42:18).
imrath
valley
(long narrow valley with a road or watercourse running through it lengthwise) imrath (pl. imraith)
tum
noun. deep valley, under or among hills
talath
wide valley
(i** dalath, o thalath) (flat surface, plane, flatlands, plain), pl. telaith (i** thelaith). *Tolkien changed this word from ”Noldorin” dalath, LR:353 s.v.*
nand
valley
1) nand (construct nan) (wide grassland, land at the foot of hills with many streams), pl. naind, coll. pl. nannath (VT45:36), 2) lâd (lowland, plain), construct lad, pl. laid, 3) (long narrow valley with a road or watercourse running through it lengthwise) imrath (pl. imraith).
lâd
valley
(lowland, plain), construct lad, pl. laid
nand
valley
(construct nan) (wide grassland, land at the foot of hills with many streams), pl. naind, coll. pl. **nannath **(VT45:36)
talath
dal
Dirnen or ”Guarded Plain” mentioned in the Silmarillion.
An archaic element meaning “valley” that survived only in compounds, a derivation of ✶imbi “between” (VT47/14). The basic sense “valley” was transferred to its more elaborate form imlad as in Imladris “Rivendell”, and †im “valley” fell out of use due to its conflicted with other words like the reflexive pronoun im.
Conceptual Development: N. imm “dell, deep vale” was mentioned in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√IMBE, alongside its elaboration N. imlad of the same meaning (Ety/IMBE).