illi noun "all" (as independent noun, apparently treated as a plural form). Imb' illi "among all" (VT47:30)
Quenya
illi
pronoun. all
illi
all
a ancalima imb’ illi
A is brightest of all
ancalima
most bright, brightest
ancalima adj. "most bright, brightest", sc. calima "bright" with a superlative or intensive prefix (LotR2:IV ch. 9; see Letters:385 for translation). Ancalima imbi eleni "brightest among stars", also [ancalima] imb' illi "brightest among all" (VT47:30). Fem. name Ancalimë, *"Most Bright One", also masc. Ancalimon (Appendix A). Tar-Ancalimë, a Númenorean Queen (UT:210)
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)
arcalima ar eleni
A is brightest of all
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.
hyanda
noun. throng
throng, crowd, pressed mass
ilya
all
ilya adj. and noun "all" (LR:47, 56; SD:310), "all, the whole" (IL); "each, every, all of a particular group of things" (VT39:20); ilyë before a plural noun, "all" being inflected like an adjective (Nam, RGEO:67): ilyë tier "all paths" (Namárië, VT39:20), ilyë mahalmar "all thrones" (CO), ilya raxellor "from all dangers" (VT44:9; we might expect *ilyë raxellor here), ilyárëa (older ilyázëa) "daily, of every day" (evidently ilya "every" + árë, ázë "day" + -a adjectival ending) (VT43:18). Tolkien apparently abandoned ilyárëa in favour of ilaurëa, q.v.
ilyë
adjective. all
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-
between
mitta- (2) prep. "between" (VT43:30; the final hyphen may suggest that suffixes would normally follow)
yallini
as many as
A pronoun for “all” appearing in the phrase A ancalima imb’ illi “A [is] brightest among all” (PE17/91), presumably a plural variant of pronominal ilya “all”. I would use it when the referent is plural, as in Mana neri cennel? Cennen illi teo. “Which men did you see? I saw all of them.” Compare this to á anta ilya nin “give [it] all to me” referring to “all” as a collective, functionally singular.