The basic Quenya word for “between” as given in the Q. Namárië poem (LotR/377). It has a plural variant imbi “among” used with plural nouns (PE17/92). In ordinary use its singular imbe is “between” two objects, and when those objects are not named it can itself be dualized as imbit (PE17/92). More exactly, it “referred to a gap, space, barrier, or any thing intervening between two other things like or unlike one another” (VT47/11). In reference to the gap, it could also mean “a deep valley or wide ravine between high mountain sides (as Rivendell): sc. = tween-land” (PE17/92). See imbë for further discussion.
Conceptual Development:The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. {imba >>} imbe “in(wards)” under the root ᴹ√IMÍ “in” (EtyAC/IMÍ). This was likely a later iteration of ᴱQ. int “inwards” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√IMI “in, into” (QL/42).
The basic Quenya word for “between” as given in the Q. Namárië poem (LotR/377). It has a plural variant imbi “among” used with plural nouns (PE17/92). In ordinary use its singular imbe is “between” two objects, and when those objects are not named it can itself be dualized as imbit (PE17/92). More exactly, it “referred to a gap, space, barrier, or any thing intervening between two other things like or unlike one another” (VT47/11). In reference to the gap, it could also mean “a deep valley or wide ravine between high mountain sides (as Rivendell): sc. = tween-land” (PE17/92). See imbë for further discussion.
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. {imba >>} imbe “in(wards)” under the root ᴹ√IMÍ “in” (EtyAC/IMÍ). This was likely a later iteration of ᴱQ. int “inwards” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√IMI “in, into” (QL/42).