√MI/IMI root. “in, within, [ᴹ√] inside”
This invertible root had the basic sense “in(side)” for all of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√IMI² “in, into” and ᴱ√MĪ² in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. imi “in, inside” and ᴱQ. mitta- “enter” (QL/42, 61). Deleted Gnomish forms like G. bi “in” and G. bin “into” might be derived from a strengthened form of the root *ᴱ√MBI (GL/21) but Tolkien said the undeleted prefix bi- or G. ba “in“ had a Qenya cognate ve (GL/20), so I think these were based on some other (abandoned) root.
Both ᴹ√MI “inside” and its inversion ᴹ√IMI “in” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/MI; EtyAC/IMI), though the only derivative of the inversion was ᴹ√IMBE “dell, deep vale” (EtyAC/IMI, IMBE). The root or its inversion appeared a number of times in Tolkien’s later writings as well, up into the 1960s (PE17/41, 92; VT47/11, 30).
This root probably has an extension √MIT as implied by words like mitta “inwards”, mitta- “insert”, and mitya “interior”. Hat-tip to Vyacheslav Stepanov for this suggestion.
References ✧ PE17/41, 92, 155, 165; VT43/30; VT47/11, 30
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ᴹ√MĪ/IMI root. “in, inside”
References ✧ Ety/MI; EtyAC/IMÍ, MI, NDI
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Inflections
| IMI | inversion | “in” | ✧ EtyAC/IMÍ; EtyAC/MI |
| IMI | inversion | “in?” | ✧ EtyAC/MI |
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