S. Imloth Melui loc. “Lovely or Sweet Flower-valley”
A rose-filled valley in Gondor (LotR/866) translated “Lovely Flowery Vale” (RC/582) or “Sweet Flower-valley” (VT42/18), a combination of †im³ “valley” and loth “flower” (VT42/18) with otherwise unattested melui “lovely”. In this position, an adjective like melui would ordinarily undergo soft mutation to velui, but in notes from around 1969 Tolkien indicated this was an example of the graduation loss of m-mutation in late Sindarin (PE23/138 note #12).
Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, this name was already N. Imloth Melui.
References ✧ LotRI/Imloth Melui; PE23/136, 138; RC/582; VT42/18
Glosses
Elements
†im³ | “valley” | ✧ VT42/18 |
loth | “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” | ✧ VT42/18 |
melui | “lovely, sweet” | ✧ RC/582; VT42/18 |