Imladris

At least, according the conventional rules of Elvish pronunciation, the stress should be on the penult (that is, the last-but-one syllable). However, examples of its use in poetry seems to imply an alternative stress pattern, as 'i'mladris'. It is possible that both pronunciations were valid, with stress changing when the word was used in certain poetic situations in order to fit the needs of the metre.

Imlad is the Elvish word for a valley or dell, especially one with steep sides and a flat bottom, and ris in this context means 'cleft' or 'ravine', though it comes from a root-word meaning 'cut', referring to the deep, narrow nature of the valley. Tolkien uses the more picturesque old word 'riven' in his English translation of the name, 'Rivendell'.