- Rohirric
In the fictional world of
Middle-earth byJ. R. R. Tolkien , Rohirric (also Rohirian and Rohanese, see below) is the language of theRohirrim ofRohan .In the novels it is always represented by Old English. This is because Tolkien saw the relationship between Rohirric and the
Common Speech to be the same as that of Old English andModern English , which was used to represent Westron. Only a few actual Rohirric words are given by Tolkien: "kûd-dûkan", an old word meaning "hole-dweller" which led to "kuduk", the name theHobbit s had for themselves. Even these terms were translated in the book: "hobbit" is said to derive from the Old English word "holbytla", or hole-builder.The only other Rohirric given is the element "lô–"/"loh–" corresponding to Anglo-Saxon "éo", horse, and the derived names "Lôgrad" for "Horse-Mark", and "Lohtûr" for "
Éothéod ", horse-people, or horse-land. Coincidentally, the Rohirric word for horse is an exact homonym of the Hungarian word for horse, "ló". [http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%B3]All names beginning with Éo– are actually names beginning with Lô– or Loh–, but the real forms of
Éomer ,Éowyn etc. are not given. Only one proper name is given, that ofThéoden : the actual form was "Tûrac", which shows that Rohirric had adopted theSindarin element "tur–" also present in names likeTurgon , with meaning power/mastery (i.e. King).The languages of the
Kingdom of Rhovanion ,Esgaroth and Dale (often called Dalish or Dale-ish) were related to Rohirric.Rohirric, Rohirian, or Rohanese?
While Tolkien referred to the language of the Rohirrim as "Rohan" or "Rohanese", the term "Rohirric", coined by
Robert Foster , the author of "The Complete Guide to Middle-earth ," is far more commonly used. "Rohirian" is an alternative form that would parallel forms like "Telerian" (for the language of theTeleri ) that "were" used by Tolkien.ee also
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Languages of Middle-earth
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