Editing Rohan, Middle-earth (section)

=== Language ===
{{further|Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien|Poetry in The Lord of the Rings}}

Tolkien generally called the language simply "the language of Rohan" or "of the Rohirrim". The adjectival form "Rohirric" is common; Tolkien once also used "Rohanese".<ref name="Beacon-Hills" group=T/> Like many languages of [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]], it is akin to [[Adûnaic]], the language of [[Númenóreans]], and therefore to the [[Westron]] or Common Speech.{{sfn|Solopova|2009|p=84}}

[[File:Linguistic Map of Middle-Earth.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Tolkien invented parts of [[Middle-earth]] to resolve the linguistic puzzle he had accidentally created by using different European languages for those of peoples in his legendarium, [[Pseudotranslation in The Lord of the Rings|pretending that he had translated the Middle-earth languages]].{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=131–133}}<ref name="Letters Languages" group=T>''[[Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien|Letters]]'', #144, to [[Naomi Mitchison]], 25 April 1954</ref>]]

The Rohirrim called their homeland the ''Riddermark,'' a modernization by Tolkien of Old English ''Riddena-mearc'', meaning, according to the Index to ''The Lord of the Rings'', "the border country of the knights"; also ''Éo-marc'', the ''Horse-mark'', or simply the ''[[Marches|Mark]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Bosworth|Toller|1898}}: [http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/022482 mearc]</ref> They call themselves the ''Éorlingas'', the Sons of Éorl. Tolkien rendered the language of the Riders of Rohan, [[Rohirric]], as the [[Mercian dialect]] of Old English. Even words and phrases that were printed in [[English language|modern English]] showed a strong Old English influence.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Return of the King|loc=Appendix F, On Translation|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1955}}}}</ref> This solution occurred to Tolkien <!--in 1942--> when he was searching for an explanation of the [[Edda]]ic names of the dwarves already published in ''[[The Hobbit]]''.{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=131–133}} Tolkien, a [[philologist]], with a special interest in [[Germanic languages]], [[Pseudotranslation in The Lord of the Rings|pretended that the names and phrases of Old English were translated]] from Rohirric, just as the English used in [[The Shire]] was supposedly translated from Middle-earth's [[Westron|Westron or Common Speech]].{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=131–133}}<ref name="Letters Languages" group=T/> Examples include ''éored''<ref name="eored"/> and ''mearas''.<ref name="mearas">{{harvnb|Bosworth|Toller|1898}}: [http://bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/022508 mearh], horse, cf. modern English "mare".</ref> The Riders' names for the cunningly-built tower of Isengard, Orthanc, and for the Ents, the tree-giants of Fangorn forest, are similarly Old English, both being found in the phrase ''orþanc enta geweorc'', "cunning work of giants" in the poem ''[[The Ruin]]'',{{sfn|Cusack|2011|page=172}} though Shippey suggests that Tolkien may have chosen to read the phrase also as "Orthanc, the Ent's fortress".{{sfn|Shippey|2001|p=88}}

{{anchor|The Wanderer}}
In ''[[The Two Towers]]'', chapter 6, the Riders of Rohan are introduced before they are seen, by [[Aragorn]], who chants in the language of the Rohirrim words "in a slow tongue unknown to the [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elf]] and the [[Dwarf (Middle-earth)|Dwarf]]", a ''[[Lai (poetic form)|lai]]'' that [[Legolas]] senses "is laden with the sadness of Mortal [[Man (Middle-earth)|Men]]". The song is called the ''Lament of the Rohirrim''. To achieve a resonant sense of the lost past, the now-legendary time of a peaceful alliance of the Horse-lords with the realm of [[Gondor]], Tolkien adapted the short ''[[Ubi sunt]]'' ("Where are they?") passage of the Old English poem ''[[The Wanderer (Old English poem)|The Wanderer]]''.<ref name="Shippey Wanderer">{{harvnb|Shippey|2005|pages=139–149}}</ref>{{sfn|Sipahi|2016|pages=43–46}}{{sfn|Lee|Solopova|2005|pages=47–48, 195–196}}{{sfn|Lee|2009|page=203}}{{Clear}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ Tolkien adapted the ''[[Ubi sunt]]'' passage of the [[Old English]] poem ''The Wanderer'' to create a song of Rohan.<ref name="Shippey Wanderer"/>
|-
! ''[[The Wanderer (Old English poem)|The Wanderer]]''<br/>92–96 !! ''The Wanderer''<br/>in modern English !! ''Lament of the Rohirrim''<br/>by J. R. R. Tolkien<ref name="Lament" group=T>{{harvnb|Two Towers|loc=ch. 6|ref={{harvid|Tolkien|1954}}}}</ref>
|-
| ''Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago?<br/>Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa?<br/>Hwær cwom symbla gesetu?	<br/>Hwær sindon seledreamas?<br/>Eala beorht bune!<br/>Eala byrnwiga!<br/>Eala þeodnes þrym!<br/>Hu seo þrag gewat,<br/>genap under nihthelm,<br/>swa heo no wære.''
| Where is the horse? where the rider?<br/>Where the giver of treasure?<br/>Where are the seats at the feast?<br/>Where are the revels in the hall?<br/>Alas for the bright cup!<br/>Alas for the mailed warrior!<br/>Alas for the splendour of the prince!<br/>How that time has passed away,<br/>dark under the cover of night,<br/>as if it had never been. 
| Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?<br/>Where is the [[Middle-earth weapons and armour#Helmets|helm]] and the [[hauberk]], and the bright hair flowing?<br/>Where is the hand on the harp-string, and the red fire glowing?<br/>Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall [[Wheat|corn]] growing?<br/>They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;<br/>The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.<br/>Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning?<br/>Or behold the flowing years from [[Belegaer|the Sea]] returning?
|}

"Thus spoke a forgotten poet long ago in Rohan, recalling how tall and fair was Eorl the Young, who rode down out of the North," Aragorn explains, after singing the ''Lament''.<ref name="Lament" group=T/>