Riddermark
From Tolkien Gateway
Riddermark or simply the Mark was the name among the Rohirrim for the land, more commonly known to outsiders as Rohan.[1]
Etymology
Riddermark means "land of the knights", derived from the Old English compound Riddena-mearc ("riders' mark"[2] or "The Territory of the Knights")[3]. Mark here is used in the sense of "borderland, especially one serving as a defence of the inner lands of a realm".[1]
The original untranslated Rohirric term of the country was Lōgrad.[4]
J.R.R. Tolkien might have been inspired by William Morris's use of 'Mid-mark' in The House of the Wolfings, a book which Tolkien owned and from which he took inspiration.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 248
- ↑ Jason Fisher, "Horns of Dawn: The Tradition of Alliterative Verse in Rohan", in Middle-earth Minstrel: Essays on Music in Tolkien (ed. Bradford Lee Eden), p. 21 (note 18)
- ↑ Greg Harvey, The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth for Dummies, "The Rohirrim"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "II. The Appendix on Languages", p. 53
- ↑ Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Reader's Guide, "Morris, William", p. 600
