Marhari

From Tolkien Gateway
Marhari
Northman
Biographical Information
PositionLord of the Northmen of Rhovanion
LocationRhovanion
LanguageLanguage of the Éothéod
DeathT.A. 1856
Battle of the Plains
Family
ParentageUnknown; descendant of Vidugavia
ChildrenMarhwini
Physical Description
GenderMale

Marhari was a Northman descended from the Kingdom of Rhovanion and a member of the royal house. His distant ancestor was King Vidugavia.[1]

In T.A. 1851[2], a tribe of Easterlings called the Wainriders began invading from the East. Marhari led the soldiers of Rhovanion, together with the armies of Gondor under King Narmacil II, against the invaders at the Battle of the Plains[3] in 1856[4]. The battle was a disaster, as Narmacil was killed and Marhari fell in his rearguard. The Wainriders then overran Rhovanion and enslaved its people.[3]

Marhari's son Marhwini led a group of refugees west to the Vales of Anduin. They would become the Éothéod, the ancestors of the mighty Riders of Rohan.[3]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Christopher Tolkien suggests that the name Marhari is Gothic in form and that it contains the Gothic element marh ("horse"), which corresponds to Old English mearh ("horse") whose plural is mearas.[5]

David Salo and Arden R. Smith suggest that the name is early Old English in form.[6][7]

It is also possible that it is an Old High German (OHG) name, which means "horse-soldier" (literally "horse-army(man)") and consists of the element marh, which corresponds to Gothic *marhi ("horse"), and the element hari ("army"), which corresponds to Gothic harjis ("army")[8].

In Old English the element hari became here and is seen in the later Rohanese name Dúnhere, which translates as "hill warrior"[9].

David Salo suggests that it could mean "He who has an army of horses" or "cavalry general". Tom Shippey suggests that it means "horse army" and that it is not Gothic, but in a hypothetic reconstructed language, in proto-germanic.[10]

Genealogy[edit | edit source]

Vidugavia
fl. 1250
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MARHARI
d. 1856
 
 
 
 
Marhwini
fl. 1856 - 1899
 
 
 
 
Forthwini
fl. 1944


References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan", "Notes", Note 5
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 1851 of the Third Age
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan", "(i) The Northmen and the Wainriders"
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age", entry for the year 1856 of the Third Age
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan", "Notes", Note 6
  6. David Salo, Re: Digest: Radagast etc., e-mail to the Tolkien Language List (19.22), 10 July 1996, http://tolklang.quettar.org/messages/Vol19/19.22; Re: Digest: More Radagast etc., e-mail to the Tolkien Language List (19.36), 16 July 1996, http://tolklang.quettar.org/messages/Vol19/19.36; and Re: Gothic/Old English and pseudo-Latinized forms of same, e-mail to the Tolkien Language List (19.46), 18 July 1996, http://tolklang.quettar.org/messages/Vol19/19.46
  7. Arden R. Smith, Tolkienian Gothic, in Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull, The Lord of the Rings 1954-2004: Scholarship in Honor of Richard E. Blackwelder, p. 269
  8. Friedrich Kluge, "Etymological Dictionary of the German language, entry Mähre, p. 224 and entry Heer, p. 139", archive.org (accessed 16 January 2023)
  9. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 571
  10. Didier Salamon & David Giraudeau, Le Livre de la Marche, 2006, p. 159