Rohan

Rohan, originally Rochand, is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Inspiration

Several aspects of Rohan's culture and history seem to be inspired by both Goths, Scandinavians and the medieval Anglo-Saxons.

Related Topics:
Goths - Scandinavians - Anglo-Saxons

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Just like the Germanic Ostrogoths, Rohirric culture was a mounted culture. It had separated from the Northmen, moved south, and had settled in close proximity with a civilisation. In the Goths' case it was the Byzantine Empire and in the case of the Rohirrim, it was Gondor.

Related Topics:
Ostrogoths - Northmen - Byzantine Empire

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Especially Hervarar saga, with its Mirkwood, Gothic horsemen and shieldmaidens, appears to have inspired Tolkien when creating the Rohirrim, although he exchanged the Gothic tongue with the Anglo-Saxon.

Related Topics:
Hervarar saga - Mirkwood - Shieldmaiden

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Language

Tolkien rendered Rohirric as Old English, but also included Scandinavian names, such as Westfold. Even words and phrases that were printed in Modern English showed a strong Anglo-Saxon influence. Old English was supposed to render an archaic form of Westron, which was supposedly rendered by Modern English. This solution occurred to Tolkien in 1942, when he was searching for an explanation of the Eddaic name of the dwarves already published in The Hobbit.

Related Topics:
Old English - Westfold - Modern English - Westron - Edda - The Hobbit

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Rohirric nouns were pluralized with the suffix "-as", as were Old English nouns of the strong-masculine declension.

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The Rohirrim used the Germanic patronymic "-ing". They called themselves the Eorlingas, and Beorn's people were the Beorningas, Scyld's people were the Scyldingas in Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology.

Related Topics:
Patronymic - Beorn's - Scyld's - Scyldingas

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Théoden was referred to as "Théoden King", rather than "King Théoden", just as Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon kings had the word "konungr"/"cyning" ("king") added after their names, e.g. Hervarðar konungr, rather than before.

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Many Rohirric names appear to be derived from Old English words. These include:

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• Éothéod: from "eoh" ("war-horse") and "þeod" ("folk", "people", "nation")
• Gríma: possibly from "grima" ("mask", "helmet", "ghost")
• Eorl: from "eorl" ("nobleman")
• Théodred: from "þeod" ("folk", "people", "nation") and "ræd" ("counsel")

The antipathy between the Rohirrim and the Dunlendings resembles the historical tension between the Anglo-Saxon settlers of Britain and the native Celts.

Related Topics:
Dunlendings - Anglo-Saxon - Celts

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