J.R.R. Tolkien was Professor of Anglo-Saxon Philology at Pembroke College, Oxford.
He was devoted to Anglo-Saxon Englishness, passionate about Anglo-Germanic, Scandinavian and Finnish mythology and literature.
His passion for languages is fully found in his works. The Elvish is certainly the language that most characterizes his Legendarium (a melting pot of Finnish, Greek, Latin and so on), but it is not the only language spoken in the Middle Earth. We also have Khuzdul (the language of the Dwarves) of which, however, we do know only few words, and the Ovestron the main language of men that follows Modern English (the “common” for RPG enthusiasts).
The Éotheod, ancestors of the Rohirrim (of which we speak more in depth here), were Men of the North and lived south of the Grey Mountains, their language is formed in this area, at the beginning of the Third Age, even with contact with Adûnaic (the language of the men of Numenor).
But what are the origins of this language outside the Tolkenian world?
Tolkien, as we have said, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon Philology and it is precisely to this language that he drew the ispiration from and used it for the creation of a language for the Rohirrim.
Anglo-Saxon is a Germanic language, developed in England because of the migrations to the British island of the Germanic tribes, coming from the continent.
Anglo-Saxon in English also called Old English (OE) can be dated back between V sec and IX sec.
English territory it is immediately divided into regional dialects: North Umbrian, English and Mercanian in the centre, West Saxon and Kantian in the south.
Another extremely relevant detail is that Tolkien Family was from Birmigham, a city that in the Early Middle Ages would have been in the kingdom of Mercia.
We know that the West Saxons called that land by the name of Mierce > Mearc > from the Proto-Germanic°*markō, which means border land, a word often used in the Germanic world to identify those areas or populations that lived on the borders. From this word derives, for example, the word Marcomanni (men on the border), a Germanic population of the I-II century AD, and the word Marquis, who ruled a border territory, the March (from which the name of the Marche, the Italian region, comes as an example).
Does the word March, from which the term Mercia (Tolkien’s Anglo-Saxon kingdom) also originates, remind you of anything?
“March”…Marc… Mark…
In his Magnum Opus, The Lord of the Rings, there are continuous references to Anglo-Saxon Literature (we will certainly have the opportunity to delve into this topic). One of the Epic Poems where he surely finds inspiration is the Beowulf poem written in Anglo-Saxon, but with a Scandinavian setting.
From Beowulf, for example, he takes the name for the great hall of the king of the Rohirrim called Meduseld, from mēdu-sēld (= mead hall) > medu> Icel. mjödr; m: O. H. Ger. meto, myth mulsum, medum; and the proper name Éomer, which in Beowulf we find in verse 1960, was the son of Offa, king of the Angles.
This connection between Anglo-Saxon and the language of the Rohirrim is confirmed by Tolkien himself, in Appendix F of the Lord of the Rings, in which he states that he used a language similar to Old English to characterize the Rohirrim, who are similar in their primitive existence to the Anglo-Saxons.
Tolkien for Rohan’s language used exclusively this name “Rohan” never giving a real name to this language differently from other languages such as those of Elves, Dwarves and the same men who all have a name just like: Quenya, Khuzdul, Sindarin, etc. Only in the essay “The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor” he used the adjective “Rohanese” but it is not clear if it referred to the language or was used as a simple adjective.
Among the experts, it is common to use the name “Rohirric”, coined by Robert Foster in The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, probably modelling it on the -ic endurance of “Adûnaic“- a name that we could say apocryphal.
The Professor, in the novel, chose a variant of Old English for the Rohirrim, probably the Mercian dialect, inserting phrases such as: “Westu Théoden hàl!” when Eomer greets his ruler: westu > be-thou well = “you’re fine”.
The Rohirrim call themselves Eohtheòd > eoh = horse + þéod (ags) = people.
Many proper names of illustrious characters derive from the word eoh horse such as the grandchildren of King Éomer and Éowyn.
However, Rohan is a Sindarin, an Elvish language, term meaning “land of horses”.
There are many linguistic connections between the Rohirrim and the early medieval Germanic populations, one of the highest titles to which one could aspire in the military hierarchy is that of Marshal, a Germanic lemma dating backto *marho-skalkoz = guardian of horses. Qualification that was assigned to the men whom the King trusted most, but not in the Anglo-Saxon world, but in another Germanic population that one of the Lombards – Alboin, the first Longobard King, of Italy entrusts his Marshal Gisulf with the first duchy, that of Cividale del Friuli.
The Germanic influences in the conception of the population of Rohan are evident on several levels and the linguistic one is certainly the most evident one.
Perhaps what influenced the conception of this population was the discovery of the archaeological area of Sutton Hoo (County Suffolk, 1939), a discovery of enormous archaeological and historical importance, where a 7th-century burial ship was found. This incredible discovery happended just as Tolkien was writing his work.
We like to think that this discovery could have influenced the professor in outlining the Rohirrim.
Other similarities with Germanic populations can be found:
In the use of burial mounds where the Kings of Rohan are buried, which may recall that of Maeshowe in the Orkney Islands (Scotland).
The meeting of the þing (the governing assembly of Germanic societies) before fighting Saruman.
The figure of Éowyn, a warrior girl who seems one of the Norse skjaldmeyjar (shieldmaiden). It is also distinctive the scene in which she offers a cup to Aragorn: it seems the figure shown on the stone of Tjängvide (Gotland), in which a girl (valkyrie?) is represented in the act of offering a cup to a male figure (Odin?), who rides an eight-legged horse (Sleipnir).
The offering of the cup is a literary topos often repeated in Germanic Mythology, we can also find it in the Historiae Langobardorum by Paul the Deacon (Rosmunda and Alboin 572 AD) this cup, however, had been obtained from the skull of her father.
It is possible to find this topos also in the meeting between Authari and Theodolinda (Historiae Langobardorum, to return to the Lombards of which we spoke earlier).
In conclusion, we can say that the Rohirrim spoke a variant of Anglo-Saxon, but they can be compared to the Anglo-Saxons of poems and legends in many aspects, with the addition of further and even fundamental details, such as the strong link with horses. It is known that the Anglo-Saxons were reluctant to use horses if not for mere transportation.
In fact, there will be two fundamental battles lost by these precisely due to the absence of a cavalry, the Battle of Maldon in 991 and the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Anglo-Saxon words among Hobbits
However, the use of Anglo-Saxon in the Legendarium does not stop with Rohirrim but it is also extended to Hobbits.
For example, from the word māðm or māðum = precious object, derives the term mathom with which Hobbits indicate the precious objects that they do not want to throw away although of no immediate use. The names of some months of the Hobbit calendar Forelithe (in Anglo-Saxon Æ’rra Líþa) and Afterlithe (in Anglo-Saxon Æftera Líþa): ærra (=fore, prima) līða and æftera (= after, dopo) līða (φrra Líða = Junius, see the months in English June and July), but also Afteryule (in Anglo-Saxon Æftera Géola), and Foreyule (in Anglo-Saxon Æ ‘rra Géola) [If you want to know more about the Yule festival, follow the link].
Smial, a term used by Hobbits to indicate burrows and tunnels, comes from the Anglo-Saxon smygel= burrow, tunnel.
The same term Hobbit would derive from the hypothetical Anglo-Saxon term *hol = cave, lair + builder = builder, Tolkien himself in Appendix F refers to it as totally invented and attributable to Rohan, in fact the Anglo-Saxon verb býtlian means to build, while *hol= cave, hole.
The reason why Hobbits also use the Rohiric is always explained in Appendix F, in fact, before settling in the County, they lived in the same area as the men of the North from which the Éotheod themselves originate.
Additional Anglo-Saxon words
Isengard > īsen = ferro + geard = fenced place.
Ent > ent-cyn = giant. (treelike ancient shepherds of the forest in LOTR)
Some illustrious names
Théoden> þēoden = Lord, King means “Sovereign of the People”
Éowyn> eoh = horse + wyn = friend from the union of the names of the parents (Éomund and Theodwyn) means friend/lover of the riders”
Éomer> eoh = horse + maer = = famous, means “Distinguished Warhorse”
Théodred> þéod = people+ roed= counsel, means “People’s Councilor”
Éored of East Mak 
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