general rohirric information.
rohirric is a language written in by tolkien to his world that was based on the mercian dialect of old english. while i study old saxon, there are still a lot of similarities between the languages, and tolkien was a huge scholar of old english as a general thing ! a lot of character you’re likely very familiar with have old english references. i decided to put together a rough linguistic and cultural cheat-sheet of rohirric/rohirrim-related-things while i do my beowulf homework for the night, lol.
brego, the horse, is a name that can be directly translated to ‘lord, chief’1
meduseld, the name of edoras’ high house, can be translated to “mead-settle,” or more colloquially “meadhall” “meadhouse”
^ meadhouses were homes for warriors and thains and kings and the like, places for gathering before battle or celebrating, and could function as a house of diplomacy or community.
grima is a name, but the word means “mask,” due to the grim way helmets (similar to those worn by rohirrim actors in the films) cover the face in a very grim and menacing way
the word orc comes from the old english “orcneas” which means “evil spirits, monsters”
theoden means king. it means KING. nice one, jolkien.
as for things that might be useful for characters based in rohan/on rohirrim, it might be useful to know some phrases, just to maybe play around with! so i’ve listed a few in old english, as well as some more common-tongue equivalents
hal, hel, wes hal, was hel, was hal, etc. or the more commonly known “was hail!” these are only a few examples i know of off the top of my head, but in greeting, it would be common for perhaps a rohirrim to greet familiars with “hail” or “hail thee” “hail thou” depending on number/status of who they greet
titles come after names. a good example of this is how theoden is not referred to as “king theoden,” but rather “theoden king.” this is totally not an accident, if the producers and dialect coaches really weant in on tolkien’s desires.
examples for titles are king, thain, noble, bishop, monk, etc. but for the sake of middle earth language, it might fare best to say things such as “eowyn noble” or “eomer king” yknow??
stress lies on the front syllables in rohirric, so it wouldnt be uncommon for your muse to have a sort of slurring or blurred speech. a problem with old english, and especially old english poetry, was this lack of ending syllables, which resulted in things losing their meanings (this is why today we are more stern about grammar, because words dont usually change meanings based on additions to the roots!)
subjects often come after verbs, so passive voice would be most natural for a rohirrim
and then some vague cultural things because im running out of ideas ! as a last note, if you want to learn anymore, i strongly suggest looking up dr. jonathan evans and his work. hes my old english professor and is ingenius and loves tolkien ^^
prose and poetry were madly respected, so stories and legends told by (usually the very educated) are common to be heard; in fact, the meadhouse could be used as a place to gather the people to tell stories, news, poetry, etc.
the gift of rings or jewels/swords to others by a king of noble is incredibly significant; to do this essentially is like knighting someone
only the most learned, and often the most religious affiliations, were able to read and write, so the chances of a muse not associated with nobility being able to read and write is very uncommon
