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Places in Middle-earth

Éothéod (Land)

Type: Kingdoms, Realms, Lands

Region: Rhovanion/Misty Mtns

Location: A region north of Mirkwood, near the sources of the Anduin, settled by the Éothéod people in 1977 III.

Description: [Note: Éothéod refers to both a people (the ancestors of the Rohirrim) and their land: The scattered remnant of the Northmen who were gathered by Mahrwini in the Vales of Anduin after the Battle of the Plains in 1856 III became known as the Éothéod; the land that they migrated to over a century later is also called Éothéod.]

Eorl the Young was lord of the Men of Éothéod. That land lay near the sources of Anduin, between the furthest ranges of the Misty Mountains and the northernmost parts of Mirkwood. The Éothéod had moved to those regions in the days of King Eärnil II from lands in the vales of Anduin....

The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: The House of Eorl

The new land of the Éothéod lay north of Mirkwood, between the Misty Mountains westward and the Forest River eastward. Southward it extended to the confluence of the two short rivers that they named Greylin and Langwell. Greylin flowed down from Ered Mithrin, the Grey Mountains, but Langwell came from the Misty Mountains, and this name it bore because it was the source of Anduin, which from its junction with Greylin they called Langflood.

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 2, Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan: The Ride of Eorl


History

1977
Frumgar leads the Éothéod north
... there were many men in the middle vales of Anduin in those days, and moreover the shadow of Dol Guldur was lengthening; when therefore they heard of the overthrow of the Witch-king, they sought more room in the North, and drove away the remnants of the people of Angmar on the east side of the Mountains.

Return of the King, Appendix A, The House of Eorl

After 1977
Of [Frumgar's] son, Fram, they tell that he slew Scatha, the great dragon of Ered Mithrin....

Return of the King, Appendix A, The House of Eorl

2510
Eorl leads the Éothéod to Calenardhon
... after the victory of Eorl on the Field of Celebrant in the year 2510 ... Cirion the Steward gave them possession of [Rohan]. The Rohirrim at once began the settlement of this region....

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 5, The Battles of the Fords of Isen: Appendix


Etymology

[The] words [éored and éoherë], and also Éothéod, are of course Anglo-Saxon in form, since the true language of Rohan is everywhere thus translated ... they contain as their first element eoh "horse." Éored, éorod is a recorded Anglo-Saxon word, its second element derived from rád "riding;" in éoherë the second element is herë "host, army." Éothéod has théod "people" or "land," and is used both of the Riders themselves and of their country. (Anglo-Saxon eorl in the name Eorl the Young is a wholly unrelated word.)

Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 2, Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan: Notes, Note 36

Contributors: Elena Tiriel 20Aug04, 25Sep04, 19Dec04

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