The Rhovanian Tongues were a group of languages among the Northrons of Middle-earth. The oldest attested forms of Rhovanian had been spoken during the times of Vidugavia, although it presumably had far older roots in the languages of the Edain, especially the Old Mago dialect. By the late Third Age it had split into at least three different languages, a southern or western form, spoken by the Rohirrim and Beornings, a western and southern form spoken by the Woodmen, and a northern strain spoken by the Men of Esgaroth and Dale. In daily life however Rhovanian had, by the end of the third Age, often been replaced by common Westron.
Tolkien´s use of germanic Languages[]
| Language | Peoples |
| Anglo-Saxon | Rohirrim, Éothéod, Hobbits (some personal names), Beornings |
| English, archaic English | Hobbits, Bree-men |
| Old Frankish, Burgundian, Lobard | Hobbits (some personal names), Radagast (personal name), Woodmen (possibly) |
| Gothic (latinized) | Northmen of Rhovanion |
| Old Norse (modernized/latinized) | Dwarves of Durin´s Tribe, Lake-men, Bardings, Dale-men |
Rhovanian Tongues in MERP[]
| People | Language | real-world language |
| Bardings | Northern Rhovanian or "Delsk" | Old Norse |
| Men of the Misty Mountains (Beijabar) | Old Rhovanian (Atliduk or Berniska) | modified Gothic |
| Beornings | Southern Rhovanian (Beorning and Éothéodan) | Anglo-Saxon |
| Éothéod | Southern Rhovanian (Éothéodan (early Rohan)) | Anglo-Saxon |
| Eriadain | Eriadaic | debased Visigothic |
| Eothraim (Ehwathrumi) | Old Rhovanian (Eothrik or Aihvathiudiska) | modified Gothic |
| Estaravi (Isumhari) | Old Rhovanian (Estaravik) | modified Gothic, later Anglo-Saxon |
| Gramuz | Old Rhovanian (Gramuik, Gramiska) | modified Gothic |
| Holbytlas (Kuduk) | Kuduk (Éothéodan) | Anglo-Saxon, Gothic, Frankish, Lombard or Burgundian |
| Lakemen | Neneduk (northern Rhovanian) | Old Norse |
| Men of Dale | Delsk (northern Rhovanian) | Old Norse |
| Men of Pinnath Ceren | Eriadic | debased Gothic |
| Rohirrim (Eorlingas) | Rohan (Éothéodan) | Anglo-Saxon |
| Vulseggi | Eriadic,Old Rhovanian | debased Gothic and Anglo-Saxon |
| Woodmen | Nahaiduk (western Rhovanian) | modified Gothic or modified Frankish |
Additional tribes from the Fan-modules:
| People | Language | real-world language |
| Ibnothiuda | modified Gothic | |
| Bergothiuda | modified Gothic |
Rhovanian languages: common words in comparison[]
| (Anglo-Saxon) | (Old Norse) | (latinized Gothic) | (latinized Old Frankish/Burgundian/Lombard) | (English) |
| theod (þéod) | thiód (þjódh) | thiuda (þiuda) | theud | people |
| éo (Eoh) | Iór (Jór) | aiva (Aihwa) | eu | horse |
| ric | rik (rikr) | reik (reiks) | rich(o) | ruler |
| beorn | biorn (bjorn) | *baira, *bera, *bere | bern, bere | bear |
| wine | win (vinr) | wini | win, uin | friend |
| me(a)r (Mere) | mar(r) (Maerr) | mari | mar | proud |
| mear (Mearh) | mar(r) | marh | mahr, mehr | horse |
| wyn | wunia | una | fin(e) | joy |
| here | her(r) | hari, harya | her(i) | host |
| wudu | wid | vidu (widu) | wid | wood |
| burg, burh | borg | baurg (baurgs) | Burg, Burch | castle |
| faeder | fodur (fǫður) | fadar, atta | fader, feder | father |
| tunga | tunga | tuggo | zunga | tongue |
Notes[]
The Rhovanian Tongues are commonly represented by real-world germanic idioms. In his books Tolkien uses Old Norse (modernised Eddic Forms), Gothic (latinized forms), Anglo-Saxon (modernized/modified old mercian or old mercian mixed with modern english), and rarely Old Frankish, Burgundian, or Lombard (romanized forms). Common English (sometimes archaic English) is used to represent the common tongue Westron.