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Location
A long river running north to south, east of the Misty Mountains
Source
The confluence of the Langwell and Greylin in the north of Middle-earth
Tributaries
Outflow
Pronunciation
la'ngflood
Meaning
'Long flooding river'1
Other names

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About this entry:

  • Updated 3 March 2019
  • This entry is complete

River Langflood

The Mannish name for the Anduin

Map of the river Langflood

The ancestors of the Rohirrim knew the Vales of Anduin well. In their distant past they were descended from the Northmen of Rhovanion, through a group of this people who had removed northward along the Great River. The Men of the Éothéod, as this people named themselves, settled for a time in the lands southward of the Carrock, living mainly on the river's western banks. Later they moved on upriver, founding a realm for themselves in the lands around Anduin's sources and building a city at the confluence of the two lesser rivers that gave rise to the Great River.

With such a close connection to Anduin, it was natural that these Northmen would give the river a name in their own language. From their city of Framsburg, where its two source rivers joined, they named the Great River the 'Langflood', the long flooding river. By the end of the Third Age this people had removed once again, settling Rohan to become the Rohrrim. By this time 'Langflood' was an old, almost forgotten name, but a remnant of it could still be seen in the name of one of the lesser tributaries that fed the Great River. This was still known as the Langwell or 'source of Langflood', and it flowed down from the Misty Mountains to join the Greylin and form the longest and greatest river in Middle-earth.


Notes

1

The use of the element '-flood' in the Langflood's name is not explained, and none of the river's other names hold any related suggestion. Certainly there were great fens and wetlands on the Great River that might explain the allusion, but these were along its southern reaches, while we're told that the name 'Langflood' was used by the Men of the Éothéod in the far North. Perhaps the name was a survival from the times when this people had lived further to the south (at one time they had dwelt close by the marshes of the Gladden Fields, which might explain the name). Alternatively, we might take the name to indicate that the river's northern stretches flooded at times, perhaps due to the spring thaws in the mountains that held its sources.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 3 March 2019
  • This entry is complete

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