‘Rohan,’ is Gondor’s word. The people who live there call it ‘The Mark.’ Tolkien’s home town, Birmingham, was once part of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom we don’t know the name of. But it was latinized as ‘Mercia’ so it was *almost certainly* ‘Mearc’ which would have been pronounced Mark

The flag of Rohan.

The Uffington White Horse. About 15 miles from Tolkien’s office.

The ‘Éo’ in Rohirric names, Éomer, Éowyn literally means ‘horse’ in Old English. ‘Eoh.’

Theoden’s Hall is lifted from Beowulf, an Old English poem which Tolkien was the leading scholar of. Theoden’s Hall is ‘Meduseld’ which is the word in Beowulf for ‘hall.’

Hama: ‘in doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom. I believe you are friends and folk of honour, who have no evil purpose. You may go in.’

In Beowulf: ‘a sharp shield-warrior must know how to tell good from bad. I believe this warband is friendly … I will guide you.’

Eomer asks the party “are you elvish folk?” He has no direct experience of elves, he’s using the word the same way the unknown 14th century poet who wrote Gawain and the Green Knight did to mean ‘strange’ or ‘uncanny.’