Middle-earth calendar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Middle-earth calendar refers to one of the systems of keeping time in the fictional Middle-earth devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and described in The Lord of the Rings. Because Middle-earth was intended to be our world in the distant past, the basic structure of the calendar is similar to ours.

1 Elven calendar
2 Númenórean Calendar
3 Hobbit Calendar
4 External links

[edit] Elven calendar

(More detail can be found under Calendar of Imladris) The Elves, owing to their longevity, reckoned in a period of 144 years called, in Quenya, the yén. This was divided into 8766 six-day "weeks", or enquier. They also recognised the solar year, which was called a coranar ("sun-round") or loa ("growth"). In Rivendell, the loa began on the spring equinox and was divided into six "months" or seasons, as follows.

Quenya name	Sindarin name	English translation	Duration
tuilë	ethuil	spring	54 days
lairë	laer	summer	72 days
yávië	iavas	autumn	54 days
quellë	firith	fading	54 days
hrívë	rhîw	winter	72 days
coirë	echuir	stirring	54 days

Five other days, two between coirë and tuilë and three between yávië and hrívë, meant the calendar added up to 365 days. Irregularities were allowed for by adding another three days every twelve years, except the last year of a yén.

[edit] Númenórean Calendar

The calendar adopted by the Men of Middle-earth was called the King's Reckoning, and was very similar to our own. It had a week of seven days, and divided the 365-day year of the Elves into twelve months (astar), ten with 30 days and two with 31. Also like our calendar, the Númenórean year began in midwinter. They retained the two days between the end of one year and the start of the next (mettarë and yestarë), but reduced the mid-year days to one (loëndë, essentially adding the other two to the mid-year "long months"). Leap years had two mid-year days. In the Second and Third Ages, years were reckoned from the beginning of the Age.

Various irregularities occurred in this calendar, especially following the Downfall. In T.A. 2060, Mardil Voronwë revised the calendar, and the new version became the Steward's Reckoning. The months of Steward's Reckoning all had 30 days, and there were two additional "extra" days at the equinoxes, tuilérë and yáviérë. The five extra days (the equinoxes, midsummer and two at midwinter) were holidays.

In T.A. 3019, the Reunited Kingdom adopted a New Reckoning, which began the year on the spring equinox, as in the Elven calendar.

The months of the Reckonings were in Quenya (or Sindarin among the Dúnedain) and were:

Quenya name	Sindarin name
Narvinyë	Narwain
Nénimë	Nínui
Súlìmë	Gwaeron
Víressë	Gwirith
Lótessë	Lothron
Náríë	Nórui
Cermië	Cerveth
Urimë	Urui
Yavannië	Ivanneth
Narquelië	Narbeleth
Hísimë	Hithui
Ringarë	Girithron

[edit] Hobbit Calendar

(More detail can be found under Shire Calendar)

The Hobbits, who had adopted the King's Reckoning, altered it in a different way from the Steward's Reckoning. Like the Steward's Reckoning, they had twelve months of thirty days, and five holidays outside the months. However, they had three "extra" days in midsummer and two in midwinter, similar to the Elven calendar. In the Shire the three days of midsummer were called Lithedays, and the two days of midwinter were the Yuledays. In leap years, the extra day was added to the Lithedays and called Overlithe. The other innovation in the Shire calendar was to make Midsummer's Day (and the Overlithe) outside the week, as well as the month, meaning the days of the week would not change in relation to the days of the year. The Shire Reckoning is the calendar used in the Red Book of Westmarch, and hence in The Lord of the Rings. It counts from the founding of the Shire in T.A. 1600.

The Hobbit names of the months came from names used in Anduin in antiquity, and their meanings were often obscure or forgotten. They were:

Shire name	Bree name
2 Yule	2 Yule
Afteryule	Frery
Solmath	Solmath
Rethe	Rethe
Astron	Chithing
Thrimidge	Thrimidge
Forelithe	Lithe
1 Lithe	First Summerday
Midyear's Day	Second Summerday
Overlithe	Third Summerday
2 Lithe	Third/Fourth Summerday
Afterlithe	Mede
Wedmath	Wedmath
Halimath	Harvestmath
Winterfilth	Wintring
Blotmath	Blooting
Foreyule	Yulemath
1 Yule	1 Yule