Old English

Old English (sometimes called Anglo-Saxon, though Tolkien disliked the term) was the ancestor language of modern English. It was also the mother language of characters Ælfwine and Eriol.

History

Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at at Pembroke College from 1925 to 1945. He was strongly influenced by Old English literature such as Beowulf and favoured especially the Mercian dialect. Tolkien wrote in Old English several texts of his legendarium, which he (fictionally) attributed to Ælfwine. One of the, the Earliest Annals of Valinor have been published in The Shaping of Middle-earth and although they are commented and edited by Christopher Tolkien, the translation is not given.

Rohirric

For Lord of the Rings, Tolkien used several Anglo-Saxon names and words, which represented Rohirric, the language of the Rohirrim. This simulated the archaic sense the Hobbits (who spoke Hobbitish Westron) felt with the Rohirrim.

However the relation of Old English and English is not the same as with Rohirric and Westron, since the latter descends from Adûnaic, not Rohirric.