Middle Earth

Etymology

In ancient Germanic mythology, the world of Men is known by several names. The Old Englishmiddangeard descends from an earlier Germanic word and so has cognates such as the Old NorseMiðgarðr from Norse mythology, transliterated to modern English as Midgard. The original meaning of the second element, from Proto-Germanicgardaz, was "enclosure", cognate with English "yard"; middangeard was assimilated by folk etymology to "middle earth". Middle-earth was at the centre of nine worlds in Norse mythology, and of three worlds (with heaven above, hell below) in some later Christian versions.