What fictional language did J.R.R. Tolkien create for the Rohirrim in The Lord of the Rings?

J.R.R. Tolkien represented the language of the Rohirrim with Old English-inspired Rohirric. In the published text, the language is usually shown through forms modeled on Old English rather than through a large, fully documented invented vocabulary.

This choice creates a historical relationship between the peoples of Middle-earth. Tolkien presents the Rohirrim as connected to the people of Gondor, while the language of the Rohirrim is rendered as an older linguistic relative of the Common Speech. Names such as Éomer, Éowyn, Théoden, and Meduseld reflect this design.

Readers sometimes answer Old English, but that is Tolkien’s linguistic model, not the fictional language’s in-world name. Rohirric is distinct from Quenya and Sindarin, the major Elvish languages, and from the Black Speech created for Mordor. Tolkien’s training as a philologist strongly influenced these layered language choices.