The Old English word middangeard inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s use of the term “Middle-earth.”
Middangeard referred to the inhabited world in Old English tradition. Tolkien adapted the idea into Middle-earth, the setting for many of his stories, especially The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The term is therefore rooted in historical language rather than being an entirely new phrase invented without precedent.
The word is related to the Old Norse miðgarðr, commonly rendered as Midgard in modern discussions of Norse mythology. These terms describe the human or inhabited world in their respective traditions, but Tolkien’s Middle-earth is not simply the same place as Norse Midgard. It has its own creation story, peoples, geography, and historical ages.
Middle-earth also does not mean an underground realm. The “middle” refers to the world inhabited by peoples between or amid larger cosmic realms in Tolkien’s imaginative history. Tolkien’s philological training helped him connect invented settings with older words and traditions.