| This article is about the people. For the town and kingdom, see Dale. Additionally for the unrelated poem, see The Dale-lands. |
A Dale archer, imagined by C.K. Göksoy
The Dale-men,[1] or Men of Dale, were the Northmen inhabitants of Dale in the Third Age. They came from the area around the Lonely Mountain.
History[]
The Dale-men descended from the Northmen who had populated Rhovanion throughout the three ages of the Sun. They had dwelled in the valley of Dale since before the year 1856 of the Third Age. In that year, some Northmen who fled from the Battle of the Plains immigrated to Dale since they shared kinship.[2]
After Thrór reestablished the Kingdom under the Mountain in the year 2590, another group of Northmen immigrated to Dale coming from down the River Running.[3] It was in this year that the town of Dale was built,[4] growing into a wealthy township from trade with the Dwarves under the sovereignty of noble Lords of Dale.[5]
In TA 2770, Smaug descended upon both Lonely Mountain and Dale probably from somewhere in the Grey Mountains.[3][4] He attacked and burned much of their town. In the years afterwards, the Dale-men dwindled in number as Smaug would pick them off one by one until the town was completely abandoned.[4]
Over two-hundred years after the destruction of Dale in TA 2941, one particular man named Bard the Bowman shot Smaug through a gap in his scaly armor with his black arrow, thanks to information from a thrush that had contact with Thorin and Company.[5] Subsequently Dale was refounded in TA 2944 as a great city by settlers from Lake-town with Bard as King. Bard and his royal line would go on to rule and unite all the surrounding lands and people between the Celduin and Carnen rivers.[3]
In the War of the Ring In TA 3019, the Men of Dale aided the Dwarves in defending the Lonely Mountain from Easterlings.[6]
In addition to many of them being competent in Westron, they also spoke their own language, which was distantly related to Rohanese.[7]
Names[]
The Dale-men are named after their home town of Dale, which was itself named after the valley it was in. The word is derived from the English word meaning "valley", in turn derived from Proto-Germanic *dalan, with cognates in Old Norse (dalr), Gothic and Dutch (dal), and German (Thal).[8] Another common name for them (after they intermingled with the Lake-men) towards the end of the Third Age was Bardings, meaning "followers of Bard", -ing being a patronymic suffix and Bard meaning Bard the Bowman, the first restored King of Dale and the slayer of Smaug.[7]
In adaptations[]
The Hobbit film trilogy[]
In Peter Jackson's The Hobbit film trilogy, the Dale-men (as well as the Lake-men) are directly derived in appearance from medieval Russian influences (such as Kievan Rus and its successor states). For instance, the warriors of Dale, adorned with conical, medieval Russian-style furred helmets and heavily-furred garbs, resemble the knights and warriors of the Rus' states of old.
Further, as presented in the movies, per the complex nature of Russian ethno-cultural history, Dale itself and its people are thereby infused with East Slavic, Finnic, Baltic, Scandinavian, and Turkic influences. In the movies, Peter Jackson clearly defines the culture of Dale and Lake-town as a part of the East.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Manne van Dale |
| Albanian | Njerëzit e Dale |
| Arabic | رجال من ديل |
| Armenian | Տղամարդիկ Դալե |
| Azerbaijani | Kişi Dale |
| Basque | Dale gizonen |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Мужчыны даліна |
| Bengali | ডেল এর পুরুষদের |
| Bosnian | Ljudi od Dejla |
| Breton | Goured a Draoñienn ? |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Мъжете на долина |
| Cebuano | Mga tawo sa Dale |
| Cambodian | បុរសនៃដលោកដេល |
| Catalan | Homes de Dóna-li |
| Chinese | 谷的男人 |
| Cornish | Tus a Nans |
| Croatian | Ljudi od Dejla |
| Czech | Muži z Dol |
| Danish | Mænd af Dal |
| Dutch | Mannen van Dal |
| Esperanto | Viroj de Dale |
| Estonian | Dale mehed |
| Faroese | Dalur av Dale |
| Filipino | Mga lalaking taga Dale |
| Finnish | Miehet Laakso |
| French | Hommes de Dale |
| Frisian | Mannen fen Dale |
| Galician | Gomes de Dale |
| Georgian | მამაკაცები ძალეი |
| German | Männer von Thal |
| Greek | Άνδρες της Δαλε |
| Haitian Creole | Moun lavil Dale |
| Hebrew | אנשי דייל |
| Hindi | डेल के पुरुषों |
| Hungarian | Férfiak Suhatag |
| Icelandic | Menn af Dale |
| Indonesian | Orang Dale |
| Irish Gaelic | Fir de Dale |
| Italian | Uomini di Dale |
| Javanese | Wong Dale |
| Kannada | ಡೇಲ್ ಮೆನ್ |
| Kazakh Cyrillic | Дейл ерлер |
| Korean | 데일의 남자들 |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Дейл эркектер |
| Latin | Viri Dale |
| Latvian | Dale vīri |
| Lithuanian | Dale vyrai |
| Luxembourgish | Männer vun Dale |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Мажите на Дејл |
| Malagasy | Lehilahy amin'ny Dale |
| Malaysian | Lelaki Dale |
| Maltese | Irġiel ta 'Dale |
| Marathi | डेल लोक |
| Nepalese | डेल को पुरुष |
| Norwegian | Menn av Dal |
| Occitan | Òmines de Dale |
| Pashto | د نارينه دره |
| Persian | مردمان دیل |
| Polish | Mężczyzn z Dal |
| Portuguese | Homens de Vale |
| Punjabi | ਡੇਲ ਦੇ ਪੁਰਸ਼ |
| Romanian | Bărbați din Vale |
| Russian | Бардинги |
| Sanskrit | डाल मौकुन्द |
| Scottish Gaelic | Fir de Dale |
| Serbian | Људи оф Долина (Cyrillic) Ljudi od Dolina (Latin) |
| Sicilian | Uomini di la Dale |
| Sinhalese | ඩේල් මිනිසුන් |
| Slovak | Muži Dale |
| Slovenian | Možje Dolec |
| Somali | Niman yahow reer Dale |
| Spanish | Hombres de Valle |
| Sundanese | Lalaki ti Dale |
| Swedish | Män av Dale |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Мардони Дейл |
| Tamil | டேல் ஆண்கள் |
| Telugu | డేల్ మెన్ |
| Thai | ผู้ชายของหุบเขา |
| Turkish | Dale Erkekleri |
| Vietnamese | Đàn ông của Dale |
| Welsh | Dynion o Dale |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | чоловіки долина |
| Uzbek | Дале Эркаклар (Cyrillic) Dale Erkaklar (Latin) |
| Yiddish | מענטשן פון דייל |
References[]
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, ch. VIII: "Farewell to Lórien"
- ↑ Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Third Age
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Hobbit, ch. 1: "An Unexpected Party"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Hobbit, ch. 14: "Fire and Water"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B: The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
- ↑ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dale&allowed_in_frame=0