The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Location
Running northward through Harrowdale in the White Mountains, and then eastward across the plains of Rohan
Race
Division
Culture
Settlements
Source
Beneath the Starkhorn in the White Mountains near Dunharrow
Tributaries
None
Outflow
Into the river Entwash
Important peaks
Rose beneath the Starkhorn
Pronunciation
'snow'born'
Meaning
'Snow stream'1

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About this entry:

  • Updated 30 March 2017
  • Updates planned: 1

River Snowbourn

The river that flowed out of Harrowdale

Map of the Snowbourn

A river of Rohan; it rose beneath the Starkhorn in the northern White Mountains, and flowed past the courts of Edoras as it continued eastward to meet the River Entwash among the grassy plains of Rohan.


Notes

1

The name of this river is said to derive from Anglo-Saxon snáw-burna, which represents the actual name used by the Rohirrim, and is formed from a compound of the words for 'snow' and 'stream'. In the earliest drafts relating to this river, its name is spelt 'Snowborn' (implying an additional layer of meaning, since it rose among the snows of the White Mountains), though Tolkien amended this to the published spelling Snowbourn.

The '-bourn' element for 'stream' also appears in the name 'Shirebourn' for a river that ran through the Shire, reflecting the close linguistic origins of the ancestral Hobbits with the people of Rohan.

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 30 March 2017
  • Updates planned: 1

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