Our evidence for dating the use of the daur is slim, based on a single explanatory note relating to its use by the soldiers marching with Isildur from Gondor toward the North-kingdom in III 2. It was evidently well established at that time, so it would seem to have arisen among the Númenóreans at some point during the Second Age, or perhaps been adopted from earlier usage by the Elves.
We do not know how long the term continued in use, but it is notable that characters in The Lord of the Rings (set at the end of the Third Age) regularly measure distance in 'leagues'. We might reasonably take the use of the word 'league' here as a translation of Elvish daur, implying that the word (or perhaps a later derivative) was still in use into the Third Age and beyond.
|
SHARE
