- Cities and buildings
- Fields, plains and deserts
- Forests
- Hills and mountains
- Islands and promontories
- Lands, realms and regions
- Rivers and lakes
- Seas and oceans
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Dates
22 June in a leap year1 on a modern (Gregorian) calendar
Race
Cultures
Shire-hobbits, and probably also Bree-hobbits
Pronunciation
o'verlithe ('th' as in 'these')
Meaning
Lithe comes from the Old English month Liða, 'warm, gentle'; the 'over' prefix indicates that this was an extra or additional day
Other names
Similar in concept to the Enderi of the Númenórean calendars2
Indexes: About this entry:
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OverlitheA Hobbit holidayTo ensure that the Shire Calendar kept pace with the natural cycles of the year, the Hobbits found it necessary - just as in a modern calendar - to add an extra day to their calendar once every four years. Unlike a modern calendar, they did not do this by lengthening one of the months, but instead by adding an extra day that fell outside any month (this was a natural approach on a calendar that already contained several such days). This extra day was placed among the Lithedays, three days of holiday that included Mid-year's Day and fell between the months of Forelithe and Afterlithe (which were approximately equivalent to modern June and July). The new day was named the 'Overlithe', and was placed after Mid-year's Day in the calendar. As an event that occurred only once every four years, the Overlithe was a special holiday and time of celebration among the Shire-hobbits. The idea of adding an extra day to the calendar every fourth Midsummer was an ancient one, but the Hobbits made an adjustment of their own. Originally, the Shire-folk had named their days in a weekly sequence throughout the year, but the occurrence of Mid-year's Day and the Overlithe caused the sequence of weekdays to change each year (just as they do on a modern calendar). During the time that Isengrim II was Thain of the Shire,3 an adjustment known as the Shire-reform was introduced. After this reform, neither Mid-year's Day nor the Overlithe were considered part of any week, and so the sequence of the weekdays from year to year became fixed. Notes
See also...Indexes: About this entry:
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