"Middle Earth" as a concept is taken directly from Old English "Middengeard" or the Norse "Midgard".
It basically just means "Earth" as Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons understood it.
Lord of the Rings was written to create a mythology that Tolkien believed was missing from British culture. There's tonnes of concepts that are lifted wholesale from the annals of British history and linguistics.
"Middle Earth" as a concept is taken directly from Old English "Middengeard" or the Norse "Midgard".
It basically just means "Earth" as Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons understood it.
Lord of the Rings was written to create a mythology that Tolkien believed was missing from British culture. There's tonnes of concepts that are lifted wholesale from the annals of British history and linguistics.