Men of Dale

The Men of Dale were the inhabitants of the city-state of Dale in the Third Age. They came from the area around the Lonely Mountain.
== History ==
The Men of Dale were descendants of the Northmen who had populated Rhovanion throughout the three ages of the Sun. Their capital was the city of Dale.
In TA 2770, Smaug descended upon both Lonely Mountain and Dale probably from somewhere in Grey Mountains. He attacked and burned much of their town. 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. In TA 3019 during the War of the Ring, they aided the Dwarves in defending the Lonely Mountain from the Easterlings.
In addition to many of them being competent in Westron, they also spoke their own language, which was distantly related to Rohirric.
== Names ==
The Men of Dale are named after their home city of Dale, which 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). Another common name for them towards the end of the Third Age was Bardings, meaning "followers of Bard", -ing being a patrynomic suffix and Bard meaning Bard the Bowman, the first restored king of Dale and the slayer of Smaug.