Per the OED2 on CD:
"† 1. A man of noble rank, as distinguished from a ceorl, churl, or ordinary freeman. Only in OE.
† b. In OE. poetry used for: A warrior, a brave man, a man generally."
Word form was eorl up to the 4th century, later the still present earl.
And when Tolkien in App. F On Translation writes "The language of Rohan I have accordingly made to resemble ancient English", he means just that: basically, the nomenclature of Rohan and some other cases, such as the men of the Vale of Anduin, the case of orcs (which is still in translation related to the Elven stem *ruku), or some hobbit names, is indeed Old English / Anglo-Saxon, though the names and words are not necessarily in that form in which they are traditioned in the written corpus.
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