Davem wrote:
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Of course, the Elf element in A-S names such as Alfred (Elf-wisdom) may have had something to do with Tolkien's choice of name here.
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Yes, but we know that the A-S "alf"/"aelf" was important to Tolkien (cf. Aelfwine), so it's likely that "Elfhelm" is significant. Perhaps you're right, then. Still, the Rohirrim have fewer obvious Elvish cultural connections than do the Numenoreans.
Another interesting aspect of the question is the matter of spoken vs. sung verse. In their essay, Wynne and Hostetter note that Tolkien wrote of the Sindarin word
narn that it referred to a tale in verse meant to be spoken rather than sung; from this they conclude that "minlamad thent/estent" was spoken. Then they embark upon a thorough analysis of whether Tolkien's views on whether real Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse had been spoken or sung; they offer no firm conclusion but appear to suggest that he probably thought it was spoken. But I wish they had considered the verses of the Rohirrim in LotR, for the two major Rohirric poems are both said to be "songs". I also think they may have jumped too quickly to the conclusion that minlamad thent/estent was not sung. It seems possible to me that, while a
narn was spoken, there may have been other verses in minlamad thent/estent that were indeed sung.
I make these points not with the intention of criticizing the excellent essay, but primarily because I wonder whether the similarity between the Elvish and Rohirric verse forms suggests any similarity between Elvish and Rohirric music. Also I wonder whether the use of "song" in referring to the verse of the Rohirrim casts further doubt on Tolkien's beliefs about Anglo-Saxon verse being spoken.