I find it very odd that nobody mentioned this! Well Gothmog did, but in a different way...
Geography?
Besides the historical and phililogical aspect, I think the easiest way to put it was, Middle-Earth, was roughly in the middle of the earth.
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According to The Atlas of Middle-Earth, the general layout of Arda(Ambar anyway) went:
Aman was the Western continent.
Than Numenore was the Atlantic island in the western sea, but that took up little space.
Middle-Earth in the North and center of the world. Ranging from the Dor Daedlos (Forodwaith) that apparently touched the Northern boundry of Ekkaia, south the the giant-harad-peninsula-subcontinent-thing. (africa of Arda) but then in the southeast, i assume the lake where Almaren was and the Ringl mearged and created the Mediterranian-like sea. (as aforementioned, medi[middle], terra[earth]
Dark Land(s) [to the direct south when used specifically, but still in the center)
And the southern part of the land that was isolated from Middle-Earth was simply named Dark Land(s), and while originally all the Children were in the north-east of ME, the Numenoreans anchored their, for a short time anyway) So named Dark Land because there probably wasnt a large Children populace, although it appears their were mountains and forests and such. And since all the Fathers of Dwarves awoke in ME, their would be no dwarves.
Empty Lands
This continent is like the eastern counterpart of Aman. E of A offers:
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A mysterious region mentioned only once by Tolkien. The Empty Lands are important because they apparently lay beyond the eastern boundaries of Middle-earth, and so give a vital clue to the structure of Arda.
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The 'structure of Arda' is interesting. The only mentions of this land, are that there is a large mountain rang spanning in symmetry with the Pelori, and what looks like in size also. They are called the Walls of the Sun, and also the lands called the Burnt Lands, reffering to the fact that the Gates of Morning were nearby, and perhaps if the Sun 'set,' they it would heat the hill. The Atlas of Middle-Earth shows the Empty Lands as being completely symmetrical in geograpgy, at least closer to the coast. Even Everwhite (cant spell it in elvish from memory
) has a counterpart, named Kalamore, or Kalmore. And it supposedly means 'Sun-Rising Hill.
The 'Equator' of Middle-Earth seems to be called the Girdle of Arda, and runs through the two mountains. I wonder how in relation this affects ME.
So middle earth is in the geographic center of the middle of the earth, the flat part of it anyway.
So there's my reasoning(since hobbits and elves wouldnt know about Norse etc, they needed a reason too)
While Tolkien used Nore and OE to create words and such, taking on the fanatical point of view would be opposite. The Norse language would come from the languages of the Elder Days, unless they were sundered like the Druadain or something. If you asked an elf or man 'Why Middle-Earth?,' they wouldn't tell you 'because Mr Tolkien did this.....'
Even though it is a Norse term, the words 'Middle' and 'Earth' were not words used by one or a few cultures. A language would have to use the word middle, and since they all lived on some land that was big, Earth would be the word for it. I think its really just a matter of using the words together for an adjetive-noun-Proper Noun or something like that.
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but I think it came in second to the inspiration from old english/old norse
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Well i didnt say (or mean to imply) that it had nothing to do with Norse/OE, but that this was the former reasoning.
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