The Yale

As a real name, 'Yale' comes from the old Welsh word iâl, referring to fertile uplands or hill country. It's not completely clear, however, whether Tolkien meant this same derivation to hold. One problematic reference is a mention of the 'lowlands of the Yale' in The Fellowship of the Ring I 3, Three is Company, which seems to contradict a derivation from 'uplands'. What's more, Tolkien originally considered calling this region 'Northope' ('small northern valley') which again casts doubt on a connection to hill country.

Though a derivation from Welsh is unusual for a place-name within the Shire, it might conceivably hint at a connection with the Brandybuck family. Tolkien consistently translates personal names within that family using old Welsh elements, and we know that they originated in the Marish on the borders of the Yale, so perhaps this implies some kind of ancient historical association.

Alternatively, Tolkien might have had some entirely different derivation in mind, though if so he left no clues to what that derivation might be. There are few realistic candidates, but one possibility might be Old English ealh a place of shelter (though this normally referred to a building, rather than an area of land).

Even this single building is apparently shown in error. 'The Yale' was added to the Shire map by Tolkien to indicate a region of the Eastfarthing, but confusion arose at some point during the production process. The published map shows 'The Yale' in small text next to an isolated block, apparently marking a building or small village, whereas in fact it was intended to describe a wide area of land southward of the East Road.

The Boffins' seat in the Yale is not the only significant family home to be omitted from the Shire map: Great Smials, the family home of the Tooks, is also missing from the map. In the Boffins' case, at least, this seems to be due to variations in the history of the text.

Originally, Tolkien had planned to associate the Boffins with a village north of Hobbiton known at first as 'Northope', but later established as 'Overhill'. There is indeed a mention in The Lord of the Rings of a 'Mr. Boffin at Overhill' (The Fellowship of the Ring I 2, The Shadow of the Past) which emerges from this conception. Later, the name 'Northope' was moved to the region that would become the Yale, and the Boffin family maintained its association with the name. Thus when this second 'Northope' became 'the Yale', the family associated with the region became the Boffins of the Yale. These developments, however, post-dated the production of the Shire map (and indeed even the Yale itself was a later insertion) so the Boffins make no geographical mark in that source.