Goatleaf Family

 / Goatleaf

   A family of the Men of Bree. As was typical among the Men of that region, the name comes from a plant. Its precise origins are uncertain, but it is perhaps linked to honeysuckle, whose French name, chèvrefeuille, not only means 'goat leaf', but gives its name to a medieval lay, and would therefore presumably have been familiar to Tolkien.

   Only one member of the Goatleaf family appears in Tolkien's works - Harry Goatleaf, who at one time watched the West-gate of Bree, but threw in his lot with Bill Ferny and Saruman's thugs during the War of the Ring.