Middle-earth is the setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkiens fantasy. The term is equivalent to the Miðgarðr of Norse mythology and Middangeard in Old English works, including Beowulf. Middle-earth is the human-inhabited world, that is, the central continent of the Earth, in Tolkiens imagined mythological past. Tolkiens most widely read works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are set entirely in Middle-earth. The continent of Middle-earth is the primary setting of most of the stories in the legendarium. Although there are several stories that take place in Aman (such as some chapters of The Silmarillion) and Númenor (such as the Akallabêth and Aldarion and Erendis) . The term Middle-earth has come to be applied as a short-hand for the entirety of Tolkiens legendarium, instead of the continent alone. The name "Middle-earth" was derived from the Middle English middel-erde, which came from the Old English middangeard, meaning "middle enclosure".