What is "bree"

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context obsolete English) The eyelid. 2 (context obsolete English) The eyebrow. Etymology 2

n. (context obsolete outside Scotland English) broth.

Bree is a fictional village in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, east of the Shire and south of Fornost Erain. It was inspired by the Buckinghamshire village of Brill, which Tolkien visited regularly in his early years at Oxford. (Supposedly Tolkien also lived in Brill for a short while). Bree was also inspired by Tolkien's passion for linguistic puns, as 'bre' is often a general Celtic word for "hill".

Bree was a very ancient settlement of men in Eriador, long established by the time of the Third Age of Middle-earth. After the collapse of the kingdom of Arthedain, Bree continued to thrive without any central authority or government for many centuries. As Bree lies at the meeting of two large roadways, the Great East Road and the (now disused) Greenway, it had for centuries been a centre of trade and a stopping place for travellers, though as Arnor in the north waned Bree's prosperity and size declined.

Tolkien wrote of two different origins for the people of Bree. One was that Bree had been founded and populated by men of the Edain who did not reach Beleriand in the First Age, remaining east of the mountains in Eriador. The other that they were stemming instead from the same stock as the Dunlendings. These two origins are not completely contradictory as the Dunlendings were descended from the Haladin who were counted the second house of the Edain.

By the time of the War of the Ring Bree was the westernmost settlement of men in Middle-earth, and there was no other settlement of men within a hundred leagues of the Shire. A day's ride east along the road lay The Forsaken Inn, according to Aragorn, although nothing more is known of it.

Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield met by coincidence in Bree, setting in motion the events recounted in The Hobbit. Both were interested in the dragon Smaug at the Lonely Mountain. Together they planned the Quest of Erebor, which resulted in the death of Smaug and the finding of the One Ring by Bilbo Baggins.

Brée is a commune in the Mayenne department in northwestern France.

Bree (short for Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah) is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. He is one of the title characters and is featured prominently in The Horse and His Boy. This was the book published fifth, but the book's events are chronologically third.

Bree was born as a free talking beast in the Land of Narnia, but was captured as a colt by the Calormenes, and has lived his life as a war horse in Calormen, owned by humans, and hiding his true nature as a talking horse. Living as the only talking beast among "dumb and witless" horses, Bree has come to be both proud and vain. In The Horse and His Boy, Bree and the boy Shasta become companions on a journey to escape from Calormen and find freedom in the northern countries of Archenland and Narnia. On their journey, they are joined by a talking mare, Hwin, and a Calormene Tarkheena, Aravis. In the course of their adventures, they thwart an attempted invasion of Archenland and Narnia, and Bree learns to face up to and surrender his pride and vanity in order to truly enter into a free life in Narnia.

Bree is a feminine given name and a surname. Van Bree is a surname. Notable people with either of the names include:

Surname:

• Andrew Bree (born 1981), Irish swimmer
• Declan Bree (born 1951), Irish politician
• Herbert Bree (1828–1899), Anglican bishop
• James Bree (1923–2008), British actor
• James Bree (footballer) (born 1997), English footballer
• Jonathan Bree, singer-songwriter and producer in New Zealand
• Robert Bree (1759–1839), English physician
• Johannes Bernardus van Bree (1801–1857), Dutch composer, musician
• Mattheus Ignatius van Bree (1773–1839), Belgian painter, sculptor and architect
• Philippe-Jacques van Bree (1786–1871), Belgian architectural scholar and brother of Mattheus

Given name:

• Bree Amer (born 1982), Australian television personality
• Bree Munro (born 1981), Australian aerial freestyle skier
• Bree Sharp (born 1975), American singer and songwriter
• Bree Turner (born 1977), American actress
• Bree Walker (born 1953), American television news anchor