I’ve probably missed something, but I’m hoping my omissions are slight compared to what I’ve included. I here attempt to present, alphabetically, every* Welsh-based word in Enedwaith and Dunland. Considering that Welsh and Finnish are the two languages after which Tolkien modelled Quenya and Sindarin respectively, including these two languages in the game is an interesting nod to Tolkien’s work. A little work with a Welsh/English dictionary and I was certain that the Dunlending language was Welsh with the spelling slightly modified to make it easier on the English reader, much the way the Lossoth of Forochel speak Finnish without the double vowels. Welsh is not a language with which I’m very familiar, but I have seen just enough written Welsh to recognise that the names in Enedwaith and Dunland are modelled on it. The parallel is obvious, and it was a bright move on Turbine’s part to give the Dunlendings the Welsh language (Welsh is a Celtic language, related to Gaelic and to the ancient Celtic dialects spoken in Boudica’s time). In Tolkien’s books the Rohirrim are very like the Anglo-Saxons, and Gondor has a good deal in common with Rome after the Dunlendings had been in Dunland and what is now Rohan for quite some time, the Gondorians and then the Rohirrim settled the area and the Dunlendings were pushed out. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien only gives us one word from the Dunlending language (forgoil is a term used to refer to the Rohirrim, it seems to mean Strawheads), which leaves Turbine with as much room to play around as they could wish. It is an ancient speech of men, and once was spoken in many western valleys of the Mark.” The Dunlendings are supposed to evoke a flavour of pre-Roman Britain and their culture and manner of dress is obviously inspired by the Celts. “Yet there are many that cry in the Dunland tongue,” said Gamling.
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