The Encyclopedia of Arda - Bay of Belfalas (original) (raw)

Indexes: Alphabetical: B Seas and Oceans About this entry: Updated 12 August 2013 Updates planned: 1

The great bay to the south of Gondor A bay of the Great Sea lying to the south of Gondor, within whose waters stood the island of Tolfalas; the River Anduin flowed into the Bay. Notes 1 This great Bay took its name from the Gondorian region of Belfalas, which formed a prominent part of its northern coastline. Tolkien originally gave a simple Sindarin derivation for this name, meaning 'steep shore'. In later writings, however, he cast some doubt on this: while -falas 'surf-washed shore' is consistent, he suggested that Bel- actually came from an older tongue and itself also meant 'wave-washed shore'. By this later interpretation Belfalas essentially means 'shore shore', combining two different languages. Reduplication of elements like this is not in fact uncommon in real place-names. See also... Anfalas, Common Language, Dark Days, Elf-havens, Great River, Green Hills, Long Cape, Mouths of Anduin, Outlands, Prince of Dol Amroth, Ras Morthil, River Anduin, River Lefnui, River Sirith, Silvan Elves, [See the full list...]Silver Swan, South Wind, The Great, The Ship and the Silver Swan, Tolfalas, Vales of Anduin, Western Gondor, White Mountains Indexes: Alphabetical: B Seas and Oceans About this entry: Updated 12 August 2013 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2008, 2013. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.DISC is one of the most popular methods of personality testing and assessment in use today.