Bay of Belfalas

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.