We Mispronounce Many Names From Elden Ring. All Because of Inspiration From Irish, Welsh, and Even Old English

Source: FromSoftware

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The English language can be tricky. Even though many of us learn it from a young age, schools cannot fully prepare students for all the "eloquent" surprises, especially when it comes to borrowed words or proper names from centuries ago. At the same time, such vocabulary can serve as an ideal source of inspiration for games and series.

So we will come across words that were once used not only in old literature or poetry, but also in modern works. One of them is, for instance, Elden Ring.

Problematic Scadurtree

The expansion Shadow of the Erdtree, which was released two weeks ago, brought new elements to the world of Elden Ring, including Scadurtree Fragments. These are single-use items that permanently increase the power of damage dealt. Collecting all fifty pieces also unlocks the blessing level.

In the English version, "Scadutree" is derived from the Old English word "sceadu," meaning "shadow." This is an obvious reference to the official title of the DLC.

At first glance, "sceadu" and "shadow" look like words that are pronounced differently; "sc" is usually pronounced like "sk," right? Not quite.

According to the tweet quoted above, Old English "sc" was once equivalent to "sh." Therefore, this brings the pronunciation of Scadutree closer to "shadutree."

Not the only such problem

Linguistic inspirations don't exist in Elden from today. The developers of the soulslike game were influenced not only by Old English but also by Welsh and Irish, as reflected in the other unique names found in the world of the Lands Between.

Cian Maher, who works for CD Projekt RED, shared an interesting observation, noting - as an Irishman - that the name of the Siofra River shouldn't be pronounced as it is written. The word for elf in Irish should be pronounced as "sheef-rah." This is just another proof of how fascinating spoken languages can be.