I came across this word in the MMO Lotro and I suspect it may be a German word, but I'm not sure. If it is, I'd love to know what it means. My poor guess is something like "forest defender."
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11. Please give us more context. Write the whole sentence in which you found this word. 2. What is "MMO"? Please don't use abbreviations that are not well known to everybody. – Hubert Schölnast Apr 26 '17 at 6:29
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1Looks like a mix of German/Swedish. German Wald means forest, Swedish gård means German Hof/Gut/Gehöft (farm/property). Found also the Swedish rally driver Björn Waldegård. – Pollitzer Apr 26 '17 at 6:56
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3@Thorongil: I don't think people are more likely to answer by not giving as much information as possible in your question. While I know what an MMO is, you cannot expect people in a language community to know. FYI (sic!): Hubert is one of the top contributers here, and likely would have given you an elaborate answer. But I doubt that he will be encouraged by you saying "Google it, I am too lazy to edit my question, I just want an answer". – Gerhard Apr 26 '17 at 16:42
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3Well, there's something called Google you can use to find out what "Waldengard" is. – Em1 Apr 26 '17 at 20:04
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1Ranger? <!-- padding padding--> – peterh Apr 26 '17 at 22:13
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It's not a common noun (= normal word). In the realm of its fantasy world it's probably a proper noun (= name). It was probably chosen to evoke precisely the sort of association that you're experiencing. Please note, however, that while "Wald" is a German root meaning "forest", "gard" isn't, so the desired effect really only works on speakers of English with a vague familiarity with German - not on actual speakers of German.
Alternatively, "-gard" is an old Germanic root meaning "yard, enclosure", as in "Midgard", and this may also have influenced the choice.
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2There are many German given names that end with "-gard". Most of them seem extremely rare to me, but at least Hildegard and Irmgard should be commonly known, so Waldengard sounds a bit familiar. Note that Wikipedia even lists Waldgard, but without further reference. – Matthias Apr 26 '17 at 13:41
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It is not a German word according to the official dictionary (The "Duden").
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6There is no official list of all German words and also no official dictionary. – Carsten S Apr 26 '17 at 12:02
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Is is not a german word I've come across, and it is not in any reference material I have access to.
