# Stray Cat In Basement

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-in-basement/1012444>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 1, 2025, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-in-basement/1012444 "2025-01-01T16:39:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-in-basement/1012444/61 "2025-01-05T16:55:19Z")

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It sounds like a Tolkienian name, but there’s no such name in the Tolkien corpus. If there were he would have probably spelled it “Selador” since he almost always used “C” to represent the “k” sound, like in Latin. The -dor element means “land”, as in Mordor (black land), Gondor (stone land), Eriador (lonely land), Dorthonion (land of pines), etc., but the closest thing to a “Sela-” element that I know of is “seld-” meaning “daughter” or “child” which doesn’t seem very appropriate for a place name. On the other hand, “Kelador”, while it also does not exist in the corpus, is a more likely name since the “kel-” element means “running water” or “river”, so Kelador could mean something like “land of rivers”.

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**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-in-basement/1012444/62 "2025-01-05T17:09:34Z")

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> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> It sounds like a Tolkienian name, but there’s no such name in the Tolkien corpus. If there were he would have probably spelled it “Selador” since he almost always used “C” to represent the “k” sound, like in Latin. The -dor element means “land”, as in Mordor (black land), Gondor (stone land), Eriador (lonely land), Dorthonion (land of pines), etc., but the closest thing to a “Sela-” element that I know of is “seld-” meaning “daughter” or “child” which doesn’t seem very appropriate for a place name. On the other hand, “Kelador”, while it also does not exist in the corpus, is a more likely name since the “kel-” element means “running water” or “river”, so Kelador could mean something like “land of rivers”.

Oh my.

Considering all of the cellar floods I have experienced in my life “land of rivers” would be a most appropriate name.

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**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-in-basement/1012444/63 "2025-01-05T17:50:20Z")

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> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> It sounds like a Tolkienian name, but there’s no such name in the Tolkien corpus

[et very cetera]

I love this board.

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**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stray-cat-in-basement/1012444/64 "2025-01-05T22:57:58Z")

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I know; right? There’s nothing else online quite like it.

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