Where's the ford?: Etymology of Restenford

If you're the etymologically inclined type and you see a town named Restenford, you might be tempted to assume that the "-ford" suffix denotes the presence of a ford across a river named Resten at this location; see Oxford--a town located where the river Ox could be forded. Of course, you would be horribly incorrect because the name of the river is Restin, not Resten. [Insert gut-busting laughter here]

View of the Restin River from Xerbal Mtn.

Ok, while that statement is true, that is not the thesis of this post. No, the real issue is that there is no ford over the river Restin anywhere near Resty. Indeed, though there is no ford across the Restin, there are two bridges which might mean that Restenbridge might be a name more suited to the Barony; see Cambridge: a town with a bridge over the River Cam. One could even argue that Restinmouth would be better still.  


But, at last, I've realized something that just might justify why a town with two bridges and no ford would be called Restenford instead of Restinbridge without being a Restenfraud [more gut-busting]. What if the Restin River is  one of them rivers that changes its flow with the tides--like the Hudson in our world. These rivers are called things like tidal estuaries or sunken rivers, but the word most commonly associated with them is "fjord."  So if we can agree that the Restin River is actually a fjord--at least at its lower reaches--then all we need to do is drop the "j" from fjord and you have "ford," no river crossing required.  

This gains extra traction when you realize that the population of Lendore Island worships Suel deities and therefore it's not such a stretch to say that they might have a Suel linguistic heritage as well. Who else speaks Suel? Them barbarians that inhabit the fjord-ridden Thillronian Peninsula, that's who!