This is the first map of a series I plan on doing of the Reach, with all of the place names in native languages. The southern Reach, of which this area is the northern part, speaks an analogue of Dutch; of course, there are regional dialects over such a large area, which I tried to represent on the map (kuip in the north vs kiep in the south for example).
This is very interesting. It really
does sound like some uncanny valley version of Dutch.
If you'll allow the criticism, my only "objections" are to
Hijgaarden and the use of
Kiep/Kuip. Those both stand out because they are obviously incongruent Anglo-influences. Using 'hij' references 'high', but in Dutch, it is 'hoog' (compare German 'hoch'). There's actually a place called
Hoegaarden in Belgium (and also a brewery/beer with that name). That or
Hoogaarden would be a realistic take on "Highgarden". (In the official Dutch translation, the alternative
Hooggaarde is used.)
In Dutch,
kiepen is a verb that roughly means "to toss" or "to tip (over)". Meanwhile,
kuip means "tub" (as in bathtub). Neither has anything to do with a stronghold. The English verb "to keep" as an alternative to "to hold" isn't used. The Dutch equivalent to English place-names including "keep" is something ending in "burg", "burcht" or "veste". For instance,
Brijtwaterveste. (Technically the 'brijt' in that name is obviously from un-Dutch and exclusively English 'bright', so that stands out as well, but it could realistically be a pseudo-Dutch word meaning something else.) If you intend to make dialects different, you can use 'burg'/'burcht' in one region, and 'veste' in another region.