​The ​backwards "Walter" is so obvious that it almost has to be intentional, but I haven't been able to find any Internet reference to a "Walter Dent" who would be a reasonable inspiration for the pun. A friend of Okrand's, maybe? (If only the word were something like {yevraH}, this would be easier to solve...) Or maybe it's a {ghotI' Doq}, so to speak, and it's actually somehow based on archaic degrees from some time period ago.