diff --git a/libgnome-desktop/gnome-languages.c b/libgnome-desktop/gnome-languages.c
index 5929d97bf0c7daaafd795e0ba7662d82722dd68a..f9bb960e6dd89f4ba5fa8b7ced8cc4f4cc540a43 100644
--- a/libgnome-desktop/gnome-languages.c
+++ b/libgnome-desktop/gnome-languages.c
@@ -703,8 +703,8 @@ get_translated_language (const char *code,
         name = NULL;
         if (language != NULL) {
                 const char *translated_name;
-                locale_t loc;
-                locale_t old_locale;
+                locale_t loc = 0;
+                locale_t old_locale = 0;
 
                 if (locale != NULL) {
                         loc = newlocale (LC_MESSAGES_MASK, locale, (locale_t) 0);
@@ -1369,30 +1369,34 @@ gnome_get_translated_modifier (const char *modifier,
                 old_locale = uselocale (loc);
         }
 
-        modifiers_map = g_hash_table_new_full (g_str_hash, g_str_equal, g_free, g_free);
+        /* Modifiers as listed in glibc's SUPPORTED file:
+         * https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=blob;f=localedata/SUPPORTED;hb=HEAD
+         * (except for @euro, which would be superfluous in this context). */
+        modifiers_map = g_hash_table_new (g_str_hash, g_str_equal);
 
         /* TRANSLATORS: Used to distinguish the labels representing the gez_ER
            and gez_ET locales from gez_ER@abegede respective gez_ET@abegede. The
            difference is related to collation. */
-        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, g_strdup ("abegede"), g_strdup (_("Abegede")));
-        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, g_strdup ("cyrillic"), g_strdup (_("Cyrillic")));
-        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, g_strdup ("devanagari"), g_strdup (_("Devanagari")));
+        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, "abegede", _("Abegede"));
+        /* TRANSLATORS: Used to distinguish Cyrillic from Latin written language variants. */
+        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, "cyrillic", _("Cyrillic"));
+        /* TRANSLATORS: Also known as "Nagari", a written variant for many languages
+           of the Indian subcontinent. See:
+           https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari */
+        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, "devanagari", _("Devanagari"));
         /* TRANSLATORS: Used to distinguish the label representing the tt_RU
            locale from tt_RU@iqtelif. It's a special alphabet for Tatar. */
-        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, g_strdup ("iqtelif"), g_strdup (_("IQTElif")));
-        /* TRANSLATORS: The alphabet/script, not the language. */
-        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, g_strdup ("latin"), g_strdup (_("Latin")));
+        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, "iqtelif", _("IQTElif"));
+        /* TRANSLATORS: The alphabet/script, not the language. Used to distinguish
+           Latin from Cyrillic written language variants. */
+        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, "latin", _("Latin"));
         /* TRANSLATORS: "Saho" is a variant of the Afar language. Used to
            distinguish the label representing the aa_ER locale from aa_ER@saaho. */
-        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, g_strdup ("saaho"), g_strdup (_("Saho")));
+        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, "saaho", _("Saho"));
         /* TRANSLATORS: "Valencia" is a dialect of the Catalan language spoken
            in Valencia. Used to distinguish the label representing the ca_ES
            locale from ca_ES@valencia. */
-        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, g_strdup ("valencia"), g_strdup (_("Valencia")));
-
-        /* The modifiers above are the ones present in glibc's SUPPORTED file
-         * (except for @euro, which would be superfluous in this context).
-         */
+        g_hash_table_insert (modifiers_map, "valencia", _("Valencia"));
 
         if (g_hash_table_contains (modifiers_map, modifier))
                 retval = g_strdup (g_hash_table_lookup (modifiers_map, modifier));
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index bba00d994a3863c4ad945978d8f55fdf923051ef..39b0e43808fdef0503f40d384d08b43a5f8f4e83 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ project('gnome-desktop', 'c',
 #  * Bump the third component otherwise.
 #
 # A lot easier than libtool, right?
-libversion = '17.0.7'
+libversion = '17.1.7'
 soversion = libversion.split('.')[0]
 
 gdk_pixbuf_req = '>= 2.36.5'