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Additional hebrew words used for Cosmere terminology


Qayin

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First post here, been stalking all you geniuses and detective for weeks now, finally i have something small to contribute, so, here i am!
 
A few weeks ago while reading WoR and i saw the word "Aharietiam", which seemed familiar somehow.
As i fell asleep i remembered reading that Sanderson confirtmed that Adonalsium is derived from the Hebrew word, Adonai (God).
So i opened my book again and reread the word and the context it was in, and realized that "Aharietiam" sounds an awful like "Acharit Hayamim" in Hebrew, (which means "the end of days").
 
I went ahead and emailed Karen Ahlstrom, and today she confirmed it by adding it to the FAQ - she even suggested i share it with you guys.
 
in the same response from Brandon, he also said that "Moash is also Moshe, with a letter flip.  There are a lot more."
I've attached the email if anyone is interested:
Aharietiam.thumb.png.7a9b4464a5f9c8e1d4c9746998865f3e.png
 
 
Hopefully, you found this half as interesting as i did, and if you have similar discoveries like that please share!
 
Edited by Qayin
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Very nice find, and a confirmation too. I knew the Alethi language had middle eastern mixed in its creation, but I never thought to look at actual Hebrew words for in book things as we see an English translation. Very cool. 

2 minutes ago, Flash said:

Moshe as in... moses? Is this some sort of character reveal here? 

I think there's a Moshe that works with Brandon... An editor? It's probably more omage to a person than the biblical figure 

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Just now, Calderis said:

Very nice find, and a confirmation too. I knew the Alethi language had middle eastern mixed in its creation, but I never thought to look at actual Hebrew words for in book things as we see an English translation. Very cool. 

honestly i can't take credit for "looking for the words", it just popped in my eyes so i looked into it.

Now though after that "There are a lot more" answer, i think i might go back and actually look into it.

its SO COOL that they actually answered, and pretty quickly too!

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1 hour ago, Qayin said:

honestly i can't take credit for "looking for the words", it just popped in my eyes so i looked into it.

Now though after that "There are a lot more" answer, i think i might go back and actually look into it.

its SO COOL that they actually answered, and pretty quickly too!

Before we got aether's of night here, I asked for it and they emailed me back in under a day so I know how you feel

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Here's a few more :) mostly around linguistics but also some influences from Judaism and the kabbalah

Quote

Q: Is Adonalsium taken from the Hebrew words for God, Adonai?
 
A: It is.

Quote

Q: What is the origin of the name Kaladin? 
 
A: I use Arabic in some of the creation of Alethi names, and Kaled (or Khaled) was the root I started playing with to come up with a new name for Kaladin, as I didn't like the one I'd used in 2002. I'd already designed Kalak after this, the Herald, and wanted a common name version of this.
When I arrived at Kaladin, it sounded right to me--likely because of the similarity to Paladin, as others noted below.
 
Q: So if Kaladin's name is derived from Khaled, is it fair to assume that the Alethi language sounds similar to Arabic?
 
A: Alethi has some Hebrew to it too. I used Semitic language roots for the Dawnchant, which had a huge influence on Rosharan languages. While there are a few oddballs rules, and some linguistics that stand on their own, both major language groups on Roshar (the Azish family and the Vorin family) would probably sound very Arabic to you.
For example, the Alethi Kh is a voiceless velar fricative. The Azish kk or q sound is a voiceless uvular, sometimes stop, sometimes an affricate. Sometimes a uvular ejective.
No, I can't make those sounds on demand. Peter can, though. It's helpful to have a linguist on my team.
Shin is its own language, as is Iriali.

Quote

A: Moash was actually named before Moshe became my editor, as Alethi has some Hebrew roots, making some of the names similar to Hebrew names. He considers it a fun homage that I left it, after he became my editor. (Even considering what Moash does in WoR.) 
 
Q: Alethi has Hebrew roots? Man, I'm Israeli and I didn't notice.
 
A: They're buried, but in there. The Kh that you see in a lot of Alethi (like Kholin) are a gutteral, kind of like Chet. That might help you find some. Do note that there are some other influences too, not the least of which being the Vorin idealism of symmetry. (Bonus fun fact, the Double Eye is inspired by the Sephirot, though that one's a little more obvious.)

Quote

Hebrew, among a few other languages, is an inspiration for some languages in the cosmere. (One of them is Alethi.) That said, in this case it's more like how in some Asian countries, they would give honorific names to famous scholars or rulers after they pass away.

Quote

Q: Are the Ten Essences from Stormlight inspired from the ancient Chinese theory of the Five Elements, which is often used to explain various physiological and patological phenomena in traditional Chinese medicine?
 
A: Yes. Part came from there. Part came from Jewish mysticism. Part came from the idea of fundamental forces.

Quote

INTERVIEW: Jun 10th, 2014

Tor.com The Way of Kings Re-read Interview with Brandon Sanderson(Verbatim)

SHDWFEATHER (TOR.COM)

One of my favourite parts about Roshar is the diverse set of cultures that exist in the world. Could you talk about some of the inspirations for the complicated cultures such as the Alethi?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Building Roshar, I wanted to make sure that I was doing a little extra worldbuilding work. I don't want to say that for something like Mistborn I'm not doing worldbuilding work, but my focus was in other areas. I wanted Mistborn to be accessible, so I made it an Earth analogue.

I consider Roshar my showpiece for worldbuilding, and as such I wanted everything about it to display some of the best of what science fiction and fantasy is capable of: new ecologies, new cultures, cultures that feel real but that at the same time are not just earth analogues. Because of that, I've done a lot of work to individualize and distinctify a lot of the various cultures on Roshar.

Now, that said, creativity is really the recombination of things you've seen before. We as human beings, by our very nature, can't imagine something we've never seen. What we can do is take different things we've seen and combine them in new ways. That's the soul of creativity. It's the unicorn idea—we've seen things with horns, and we've seen horses. We put the two together and create something new, a unicorn.

Because of that, I don't know if it's possible to create a culture in a fantasy book that isn't inspired in some way by various earth cultures. I'm trying not to be as overt about it as The Wheel of Time was, because one of the cool things about The Wheel of Time was its twisting and turning of Earth cultures into Randland cultures.

That's a big preface. What are my inspirations for the Alethi, for all of the different cultures? There's definitely some Korean in there. There's some Semitic cultures in there. The magic system table, the double eye, is based on the idea of the Sefer and the Tree of Life from the Jewish Kabbalah. That's where I can trace the original inspiration of that. I can trace the original inspiration of the safehand to Koreans not showing people the bottom of their feet because they felt that that is an insult—that's not something you do. I can trace the Alethi apparel to various different clothing influences. I'm hoping that a lot of where I get the cultures is based off the interplay between the setting, the histories, the idea of the highstorms, and the metaphor of the desolations. My influences come from all over the place

 

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That's really fascinating.

There's a Lighteyes couple in WoK with Hebrew names. Brightlord Yonatan and Brightlady... Meirav, I think it was? Something that started with an M. (I only own WoR). Stood out to me enough on my second read that I showed it to my family. I figured at the time that maybe they were named after a couple Brandon knows IRL, especially since Wit goes easy on them due to their recent wedding.

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4 hours ago, Necessary Eagle said:

That's really fascinating.

There's a Lighteyes couple in WoK with Hebrew names. Brightlord Yonatan and Brightlady... Meirav, I think it was? Something that started with an M. (I only own WoR). Stood out to me enough on my second read that I showed it to my family. I figured at the time that maybe they were named after a couple Brandon knows IRL, especially since Wit goes easy on them due to their recent wedding.

IIRC it is a shout out to someone real. Like the Yoshins.

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1 hour ago, Qayin said:

I don't understand how someone as young as Brandon knows so much about other cultures and religions, its mind-blowing.

We call it reading and interacting.....

Oh that sounded harsh, not that I meant it to be.  Really he reads a ton asks a lot of questions of people.

Edited by FiveLate
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Obviously, but i think you missed (or ignored) my point.

it takes time to gather knowledge and collect experiences from around the world (his use of Korean and Kabala in his books is only one small example) - and in order to actually implement these things in a non-obvious way in your story, you have to really master it, understand it more than just by reading a 1 page wiki article.

at the age of 40 (and younger since this is already years old) it is really surprising and impressive that one person has so much knowledge inside them with the ability to use it in his writing.

amazing.

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35 minutes ago, Qayin said:

Obviously, but i think you missed (or ignored) my point.

it takes time to gather knowledge and collect experiences from around the world (his use of Korean and Kabala in his books is only one small example) - and in order to actually implement these things in a non-obvious way in your story, you have to really master it, understand it more than just by reading a 1 page wiki article.

at the age of 40 (and younger since this is already years old) it is really surprising and impressive that one person has so much knowledge inside them with the ability to use it in his writing.

amazing.

I see what you mean, but I went through a phase where I tried to read all the major religious books of the world.  When I get bored now, I pick one on my kindle and punch in a Brandon location to read.  When I started I was amazed at how much cominality could be found between them.

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