Meaning of names

[daanan]

Got thinking about the names Ba-Ado-Mishram and Adonalsium and the fact that they appear to have a common root, so I started looking to see if Brandon had hidden any sort of meaning into a few of his names. I figured that giving meaning to the name of his overall Cosmere divinity sounded like a very Brandon thing to do.

I took a look to see if anyone else had figured out what it meant. Adoda of course mean light, which we know from Oathbringer. I couldn't find anything specific for "Nalsium", "Nal", or "Sium", although now I wonder if Nalthis has a similar root as well. When I looked for "ba ado mishram", I found a post on 17th shard where a member guessed it translated to "void light giver", which would be cool. However, I've been doing some digging and I came up with an alternate theory. I think I scored a hit when I Googled "Mishram." Turns out, "Mishra" in Hindi means "mixed manifold" or "mixed in multiple ways". So I tried translating "Ba" into Hindi. Turns out, in Hindi "Ba" is a number. It means 3. If you put that together with "Ado" translating to "Light", then that would mean that Ba-Ado-Mishram roughly translates to "three lights mixed in many ways."

IDK about you, but that seems significant to me, especially considering what happened when Ba-Ado-Mishram was captured.

I've hit on two other matches. The Hindi word for "light" is Roshanee. Considering where the original glyph for Roshar came from, this seems right to me. Also, Threnody is a somewhat-archaic English word that is a synonym for "lament". I know that Brandon doesn't always use root words to add meaning to his names and locations, but I know that sometimes he adds them for his own pleasure if he can find an appropriate match that sounds right. I can't match any of the other Unmade names to any words in Hindi (although I'm hindered by the fact that I definitely don't know the language.) Anyone else find roots to common words in different languages?

 

[The Bookwyrm he/him]

1 hour ago, daanan said:

then that would mean that Ba-Ado-Mishram roughly translates to "three lights mixed in many ways."

Whoa.

You, my friend, just blew my mind.

Especially after what happened in Rhythm of War,

Spoiler

When Navani was able to mix the lights using her experiments. 

This could fit Ba-Ado-Mishram pretty well. She obviously has a connection to both Odium (Voidlight) and the Singers (Lifelight?) and something about her imprisonment did something to the dead spren after the Recreance. (Stormlight?) Maybe this is something we should look into more, because she could have a connection to all three of Roshar's shards, and therefore all three of Roshar's lights.

I think it would be really, really cool if you've stumbled across a hidden secret in Brandon's naming techniques.

Brandon Sanderson has said that he is deriving the names of the Unmade from deities in certain mythologies. Here's the quote from the Coppermind:

Quote

The names of the Unmade are derived from deities of Near Eastern pantheons and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos; however, the powers and characteristics of the Unmade do not necessarily match those of their nominal inspirations. Suspected associations are:

• Anat, Semitic war goddess, for Sja-anat.
• Resheph, Canaanite plague deity, for Re-Shephir.
• Nergal, Mesopotamian god of war and death, for Nergaoul.
• Moloch, Canaanite god of fire and chaos associated with child sacrifice, for Moelach.
• Dagon, a Canaanite fisher god and sea-dwelling entity from the Cthulu Mythos, for Dai-Gonarthis.
• Asherah, Sumerian sea goddess, for Ashertmarn.
• Chemosh, god of Moabites and Ammonites, for Chemoarish.
• Unknown Cthulhu Mythos deities for Ba-Ado-Mishram and Yelig-nar.

Note that Ba-Ado-Mishram is one of the two they've been unable to figure out. Maybe there's a Hindu deity that somehow fits the translation you've found above? 

[Little_Dagger she/her]

It would be very cool if Ba-Ado-Mishram turned out to be a child of all three shards of Roshar. Maybe we will get a trio of singing of humans (Honor), singers (Cultivation), and the fused (Odium) to create her light?