Language coincidences?

[parvoneh]

I haven't seen this question addressed anywhere, but does anyone know whether there are any real-world connection or inspiration for the names in Way of Kings? Apologies if this is out there and I missed it.

I am learning a bit of Farsi and came across the word for 'island', transliterated as 'jezreyeh'. This caught my eye, so I looked up a few other words as best I could*. It turns out that 'shash' is indeed the Farsi word for the number six, and 'chechem' is 'eye', Kelek is 'con artist' or 'thief', and 'Davar' came back as 'judge'. Some of the other words and names look like they could be of Persian origin - betab, Kharbranth, (khar is donkey), Nalan, etc. This could all just be coincidence, or maybe a nod that the Origin is offshore.

*since I spell in Farsi at or below the kindergarten level and have an English keyboard, I can't look things up directly.

Edited October 11, 2012 by parvoneh

[Riddlesinthedark he/him]

I haven't seen this question addressed anywhere, but does anyone know whether there are any real-world connection or inspiration for the names in Way of Kings? Apologies if this is out there and I missed it.

I am learning a bit of Farsi and came across the word for 'island', transliterated as 'jezreyeh'. This caught my eye, so I looked up a few other words as best I could*. It turns out that 'shash' is indeed the Farsi word for the number six, and 'chechem' is 'eye', Kelek is 'con artist' or 'thief', and 'Davar' came back as 'judge'. Some of the other words and names look like they could be of Persian origin - betab, Kharbranth, (khar is donkey), Nalan, etc. This could all just be coincidence, or maybe a nod that the Origin is offshore.

*since I spell in Farsi at or below the kindergarten level and have an English keyboard, I can't look things up directly.

Great post, and I don't think you're not wrong, but I'm not sure you should read to much into it, i.e.:

Brandon Sanderson has said in interviews and Writing Excuses, his podcast, that when worldbuilding--he will open an atlas, and study geographical names, phonemes, and personal names. He will then mix and blend them to get a cohesive structure. He may have said recently that he no longer does this, but he probably still was when writing WoK.

You might observe that in the Mistborn series, the names look kind of French (though thankfully not pronounced that way); Kelsier, Elend, especially Lestibournes.

So I think you are correct in picking up the Middle Eastern influences, I would just be leery of reading to much into it, because like he showed in Elantris, with Raoden, Sarene, etc...he will assign his own meaning to those names.

It would however be interesting if Shallash was the sixth enumerated Herald, but nothing in Kelek's viewpoint suggested shiftiness of character to me.

For another instance, also from WoK, Kaladin is only one letter transposed from the famous Arab general, Saladin, defender against/scourge of the Crusades. Jasnah, also, has some similarity to some Arab names.

[Observer]

Straff and Elend are german for misery and strife, and that was a total accident. I suspect these are too.

[Straff Venture he/him]

Maybe its a bit out of the original topic, but even though brandon's cultures are certainly not generic I can still see them as a mixture of real-life civilisations. I imagine Alethkar being a mix of medieval Arabia and Europe, and I could probably say a few others.

[parvoneh]

Straff and Elend are german for misery and strife, and that was a total accident. I suspect these are too.

Thanks for the replies and insight, everybody. I haven't delved into many of the interviews and such. Dang! I was hoping I found something to add here!

I had caught 'Elend' as well (my undergrad degree is in German, though my command of the language has gotten rusty with disuse). I too figured that must be coincidental given Elend's character's optimism.

[Zas678 he/him]

See, that's the thing- with Elend and Straff, Brandon just picked those names because they sounded German. He didn't realize what they meant until a fan told him. He did find it funny though.