[Secret History] Cephandrius

[Ari he/him]

That was a particularly interesting name drop, wasn't it?

 

So now we've collected another one of his arsenal of names, this time from Leras. I have a feeling this is an intermediate pseudonym from before he decided to be Hoid, as those of you who read the Liar sample chapters will probably remember him using a completely different name even earlier.

 

Makes you wonder though, is changing your name and appearance so effective against Shards? We definitely know now that if they got suspicious and tried to touch him, they'd figure out who he is.

 

edit: hah, confused my shards for a minute there.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Ari

[Ryshadium she/her]

Ceph makes me think of octopi (cephalopods), or ancient kings (Cepheus). So, clearly Hoid used to be the Octopus King.

[natc]

Well, better than being a Liar I guess. Octopi are cool.

[Ryshadium she/her]

And smart. And good at camouflage.

I've discovered his secret.

[Ari he/him]

Ceph makes me think of octopi (cephalopods), or ancient kings (Cepheus). So, clearly Hoid used to be the Octopus King.

 

Yeah, you could interpret Cephandrius to mean squid-man, lol, given the meaning of the root "andro" in general.

[Young Bard he/him]

Timeline of Hoid's (significant) names:

 

Midius (real name)

Topaz

Hoid

Wit

 

He must have used Cephandrius while on Yolen, so sometime between Midius and Hoid. No saying more than that, though.

[Kav]

We actually knew he used this name before, and that it isn't his real name either. Peter gave us the full name (Cephandrius Maxtori) in this thread here:

 

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/45901-shadows-of-self-byu-midnight-signing/page-2

 

And I'm pretty sure I remember seeing it a long time ago in some old threads related to Liar but don't remember exactly where, so it seems to be a name that Brandon's been using for a while. Still tells us nothing useful unfortunately!

Edited January 29, 2016 by Kav

[skaa he/him]

"Cephandrius" reminds me of Cephas, which means rock in Aramaic and is the name of one of the Apostles. I'd guess Cephandrius Maxtori is a reference to Hoid's other psuedonym Topaz, which he alluded to as "a rock" in WoK.

Edited January 31, 2016 by skaa

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

The full name sounds like a star system to me

[FaeMofo]

It sounds almost like a royal or at least distinguished name, Octo-king seems to be the safest bet.

[Kelek's Breath he/him]

Literal meaning:

Cephas=rock (as referenced by skaa above)

Andrius=brave (from Greek)

so Brave rock or stone

[hypatia she/her]

This can also be from Greek:

cephalos - head

andros - man

[emailanimal he/him]

Literal meaning:

Cephas=rock (as referenced by skaa above)

Andrius=brave (from Greek)

so Brave rock or stone

 

Or, if Brandon really wanted to troll us with Chrsitianity-inspired parallels: Peter (rock) and Andrew - who, if I remember correctly, were brothers.

[Shardbearer he/him]

What about the Maxtori part? Could there be Greek or some other roots to that as well?

[AerionBFII he/him]

Midius(Original Name) -> Cephandrius(Dragonsteel)->Hoid(After the Shattering) 

Then a huge of aliases throughout his tenure as the Cosmere Gofer. 

 

->Octo-King (This Thread.)

[hypatia she/her]

For "Maxtori" my best guess would be Latin:

maximus - greatest

torus (Pl. tori) - bead, muscle, but also poet. bed, love, marriage, bier or embankment

[Stormgate he/him]

Maybe Cephandrius is his real name, and Sanderson changed his mind about Midius.

[Corax]

The first time I saw the name, I immediately thought it was evocative of the words for "head" and "man" and was possibly a sort of reference to him being tied to the Cognitive Realm. Obviously Greek, etc, don't exist in the Cosmere, but Brandon often chooses names that are evocative of things that are similar real-world concepts, like Adonalsium resembles Adonai, or Moelach is very close to Moloch. It seems likely (or at least possible) that the meaning is intentional.

[aeromancer he/him]

"Cephandrius" reminds me of Cephas, which means rock in Aramaic

 Well ... yes. But the Anglicized version usually isn't spelled that was. It's somewhat unpronounceable for an American tongue, as the syllables don't usually come up. I'd spell it as tzephas. Don't try pronouncing that, please.

[skaa he/him]

 Well ... yes. But the Anglicized version usually isn't spelled that way. It's somewhat unpronounceable for an American tongue, as the syllables don't usually come up. I'd spell it as tzephas. Don't try pronouncing that, please.

 

I've read several Bible editions that use the spelling "Cephas". That is even the spelling used in the English Wikipedia article on Peter. Anyway, I'm not quite sure what your point is. I'm Filipino, and we have our own way of pronouncing Cephas (something like "sepas"). Americans like Brandon might have one, too. Brandon may or may not be able to pronounce it in the "correct" Aramaic way, but people have been incorporating foreign languages in their made up words/names with their own pronunciations for a very long time now.

 

(Not that I'm absolutely positive that Cephandrius came from the Aramaic word, mind you. I'm just confused by your argument.)

[manavortex she/her]

Quote

Don't try pronouncing that, please.

Tsay-fuss. 

You're welcome