Esaias he/him Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 (edited) So, I was wandering through the pages of Wikipedia, reading about Zoroastrianism, when I came across this page. Quote: "The Avestan language word yasna literally means 'oblation' or 'worship'." This seems too much to be a coincidence (though it might be). Anyways, I found it interesting that the only atheist main character is named after something religious. Explains the odd pronunciation as well. Edited February 29, 2016 by Esaias 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Bard he/him Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Well, the pronunciation is only strange to English speakers. In most European languages (which the Rosharan language is 'a lot closer to') the 'J' is pronounced with a 'Y' sound. Likewise, a word in a strange language doesn't necessarily relate. Even if this were a well known word in a well known language, it still might be an accident (and let's face it, this is far from that). In fact, he did this very thing in the Mistborn series, with Elend and Straff. Elend in German means misery, and Straff in German means... from memory, it's 'tight'. In addition, the Cosmere doesn't have any form of Earth. So any names that mean something like this don't have an in-world explanation, and are merely easter eggs for the readers (and to the best of my knowledge, Brandon hasn't done this with any of his Cosmere stories.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mestiv he/him Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 I don't think it's intentional. Just like to fact, that in Polish Jasnah sound almost like "jasna" which means "bright"... And so we read about brightness Bright when she's mentioned 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esaias he/him Posted February 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 (edited) Well, the pronunciation is only strange to English speakers. In most European languages (which the Rosharan language is 'a lot closer to') the 'J' is pronounced with a 'Y' sound. Likewise, a word in a strange language doesn't necessarily relate. Even if this were a well known word in a well known language, it still might be an accident (and let's face it, this is far from that). In fact, he did this very thing in the Mistborn series, with Elend and Straff. Elend in German means misery, and Straff in German means... from memory, it's 'tight'. In addition, the Cosmere doesn't have any form of Earth. So any names that mean something like this don't have an in-world explanation, and are merely easter eggs for the readers (and to the best of my knowledge, Brandon hasn't done this with any of his Cosmere stories.) I was thinking more that he might have run across the word while doing research and thought it would make a cool name. More of an ironic joke for himself than for the readers. (I've done this with my own writing, don't know if other authors do.) You're probably right though, just a coincidence. I don't think it's intentional. Just like to fact, that in Polish Jasnah sound almost like "jasna" which means "bright"... And so we read about brightness Bright when she's mentioned Ha! That's awesome. Edited February 29, 2016 by Esaias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Honor Spren she/her Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 This is all awesome, even if its not what actually happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oversleep Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 I don't think it's intentional. Just like to fact, that in Polish Jasnah sound almost like "jasna" which means "bright"... And so we read about brightness Bright when she's mentioned I heard Sanderson derived "Jasnah" from Bulgar word (which is very close to the word in our language). So if it's true he intentionally named her that way, although I don't think it was done just to troll Slavic readers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari he/him Posted March 1, 2016 Report Share Posted March 1, 2016 I heard Sanderson derived "Jasnah" from Bulgar word (which is very close to the word in our language). So if it's true he intentionally named her that way, although I don't think it was done just to troll Slavic readers Would make the title Brightlady sound really funny when applied to her though, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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