Silver Kingdom Names

[Chinsukolo]

I'm re-reading WoK and WoR in prep for Oathbringer and was looking at the Silver Kingdom map.

Just noticed that all the kingdom names are either true palindromes, or phonetic palindromes.

Natanatan = Nata n atan (True)

Thalath = Th ala Th (Phonetic)

Rishir = Ri sh ir (Phonetic)

Makao'akam = Maka o' akam (True)

Shin Kek Nish = Shin kek nish (True)

Aimia = Ai m ia (True)

Iri = Iri (True)

Sela Tales = Sela t ales (True)

Valhav = Va lh av (Phonetic for Roshar)

Alethela = Ale th ela (Phoentic)

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2017 by Chinsukolo
Removed a blanket statement/assumption

[The One Who Connects he/him]

IIRC, there's a theory.. somewhere.. about a connection between the Heralds and the Silver Kingdoms. If there is a connection, I don't think them being "holy names" is any surprise, since the church gave the Heralds holy names as well: Nalan, Talenelat, Chanaranach, etc..

[+Extesian he/him]

I'll just point out that they're actually all true palindromes, 'th' for example is actually a single letter, the 'translation' into English just makes the sound read as 'th'. But yeah symmetrical names are considered holy on Roshar which is also why some people are given almost -symmetrical names (symmetry is holy but to be too symmetrical is blasphemy, it's implying you're actually holy).

[Alfa he/him]

In old English there even was a letter for the "th" sound, which died out with the rise of book-printing. In the beginning it was substituted by "Y" (therefore "Ye olde good Times"), and later by the "th"-combination. Equally some languages (EG Russian) possess a single letter for the sound "sh". At least Alethi has almost all sounds put in letters; th and sh inclusive.