Avendla

[Quantus he/him]

Avendla = Fused name for Alethkar = "The Land of the Second Advance"

 

Any theories as to why it might be called this?  Best guess for me is something to do with the original war timeline (original generation that created the Heralds and Fused).  

[Honorless he/him]

"The advance" in question might not necessarily refer to the Fused's own forces' advance. This might be referring to Alethela's role as "the watchers at the rim" as the kingdom who kept the arts of war waiting for the Desolations. Second to, perhaps Urithiru.

[Innovation]

Maybe it is as named after a large settling of Roshar, perhaps in ancient Singer history. 

[LewsTherinTelescope]

My guess is that, when the war started in earnest, humans seized control of some place to the west first, and stayed there for a bit, but then went onwards and took Alethkar, probably.

[Gilphon]

My first thought was that it was the second place the humans advanced to once they started expanding past Shinovar. Which would be counter-intuitive, since it's on the wrong side of continent. 

@Honorless's idea makes more sense, but if it was about its role in the wars, why not just use the human term? No, surely Avendla is an older word than Alethela; surely it was called Avendla before Alethela was a thing.

[Honorless he/him]

4 minutes ago, Gilphon said:

 

@Honorless's idea makes more sense, but if it was about its role in the wars, why not just use the human term? No, surely Avendla is an older word than Alethela; surely it was called Avendla before Alethela was a thing.

Sometimes people create a new term to refer to something in their own language rather than use another language's term, simply translating it, the Listeners did this with Neshua Kadal "Radiant Knight".

[Quantus he/him]

2 hours ago, Honorless said:

Sometimes people create a new term to refer to something in their own language rather than use another language's term, simply translating it, the Listeners did this with Neshua Kadal "Radiant Knight".

True, though since this came from the Fused themselves, which were alive in the original generation, I suspect it's a phrase they used back then.  It sounds less like their name for a nation or land and more like a military theater region more along the lines of "The Western Front".

 

2 hours ago, beewall said:

My guess is that, when the war started in earnest, humans seized control of some place to the west first, and stayed there for a bit, but then went onwards and took Alethkar, probably.

 

2 hours ago, Gilphon said:

My first thought was that it was the second place the humans advanced to once they started expanding past Shinovar. Which would be counter-intuitive, since it's on the wrong side of continent. 

@Honorless's idea makes more sense, but if it was about its role in the wars, why not just use the human term? No, surely Avendla is an older word than Alethela; surely it was called Avendla before Alethela was a thing.

This is more or less my thought, that from the Singer's POV it represented the region they settled after Shinovar, or more likely second Land-grab they made beyond the original Shin land-grant.