Hoid's Cents

[Elend Venture he/him]

      In the epilogue of Rhythm of War, Hoid refers to the coins from his magic trick as cents, I deduce that this either a translation of a word from one of the languages of the Cosmere (unlikely), an error on Mr. Sanderson's part (once again, rather unlikely), or, last but not least, a hint that Hoid is aware of Earth's Unniverse, Earth, and specifically the United States (which does provide some degree of a time frame). This could imply that Hoid can hop universes. What do you all think? Any other theories upon why Sanderson chose this word beyond that it made a convenient pun?

Edited March 22, 2021 by Elend Venture

[Frustration]

11 minutes ago, Elend Venture said:

      In the epilogue of Rhythm of War, Hoid refers to the coins from his magic trick as cents,I deduce that this either a translation of a word from one of the languages of the Cosmere (unlikely), an error on Mr. Sanderson's part (once again, rather unlikely), or, last but not least, a hint that Hoid is aware of Earth, and specifically the United States (which does provide some degree of a time frame). What do you all think? Any other theories upon why Sanderson chose this word beyond that it made a convenient pun?

Earth does not exist in the Cosmere, we can assume that on Yolen at least that cents was a form of currency though.

[mathiau he/him]

Earth doesn't exists in the Cosmere and Brandon's books are supposed to be a translation of books written in a Cosmere language so I'm betting on 1

[Bejarden he/him]

25 minutes ago, Elend Venture said:

      In the epilogue of Rhythm of War, Hoid refers to the coins from his magic trick as cents,I deduce that this either a translation of a word from one of the languages of the Cosmere (unlikely), an error on Mr. Sanderson's part (once again, rather unlikely), or, last but not least, a hint that Hoid is aware of Earth, and specifically the United States (which does provide some degree of a time frame). What do you all think? Any other theories upon why Sanderson chose this word beyond that it made a convenient pun?

Some words that Hoids used are not translated correctly like he says ‘dog’ and that doesn’t exist on Roshar, it’s intentional

So there is probably somewhere else where cents are used

[Elend Venture he/him]

Sorry, I forgot to clarify. I meant Earth's Universe outside of the Cosmere. I edited my OP to prevent further confusion. Thank you all for the helpful answers though!

[+graciemoo she/her]

54 minutes ago, Elend Venture said:

Sorry, I forgot to clarify. I meant Earth's Universe outside of the Cosmere. I edited my OP to prevent further confusion. Thank you all for the helpful answers though!

Brandon has also said he doesn't want the Cosmere to break the fourth wall, so probably not.

[mathiau he/him]

2 hours ago, graciemoo said:

Brandon has also said he doesn't want the Cosmere to break the fourth wall, so probably not.

Yeah, somehow even in universe Hoid began as words on a page

[Zanarkand]

The word "cent" in english is used to denote the smallest unit of currency in the centesimal currency system that most societies use across the world. Not all call that unit a "cent" but many do besides the U.S. It is not inconceivable that some societies that Hoid has visited, perhaps even his native one, use the same centesimal currency system and thus their word for the smallest unit in that system would translate in english to "cent."

[Elend Venture he/him]

On 3/22/2021 at 0:50 PM, Zanarkand said:

The word "cent" in english is used to denote the smallest unit of currency in the centesimal currency system that most societies use across the world. Not all call that unit a "cent" but many do besides the U.S. It is not inconceivable that some societies that Hoid has visited, perhaps even his native one, use the same centesimal currency system and thus their word for the smallest unit in that system would translate in english to "cent."

Yes, that was foolish and Ameri-centric of me. Indeed, the vast majority of latin based languages use 'cent' I words quite like it, (from latin ccentum, of course) to represent the numerical concept.

[Lunu’anaki he/him]

Besides the fact that Sanderson is on record saying the Cosmere wont connect in any way to Earth or our universe, he has also mentioned that his dialogue is written as approximate translations of the native languages of the world the series takes place on... so it can be assumed that Hoid's use of "cents" is the word closest to translating from whatever language Hoid is actually using into our earthly English.