Fun with fantasy names
I mentioned the other day that we've been watching Delicious in Dungeon, and oh man, that series. The tone of it is just so strange. Like, most of the time it seems like a freaky weird cooking show, but then they get into the main plot, and it can be really dark. Like, oh my goodness.
The characters' names are pretty intriguing. They feel like typical fantasy names, but also like there's a method to them, but it's not necessarily an obvious method. Like, the dwarf girls seem to be named after minerals: Namari is Japanese for lead, and Daya is almost certainly from diamond. We're not sure where Senshi comes from, though. I feel like Chilchuck is a combination of chili and chuck, and Mickbell is a combination of MacDonald's (Mickey D's) and Taco Bell, but that kind of seems like a stretch.
Since Athena's been studying French a lot, she made a connection between Falin (ファリン) and farine, the French word for flour. That seems pretty appropriate for a series that's all about dungeon food, so now I'm thinking maybe Laios comes from rye and oats. We get the sense that, when translating fantasy names, translators will almost always choose an L over an R... I guess in the case of Kabru, they went with R because they didn't want his name to sound like kablooey...but considering how often he dies, in this case it may not be so inappropriate. We're also thinking Cabrew, like cafe and brew, could have worked. (Come to think of it, they do have an R in Marcille and Namari, so what am I griping about?)
Anyway, this is just a thought exercise--we're not trying to criticize the spelling choices. In a fantasy setting, you can go with whatever spelling rules you want, since they probably don't have the same spelling conventions in whatever language they're speaking. The most amusing one to us right now is Thistle, or Sissel, because the Japanese is "shisuru," so basically it means, "You will die." If you meet Shisuru, you will shi suru.
Today I'm thankful for fun with fantasy names, work going really well, getting to chat with Mom and Steve, getting to watch more Delicious in Dungeon, and getting to sleep in tomorrow. Oh! And we both befriended a shiny Squirtle in Pokemon Sleep this morning! What a delightful coincidence!
The characters' names are pretty intriguing. They feel like typical fantasy names, but also like there's a method to them, but it's not necessarily an obvious method. Like, the dwarf girls seem to be named after minerals: Namari is Japanese for lead, and Daya is almost certainly from diamond. We're not sure where Senshi comes from, though. I feel like Chilchuck is a combination of chili and chuck, and Mickbell is a combination of MacDonald's (Mickey D's) and Taco Bell, but that kind of seems like a stretch.
Since Athena's been studying French a lot, she made a connection between Falin (ファリン) and farine, the French word for flour. That seems pretty appropriate for a series that's all about dungeon food, so now I'm thinking maybe Laios comes from rye and oats. We get the sense that, when translating fantasy names, translators will almost always choose an L over an R... I guess in the case of Kabru, they went with R because they didn't want his name to sound like kablooey...but considering how often he dies, in this case it may not be so inappropriate. We're also thinking Cabrew, like cafe and brew, could have worked. (Come to think of it, they do have an R in Marcille and Namari, so what am I griping about?)
Anyway, this is just a thought exercise--we're not trying to criticize the spelling choices. In a fantasy setting, you can go with whatever spelling rules you want, since they probably don't have the same spelling conventions in whatever language they're speaking. The most amusing one to us right now is Thistle, or Sissel, because the Japanese is "shisuru," so basically it means, "You will die." If you meet Shisuru, you will shi suru.
Today I'm thankful for fun with fantasy names, work going really well, getting to chat with Mom and Steve, getting to watch more Delicious in Dungeon, and getting to sleep in tomorrow. Oh! And we both befriended a shiny Squirtle in Pokemon Sleep this morning! What a delightful coincidence!