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Author Topic: El-Hazard names analysis  (Read 8963 times)
man_of_men
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« on: December 25, 2004, 10:43:49 am »

Let's talk about El-Hazard names.  Kauru means incense.  It's somewhat different from Kaori, which means fragrance.
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« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2004, 02:22:55 am »

Incense?  O_o  I suppose that has deeper Japanese cultural meanings than I'm grasping.  I mean... well, assuming they meant the root of the word to actually describe the character.

Actually, aren't a lot of the names based on Japanese but not "really" Japanese?
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« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2004, 04:36:18 am »

I think Miz is water, and Nanami has something to do with beauty or something, I'm not good at Japanese nor do I speak a lot. But is that what they mean, anyone? ???
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« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2004, 05:15:47 am »

"Mizu" is water, yes. That's about the only one I know. *chuckles*

Most people probably already know this one, but oh well-- "Ifurit" (ee-fur-eet) is literally how the Japanese would pronounce "efreet" (or "ifrit"), which are spirits from Arabic mythology. There's no special term for a female genie, but "Efreeta" (which becomes "Ifurita") seems like a logical extension.

I've seen some Japanese sites actually just call her "Efreeta," which is more technically correct, I guess; but it's just weird. *chuckles*

For even more trivia, the "genie of the lamp" in the story of Aladdin wasn't an efreet or a djinn-- it was a marid. (The genie of the ring was a djinn.) So just think about that next time you watch the last OAV of El-Hazard-- if the Japanese writers had done more research, Makoto might've been yelling "Marida!" And that's just not the same. ;D
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« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2004, 07:14:12 am »

Dal Narciss, is, maybe we all know is based on Narcissus who was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As a punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus pined away and changed into the flower that bears his name.
And Venus, is based on the Roman goddess of love. And Diva is the Latin and Italian word for "goddess", the feminine form of the Latin word divus. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diva

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« Reply #5 on: December 27, 2004, 12:55:13 am »

Quote
I think Miz is water, and Nanami has something to do with beauty or something, I'm not good at Japanese nor do I speak a lot. But is that what they mean, anyone?

Yes, the leading kanji in Nanami's name means "beauty."  If memory serves, it's also the leading kanji in Natsumi's name (from You're Under Arrest!).

Also, "Makoto" means "truth", as noted by Saucer and myself in an earlier topic.
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« Reply #6 on: December 27, 2004, 08:59:27 am »

Yeah, all the kids from Japan have Japanese names surely, but aren't names like Shayla-Shayla spelled out phonetically, suggesting that they're "not really" Japanese even if based on Japanese names?  I'm just curious.
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« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2004, 09:22:27 am »

on Dec 27th, 2004,  8:59am ftp://Troubled Robert wrote:
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Yeah, all the kids from Japan have Japanese names surely, but aren't names like Shayla-Shayla spelled out phonetically, suggesting that they're "not really" Japanese even if based on Japanese names?  I'm just curious.


Not very sure, but most Asians have a thing about names that repeats. Like Ruri-Ruri, or something like that.  :-/
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« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2005, 07:48:09 am »

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Yeah, all the kids from Japan have Japanese names surely, but aren't names like Shayla-Shayla spelled out phonetically, suggesting that they're "not really" Japanese even if based on Japanese names?  I'm just curious.

I don't know the meaning of Shera-Shera, but Afura is sometimes used here in Portugal (as Afra) for a girl's name. It's from the Hebrew word Aphurah that means "dust".
Quote
Most people probably already know this one, but oh well-- "Ifurit" (ee-fur-eet) is literally how the Japanese would pronounce "efreet" (or "ifrit"), which are spirits from Arabic mythology. There's no special term for a female genie, but "Efreeta" (which becomes "Ifurita") seems like a logical extension.

I've seen some Japanese sites actually just call her "Efreeta," which is more technically correct, I guess; but it's just weird. *chuckles*

Also, I seen this one out (in some encyclopedia on my town's public library some years ago). And I do agree that the correct pronouciation for Ifurita would be Efreeta (or Ifrita) because the japanese do have a tendency to almost omit the "u"s on the words. Same happens with Afura: When you hear them speaking, it almost sounds Afra.
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And Diva is the Latin and Italian word for "goddess", the feminine form of the Latin word divus.

In the portuguese language the word diva exists. It is a name to illustrate a person (only women) that is either beautiful or that has a very important and historical place in a certain area. (e.g. Maria Callas is a diva as far as opera is concerned) However, this word isn't very common... (I'll see the best meaning on a dictionary and I'll post it here).
« Last Edit: January 06, 2005, 02:01:03 pm by ice_eyeg » Logged

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« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2005, 03:04:18 pm »

I found something related to Shera-Shera (or Shayla-Shayla), but I'm not sure if this is meaningful data or not....  ^^;

http://www.babynameworld.com/s.asp

http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/S_0321.HTM
This site is closed, but Google has a comment on it saying: "He left home at an early age and took service under Bahar Khan Lohani, Sultan of Bihar, who gave him the title of Sher Khan (meaning Tiger Lord) for his ... "
So, the word Sher would mean tiger in some arabic language. This meaning fits on her, in terms of temper, don't you think?  ;)
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« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2005, 06:41:22 pm »

The only problem with that is that "Sher" (typically spelled as "Shere" or "Sheer," due to pronunciation) is Hindi, not Arabic; and isn't pronounced the same way. It's cool, though; and anything that connects one of my favorite El-Hazard characters (Shayla) to one of my only favorite Disney characters (Shere Khan) is an automatic plus. ;D

According to this site, "Shaila" is a Hindu name meaning "living in mountains," which is actually pretty funny. The closest Arabic name is probably "Salah" (or "Sahlah"), which means something like "smooth" or "soft." (...heh.)

Oh, yeah. Another contender: Ephraim's daughter was named Shera, which is Aramaic (and is a generic name that refers to a female relative).
« Last Edit: January 06, 2005, 06:50:09 pm by wayne » Logged

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« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2005, 08:59:50 pm »

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... Disney characters (Shere Khan) ...


Exactly what I thought of.  :P
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« Reply #12 on: January 07, 2005, 11:21:02 pm »

Quote
Yeah, all the kids from Japan have Japanese names surely, but aren't names like Shayla-Shayla spelled out phonetically, suggesting that they're "not really" Japanese even if based on Japanese names?  I'm just curious.

Exactly. Writers will always make it immediately obvious who in a story is not Japanese (aside from the typical token half-Japanese gaijin) by giving them a Western name. Often times it's a word that's not commonly used as a name or even a vaugely western-sounding made up name.

Quote

I don't know the meaning of Shera-Shera, but Afura is sometimes used here in Portugal (as Afra) for a girl's name. It's from the Hebrew word Aphurah that means "dust".

That's very interesting actually! Probably because of the influence from Portuguese missionaries visiting Japan in the 16th Century, some Portuguese words find common usage in modern Japanese. Like "pan" (bread). I've also heard that supposedly "arigato" is Portuguese in origin.
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« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2005, 07:02:41 am »

Quote

That's very interesting actually! Probably because of the influence from Portuguese missionaries visiting Japan in the 16th Century, some Portuguese words find common usage in modern Japanese. Like "pan" (bread). I've also heard that supposedly "arigato" is Portuguese in origin.

Pan (bread) comes from the portuguese word pão (also bread). As far as arigato is concerned, I don't think it has a portuguese relation (as far as I can see  ^^; ) because "Thank you" in portuguese is Obrigado....
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« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2005, 07:12:17 am »

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The only problem with that is that "Sher" (typically spelled as "Shere" or "Sheer," due to pronunciation) is Hindi, not Arabic; and isn't pronounced the same way.

I see... I made the relation, because here in Portugal we spell Sher Khan the same way japanese spell Shera-Shera... Maybe we don't do it correctly....  ^^;

Quote
"Shaila" is a Hindu name meaning "living in mountains," which is actually pretty funny. The closest Arabic name is probably "Salah" (or "Sahlah"), which means something like "smooth" or "soft." (...heh.)

Oh, yeah. Another contender: Ephraim's daughter was named Shera, which is Aramaic (and is a generic name that refers to a female relative).


So, in summary, Shera-Shera could be mountain tiger or tiger relative or mountain relative... :) Ok... Maybe I went too far with this....  ^^;
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