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....
So, in summary, Shera-Shera could be mountain tiger or tiger relative or mountain relative... Ok... Maybe I went too far with this....
Brings to mind a certain red-headed tiger-girl from the mountains of China who appears in the Fairy Gods digital novel series.
Fairy Gods digital novel series? Never heard of it... What is it?
I'm really really sorry to write in such an old post, but I have just discovered El Hazard last month so...
I am currently studying classic Japanese and I cannot let someone tells that "aligato" comes from Portuguese. It was already attested during the Heian period (8th to 10th century) where no Portuguese never put a foot on any Japanese island.
Oh and "pan" comes from the French word "pain". Hum absolutely out of question.
And I was really surprised too to see the name of the Demon god spelled "Ifurita", whereas it should be "Ifrita" or "Efreeta" if you want. Japanese isn't a language where you can put 2 consonants without a vowel between them (except for the n). So when Japaneses imports foreign words that do so (in this case, the word "ifrit"), they use the vowel "u", which is deaf. In this way, the vowel isn't pronounced and you can have artificially 2 consonants put together.
A lot of Japan girls have a "mi" (beauty) or a "ko" (princess) in their names, but yes, maybe it was made for. And I would hardly not believe that "Makoto" (truth) is simply for the sound, it is not a so common name.
Again sorry sorry really sorry for writing in such an old post. I had discovered El Hazard during that month and felt in love, and your site is really great, thank you.
Thank you ! I love Japanese language too and I've spent so many years studying it...
Oh and Jinnai means jin = amenagement of an army, nai = inside, which I found funny.