Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Journeyman: the Naming of Names

There are many peoples and cultures on World, and Teodorq sunna Nagarajan will encounter most of them in his journeys. On the western continent, where he starts out, the peoples run from west to east:
the hillmen in the western mountains abutting the Mud Ocean with its quicksand and jagged rocks, the plainsmen on the Great Grass, the shortgrassmen on (duh?) the shortgrass prairie, the swampmen in the paiutes along the southern edge of the continent beyond which are the badlands known as the tar formations, the ironmen (who wear armor) from the high thoogu atop the Great Plateau, the forestmen in the Eastern Woods, and the coastalmen who are fisherfolk along the Unquiet Sea. Recent intruders from across the Unquiet Sea are the overseamen, the "greenies," so-called because their ancestors had been genetically engineered with chlorophyll to "drink sunlight." At one point in camp, Teo and his companions are talking about this and Teo says:

"Swampers like Chum over there, they’s short and wide and real dark and got yellow hair. Us plainsmen, being the best of all men, are a noble bronze. Sammi’s people are all pale, like coastals, but they got fat cheeks and slitty eyes. The ironmen, like Asherkai, are golden-skinned with red hair. So that some folk comes along green doesn’t startle the son of Nagarajan. It is what it is.”

So it is evident that not only the greens have been genetically engineered by the ancients.

Now, a marker of different cultures is different naming. Sven Svensson is unlikely to be Igbo and Nkieruke Okoye is unlikely to be a Swede. So let's take a look at the names of some characters in the Journeyman series, primarily in Against the Green and On the Shore of the Unquiet Sea. Has TOF succeeded in distinguishing them reasonably well, always allowing for intermarriage and/or diversity within each group. Not all named characters were completely identified. A few of the derivations have been given.

Hillmen
  • Sammi o’ th’ Eagles
Plainsmen (with derivations!)
  • Teodorq sunna Nagarajan the Ironhand (Theodore son of Nagarajan)
  • Pawal sunna Vickeram (Paul son of Bikram)
  • Karakalan sunna Vikeram (Karkalan son of Bikram)
  • Chorchi sunna Voothateff the Clear-seeing (George son of Budadev)
  • Eyash sunna Tscho (Yash son of Joe)
Shortgrassmen
  • Anna Overcreek
  • Hidaq Upperbrook
  • Atglen subyar
  • Bosh Atwood
  • Vilyi Bycreek 
Swampmen
  • Chum Varòwanop
  • Yar Yoodavig
  • P. Z. Emersavig
  • Ghen-ri Vowduwadosh
  • Ghen-ri Khavenshdan
  • Setevian Wala
  • Thewèhdarosh subyar
Ironmen
House Tiger
  • the Figa Anya Goregovona Herpstonesdoor (princess)
  • Aya Herpstone  (lord)
  • Zari Matyas ________, (sir Matthew)
  • Wisdom Sharèe Mikahali Fulenenberk (sri Michael)
  • Esetéfin bannerman (Steven)
  • Belepo subyar
House Moose
  • Nazalenig Mamu (crown prince)
  • Zari Asherkai Evlish Kourlanner 
  • Yar Engitha Iordikough (Nikita)

Forestmen
  • Bigger Bull (Tiny)
  • Seven Quail
  • Second Jay
  • Ten-point Buck
  • Jondal Two-bulls
Coastalmen
  • Pushaluq
  • Popuulo
Overseamen (Greens)
Greeows (creoles)
  • Fatharu __________ (Peter)
  • Bunny Mixowa
  • Furad Jonson (green/coastal) (Fred)
Cuffyans
  • Lar Feddy (lord)
  • Eiskwy Retchna (squire)
  • Sinna Bob
  • Shizzleback Koh
Starmen (an ancient name)
  • J.N. Raavaneshwaran

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad you conceived of Journeyman as a series. Thanks for it. It's fun exploring World following Teodorq. I love the implied history and culture that comes through the naming and so on.

    ReplyDelete

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