Na'vi Name: Nathan

Started by Nìwopxsiyu, July 13, 2010, 08:15:18 PM

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Nìwopxsiyu

Kaltxì. My name is Nathan, which means Gift of god.
Does anyone have any suggestions? 

Irayo.
Eywa ngahu
The purpose of life is a life of a purpose.

Eyamsiyu

One thing you will learn about me is that I like to try to do a lot of things myself.  I will try most of the time to do most of the work, and have others check it: not the other way around.  So, I won't exactly translate your name, but I can at least show you how I did mine.

My name is Michael which literally means "Who is like God."  Kind of hard.  However, in the Bible, Michael is the Archangel who guards the gates of heaven.  So "God's warrior" would work.

So, now we need to translate this into Na'vi.  There is no "God" in the Na'vi language, so the easiest thing to do there is just replace God with Eywa.

"Eywa's Warrior"

Now we must find the Na'vi words for these.  Eywa is, well, Eywa.  To show possesion, we add the suffix -yä to the end of the possessive person in question.  Warrior in Na'vi is tsamsiyu. So, we have"

"Eywayä tsamsiyu"

Last thing to do is make it one word.  It is also ideal to try to shorten the word by cutting out letters, while following spelling rules, and preferably, keeping the original meaning of your name.

"Eyamsiyu"

I hope this helps!  If you need anything else, feel free to post!


"... The only people that are going to have a chance to make a living playing music is the people who do exactly what they believe in ... they have to believe in this so much that they are ready to die for it." - Jojo Mayer

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Taronyu

Quote from: Eyamsiyu on July 14, 2010, 07:27:33 AM
Last thing to do is make it one word.  It is also ideal to try to shorten the word by cutting out letters, while following spelling rules, and preferably, keeping the original meaning of your name.

"Eyamsiyu"

That doesn't really work, to be honest. If you take out the words, you take out the meaning. What you're saying there is "someone who eyams". Certainly not 'Eywa's warrior.'

For Gift of God: I would say this: Eywayä Tìngtu, or Tìngtu Eywayä. That means "God's given person". However, it is semantically more like "Eywa's recipient of the giving." To be the actual gift - that is harder. Something like "Eywayä tawnìnga túte." And that's kind of a mouthful.

Looking at the wiki entry on Nathan, though, it seems to mean [God] has given. This is much easier. If God is assumed to be the giver, then you don't need to assume Eywa. Which means that all you really need is "has given". Which means that:

Tolìng - (done action, but could be any time period, not just the past)
Talmìng - (past time period, completed - has given most accurately)

both work.

kewnya txamew'itan

I'm going to have to disagree with you there ma Taronyu. I think that if we don't obfuscate our names then they'll never quite fit with the real na'vi names we have. Tristan may originally come from words meaning tumult or outcry but it no longer is those words. Through borrowing, re-borrowing and 'weathering' it has diverged and become so different that, unless you already know your name's meaning it is difficult to find out. As far as we know the na'vi only speak one language on the whole of Pandora so borrowing and re-borrowing are out (except for tawtute names) and Eysamsiyu seems to me to be a reasonable product from the weathering process although I'd probably collapse the i and y to get Eysamsyu, if you want to weather it further, depending on which stress you take to be primary, that of Eywa or that of tsamsiyu, you could get Eysyu or Esamsu going to Samsu if you want it even shorter.

Internet Acronyms Nìna'vi

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Taronyu

The issue I have with obfuscating a word is that it no longer 'means' the other word. The semantic mapping is different. You could say Eyamsiyu is derived from the meaning Eywayä Tsamsiyu, but that's really not the same. We also don't know what sort of sound changes happen in Na'vi over time - there's no reason to assume that they'd be the same as in terrestrial languages. And as far as we know, the real Na'vi names we have aren't derived from words, but rather are just arbitrary themselves (not counting Eytukan, which is clearly antonomasia.)

kewnya txamew'itan

You say the na'vi names are arbitrary. Whilst it is true that they are Cameronian and no derivation or meaning has yet been established that does not make them canonically arbitrary and I'm sure that Neytiri is, like Earth names, derived from some meaning (even if almost all the na'vi themselves have forgotten what that once was) but now appear arbitrary (how many people could give you the etymological meaning of Richard off the top of their heads).

But that's a trivial point really, you say that the issue you have with obfuscation is that the word (name in this case) no longer means the original. This is true, but is also true about all earth names, Tristan no longer means tumult and Richard no longer means powerful leader/

As for sound changes. We have a few examples. In tsa'u -> tsaw we have one example (not very scientific I grant you) of first lenition between vowels and diphthongisation. In compounds we have the ellision of entire syllables (as in kllpa (and other kll words) which is presumably from klltepa'o). So we know that lenition can occur between vowels (even if it isn't necessarily common), we know that diphthongisation can occur and we know that unstressed syllables can be elided. We also have one example of vowels joining in eyktan (presumably from eyk-tu-an).
Internet Acronyms Nìna'vi

hamletä tìralpuseng lena'vi sngolä'eiyi. tìkangkem si awngahu ro
http://bit.ly/53GnAB
The translation of Hamlet into Na'vi has started! Join with us at http://bit.ly/53GnAB

txo nga new oehu pivlltxe nìna'vi, nga oer 'eylan si mì fayspuk (http://bit.ly/bp9fwf)
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numena'viyä hapxì amezamkivohinve
learnnavi's

Taronyu

Quote from: kemeoauniaea on July 14, 2010, 11:53:05 AM
But that's a trivial point really...

I agree with this. I have some counterpoints, but they aren't that strong, and I see your point of view. I defer to you on this one.


Eyamsiyu

... all this because I simply tried to help a guy get a name with a road-map to follow... HRH! ;D ;D


"... The only people that are going to have a chance to make a living playing music is the people who do exactly what they believe in ... they have to believe in this so much that they are ready to die for it." - Jojo Mayer

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'Oma Tirea

Quote from: Eyamsiyu on July 14, 2010, 01:07:45 PM
... all this because I simply tried to help a guy get a name with a road-map to follow... HRH! ;D ;D

Sran, you guys are crazy sometimes ::)
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ÌTXTSTXRR!!

Srake serar le'Ìnglìsìa lì'fyayä aylì'ut?  Nari si älofoniru rutxe!!

Eyamsiyu

Quote from: ll.sxkxawng on July 14, 2010, 01:11:05 PM
Quote from: Eyamsiyu on July 14, 2010, 01:07:45 PM
... all this because I simply tried to help a guy get a name with a road-map to follow... HRH! ;D ;D

Sran, you guys are crazy sometimes ::)

Wrong thread: I believe you are looking for the "Lol... All my friends think I've lost my mind" thread.

I guess going back to the whole name issue, deriving from a full use, I believe, is not bad.  In regards to the Na'vi names, we have no idea right now if they are derived from anything or not, due to a lack of a word pool to search through.  Most likely what we have for names already don't have any meaning to them, simply because they were created to have Na'vi names for the movie.

Nathan, I apologize if none of us are really being direct in this, or if we are failing in helping you.


"... The only people that are going to have a chance to make a living playing music is the people who do exactly what they believe in ... they have to believe in this so much that they are ready to die for it." - Jojo Mayer

On indefinite leave.  Will be back periodically. Feel free to say Kaltxí: I'll get back when I can. :D

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`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

All this said, I wonder of our usage here hasn't altered the name landscape just a bit. Some people have chosen Na`vi names that at first glance, make little sense at all. Now, maybe to a Na`vi, they might make sense, because they know a whole lot more about the language than we do. ::)

But here, we have all types of names. We first have people like Nathan here, and Daniel from another recent thread, who are trying to Na`vify the meaning of their terran name ( I could have chosen Meuiasiyawey or meuiasusiyawey for 'Timothy'  'honoring God')(My nickname 'Timba' might be interesting!). Then, there are names that have actual Na`vi meanings, that don't relate to the user's Terran name. I chose this kind of name in those early days, that reflected something of my character-- `Eylan Ayfalulukanä-- 'friend of thanators' The possessive on palulukan there was to reflect that cats choose you to be their friend, and not vice versa. The third class of names is like the ones that Taronyu was talking about and that I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post-- contracted words that mean something, but that do not initially sound like they mean anything specific at all. These probably come closer to being 'true' Na`vi names than the other two classes. But, since all three classes of names are represented here, I would think any reasonable derivation of a Na`vi name is probably OK.

We could have a 'service' here that could 'assign' Na`vi names to people, if they so choose. But I think most people want to make their own names. This could also be the subject of a forum game-- come up with a new name for the person in the post above you (Not here though!)

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Eyamsiyu

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on July 14, 2010, 03:09:11 PM
We could have a 'service' here that could 'assign' Na`vi names to people, if they so choose. But I think most people want to make their own names.

I like the idea of helping people with their names, but not just giving them one.  That way, the person who creates their name 1) Has something in Na'vi that they can claim is what they are called, thus something of their own, and 2) They get some satisfaction in figuring a name out.  I know I was really happy when I figured out my name (with some help: Thanks Meuia!).


"... The only people that are going to have a chance to make a living playing music is the people who do exactly what they believe in ... they have to believe in this so much that they are ready to die for it." - Jojo Mayer

On indefinite leave.  Will be back periodically. Feel free to say Kaltxí: I'll get back when I can. :D

My facebook.  Please mention you are from LN if you ch

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Quote from: Eyamsiyu on July 14, 2010, 04:46:26 PM
Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on July 14, 2010, 03:09:11 PM
We could have a 'service' here that could 'assign' Na`vi names to people, if they so choose. But I think most people want to make their own names.

I like the idea of helping people with their names, but not just giving them one.  That way, the person who creates their name 1) Has something in Na'vi that they can claim is what they are called, thus something of their own, and 2) They get some satisfaction in figuring a name out.  I know I was really happy when I figured out my name (with some help: Thanks Meuia!).

I threw out the 'giving out names' option because some people might like this way of getting a name (notice I said 'if they so choose'?). It is kind of like getting your amateur radio call. Unless you pay the $$$ for a custom 'vanity' call, you get whatever the FCC gives you. A large percentage of hams adopt their FCC-issued call as their identity, whatever it happens to end up. Every once in a while, a really special call comes along like mine-- NS9E. It is one of the shortest possible calls, which is important when running morse code, or contesting (On-air competition between hams). The prefix (NS9) is rare, and very valuable in some radio contests. And, this call was government issued.  But even if this call had not been as good, it is unlikely I would have changed it, because of the name-identity you get with it.

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Tìmuiäyä'itan

Based on what Taronyu said above (Nathan means something like "gives", while God gives/gift of God would be Jonathan, Jo being the short form of God's name).

"Nathan" is basically a hebrew verb form, which has the aspect of something done (not necessarily past), something that is certain to be done or the like, so I think it would best translate with the <ol> infix, so Tolìng seems closer to me than Talmìng, but this could be subject to debate (my Hebrew is by far not the best).

If you want to add Eywa in the position of God (making something like Jonathan), I think it would be something like Eywaltolìng, or Tolìngeywal...?

Kìyevame!
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ke ivomum futa pesuru
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Nìwopxsiyu

#14
I was thinking about your suggestions, and I wondered if Tolìngwa would work?
Irayo nìwotx!
The purpose of life is a life of a purpose.