Word For "Moon"??

Ni-Alu · February 01, 2010, 10:57:12 PM

I was wondering if anyone knew what the word for "Moon" might be? I've checked the dictionaries. I'm surprised that one wasn't covered....

suomichris · February 01, 2010, 11:00:52 PM

Quote from: Ni-Alu on February 01, 2010, 10:57:12 PM
I was wondering if anyone knew what the word for "Moon" might be? I've checked the dictionaries. I'm surprised that one wasn't covered....

Frommer commented on this in an email (earlier today?). Since Pandora IS a moon, it isn't clear how you're translate "moon" into Na'vi. It is likely that their astronomy/astrology/etc. is likely to be rather different than the Planet-bound style...

omängum fra'uti · February 01, 2010, 11:46:37 PM

It does bring up interesting thoughts...

What would they call that big colorful thing that fills up half their sky?

Surely there are other moons that come into and out of view regularly, what do they think of those?

It's nothing like our boring moon that just changes lighting, or the planets that you have to really study to notice the movement of...

suomichris · February 01, 2010, 11:52:04 PM

Quote from: omängum fra'uti on February 01, 2010, 11:46:37 PM
It does bring up interesting thoughts...

What would they call that big colorful thing that fills up half their sky?

Surely there are other moons that come into and out of view regularly, what do they think of those?

It's nothing like our boring moon that just changes lighting, or the planets that you have to really study to notice the movement of...

Yeah, I wonder... It seems like there might be a word for the group of "moons," and almost surely a name for each of the individual ones that are visible from Pandora. And, yeah, also for that giant thing up there... I think this came up in trying to translate something from Shakespeare, in which case, whatever they call the planet might be the best translation (i.e., that big thing in the sky which is pretty much always there, but isn't the sun).

Hrm... One wonders if living on a moon around a gas giant might not give folks a better understanding of cosmology at an earlier stage. After all, if other moons ARE visible, it wouldn't take much to figure out that when they disappear behind the planet, they're going behind it, and thus in a circle around it. Well, it might take some thought, but probably less than what humans had to deduce to figure this stuff out :p

Eaite Randjam · February 02, 2010, 12:29:37 AM

The gas giant and it's satellites should have names in NaVi. Hopefully Dr. Frommer will come up with good names, or else work with us in developing names. Wouldn't that be nice?

As for the context of this thread, since there isn't a word for moon perhaps you could use something approximate for what the moon really is: A huge rock in space.

Plumps · February 02, 2010, 04:54:30 AM

I'm almost positive that you see the moons and the gas giant in one or two scenes from the surface of Pandora in the movie - so, I reckon, they must have at least names for them. Whether they call it 'moon' and "that big colorful thing that fills up half their sky" (omängum) -

I like that actually, you should make that into a word

- beats me. But I think we'll learn of that soon enough.

omängum fra'uti · February 02, 2010, 04:57:10 AM

We see a moon at least once; there is a moon visibly orbiting the planet and casting a shadow on it during the time lapse sky scene.

wm.annis · February 02, 2010, 09:15:50 AM

Quote from: suomichris on February 01, 2010, 11:52:04 PMHrm... One wonders if living on a moon around a gas giant might not give folks a better understanding of cosmology at an earlier stage.

And they'd probably have a much better idea, much sooner, that they were living on a sphere themselves. The problem for humans is that our moon, for all that it is bright in the night's sky, is practically a black body. If it were just a little bit more reflective, we'd get specular highlights and it'd be obvious it's a sphere, not a disk.

I have a request in to Frommer for several terms related to the celestial objects and their motion. I need them to translate a small poem by Sappho into Na'vi.

I'm also guessing there would be a rich vocabulary to deal with what must be very odd day/night cycles on Pandora (i.e., even if Pandora's not tidally locked, it will be hidden from the sun by a gas giant regularly) as well as the cycles of bioluminescence.

suomichris · February 02, 2010, 11:37:23 AM

Quote from: wm.annis on February 02, 2010, 09:15:50 AM
I'm also guessing there would be a rich vocabulary to deal with what must be very odd day/night cycles on Pandora (i.e., even if Pandora's not tidally locked, it will be hidden from the sun by a gas giant regularly) as well as the cycles of bioluminescence.

Yeah, I hadn't thought about that... Actually, if Pandora were tidally locked, it could make for more a more Earth-like day/night cycle... If it's not, you'd have rotational days/nights, plus nights when the sun is eclipsed by the planet.

I don't suppose the ASG says anything about this...?

wm.annis · February 02, 2010, 12:11:26 PM

Quote from: suomichris on February 02, 2010, 11:37:23 AMI don't suppose the ASG says anything about this...?

After a quick skim, it doesn't seem to, at least not in the place one would expect it, the "Astronomy and Geology" section.

suomichris · February 02, 2010, 12:15:29 PM

Quote from: wm.annis on February 02, 2010, 12:11:26 PM
Quote from: suomichris on February 02, 2010, 11:37:23 AMI don't suppose the ASG says anything about this...?

After a quick skim, it doesn't seem to, at least not in the place one would expect it, the "Astronomy and Geology" section.

Well, I'd bet that Cameron thought about it--irregular day/night cycles is a pretty good explanation for why bioluminescence is so prolific on Pandora...

Erimeyz · February 03, 2010, 06:28:21 PM

Quote from: suomichris on February 02, 2010, 12:15:29 PM
Well, I'd bet that Cameron thought about it

You're on. Five bucks?

- Eri

(Okay, sure. He hired an ethnomusicologist to create tribal songs, a biologist to invent flora and fauna, and a linguist to invent an entire freakin' language. He rebuilt the Titanic, including carpets made using the actual original carpet pattern and made by the actual original carpet makers. He's a genius, and a stickler for details, and insane. But no way did he spend ten seconds thinking about day and night cycles on Pandora, let alone the physics of tidally locked orbiting bodies. That's not the kind of detail he cares about. I bet.)

dky.tehkingd.u · February 03, 2010, 08:58:29 PM

Well Alpha Centauri is a triple-star system... which makes for some interesting illumination cycles, I'll bet; especially since Pandora orbits a gas giant.

Furrkxan · February 07, 2010, 08:41:49 AM

I don't think na'vi's working on astronomy and doing science. They are hunting, eating and sleeping but they are not looking at the sky to name the moons,meteors and planets. If they are looking at the sky just because it is beautiful.

I couldn't find an opportunity to read the survival guide but i know Pandora is a moon and i believe if a planet has more than one moon, moons can't see each other regularly and it becomes hard to name them for someone who doesn't know anything about astronomy.

But there is a possibility they have a word for just "moon" .

Sorry for bad english if you can't understand me

Ayzìsìt Alenantang · February 07, 2010, 01:20:05 PM

Perhaps: "Txonyä tsawke"- Night's sun? althrough, it dosen't exist since Pandora IS a moon but that'l do, i guess.

Raphael · February 07, 2010, 02:03:49 PM

Quote from: dky.tehkingd.u on February 03, 2010, 08:58:29 PM
Well Alpha Centauri is a triple-star system... which makes for some interesting illumination cycles, I'll bet; especially since Pandora orbits a gas giant.

Yayy! I thought the same too

@ Furrkxan: I really DO think that the Na'vi have an advanced system of astronomy, but rather 'astrology' than the wat we see it in western science obviously. Especially when you live in harmony with nature, knowledge of the sky is most important for it determines the rhytm of all nature. Also for navigation on long Ikran-expeditions (which they might undertake), skywatching is important. Not so surprisingly, astrology has been a central part in virtually all cultures and religions.
Contemplating this... considering the bioluminescnence of their own world, Na'vi might associate the glistening of the stars with their own living world and even see the entire universe as an organic entity...

Nyx · February 07, 2010, 05:10:16 PM

Quote from: Ayzìsìt Alenantang on February 07, 2010, 01:20:05 PM
Perhaps: "Txonyä tsawke"- Night's sun? althrough, it dosen't exist since Pandora IS a moon but that'l do, i guess.

Quote from: Eaite Randjam on February 02, 2010, 12:29:37 AM
As for the context of this thread, since there isn't a word for moon perhaps you could use something approximate for what the moon really is: A huge rock in space.

I really like Txonyä tsawke, it's kinda poetic, I might change my name to that if it's not already taken. But i still can't help but wonder, how would you translate "a huge rock in space"?

Prrton · February 07, 2010, 07:07:10 PM

Ayoeng omúm: "Pandora" = « Éýwa'éveng » (últe fì'ú zolá'u nìsngâ'i ta rónsem Kâmeronä)

Tafral... « Éveng Sá'nokä leTáẃ » ? FU nì'áẃ « Éveng leTaw » nìfyaftúe...

Rutxé kop tìng nári ne rel nìne'îm.

Éltu si! Fìrénu kolâ ta *rónsemâie óéyä nì'áẃ últe ta ketséng aláhe.

Spoiler

Nyx · February 08, 2010, 03:35:38 AM

But don't you think that since there's a short word for star, there might be a short word for moon too?

wm.annis · February 08, 2010, 07:45:06 AM

Quote from: Nyx on February 08, 2010, 03:35:38 AMBut don't you think that since there's a short word for star, there might be a short word for moon too?

Based on visuals from the film, and info from the Activist Survival guide, there are, if anything, several words for moon. But they will mean the moons of Polyphemus, of which Pandora itself is also one. I doubt there would be anything that corresponds exactly to our idea of moon.