Author Topic: Names in No. 6  (Read 4190 times)

Curiousscarletteyes

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #30 on: February 23, 2015, 09:18:25 am »
Quote
Elyurias is, I'm pretty sure, just as nonsensical in Japanese as it is in English. Which makes sense since it's an invented name, but it's strange it doesn't seem to have a deeper meaning whatsoever.

*whispers* Elyurias is probably named after Elysium in Greek Mythology.

There are the Elysium fields where supposedly heroes went when the Gods considered making them immortal owo. Elysium itself is the place where it happens. It's also a place for the blessed and where people who were righteous can live happy lives. There are different parts to Hades like Tartarus which would probably represent the Correctional Facility since they literally called it hell and then theres Elysium which hey, sounds like Elyurias which is who the people in No.6 were trying to contain.

Of course, it could all be a coincidence. Buuuttttttttt. . .

listenforthelove

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #31 on: February 23, 2015, 12:02:13 pm »
@Curiousscarletteyes: Hm, I personally feel they sound too little alike (Eriuriasu versus Eeryushion in Japanese) for that to be on purpose, but maybe Asano did consciously pick the name to sound reminiscent of Elysium/Elysion? We do have Chronos or Kronos in No. 6 for the Greek mythology, though there's also Lost Town which is also Lost Town in Japanese, so it's - kind of a mess language wise to begin with, hohum.
Didn't Rou name Elyurias? Maybe some kind of animal then, since that's apparently his theme? XD

Meopat

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #32 on: February 24, 2015, 05:43:16 am »
@listenforthelove: I decided to look up Safu's name in Japanese to see what it'd come up with. and Google tells me that it's sort of an archaic name that gives an old feeling (maybe something akin to 'Agatha' in the English language) but also that whoever has this name is predicted to be a "strong, independent woman" who is generally super responsible in a family. XDD (http://coreblog.org/naming/girls/p_6c995e03.html) Maybe Asano-sensei wasn't actually going for plant-people-names in No.6, but just by what she liked. :[ .. considering how Lili's friend, Ei, also had a non-leafy name.

@Curiousscarletteyes: I love that hypothesis! Maybe Rou, as a researcher of the time, wanted to create this Utopian No.6 and desired "Elysium" so he hoped his fascination with this goddess-like being will also bring about great happiness and cookies?

I never quite understood the naming sense of the regions of No.6 either (like, randomly Chronos, then Lost Town?? wut).
but I'd be thrilled to think that she snagged a bit of it from Greek Mythology.

listenforthelove

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #33 on: February 24, 2015, 07:16:08 am »
@Meopat: thanks for the link, that's very interesting! It looks like it's fortune-telling based on the number of strokes in the kanji, so I'm not sure in how far it says something about the meaning of the name itself, but the meaning for a name with 7 + 5 = 12 strokes according to that link is: "A strongly independent spirit. Strong during crises. Becomes the person in charge in the family/household. A man is loved by the parents of the bride; a woman marries an oldest son."
Though you usually have to use both first and last name for these, that does fit Safu quite a bit. It's just as possible Asano picked names based on these fortune tellings instead of meaning of the kanji themselves.

I still think that too many of the characters have leafy names for it to be a coincidence, also taking the themes of the story into account - though as you said, Ei's name doesn't and a few others also don't, so it's not entirely consistent. Lili is probably intentionally leafy if anything, though. That's hard to miss in either Japanese or English.

No. 6 has rather typical names to begin with, actually. Aside from Shion and the names that are nicknames, I haven't heard of most of them outside of No. 6, but then again, it's very possible my world view is limited there. Either way, that's why I tend to focus on the kanji; I'm tempted to think there was a reason Asano picked these names with these writings specifically.


I wonder if the place names have something to do with status, like how Chronos/Kronos sounds super sophisticated because ohhh Greek? Much like how important buildings in our world have been built in the likeness of ancient Greek architecture? But then the Moon Drop is Tsuki no Shizuku again, so it's back to Japanese. Ehhhh.
Speaking of, I wonder why it's called Moon Drop to begin with?
« Last Edit: February 24, 2015, 08:11:12 am by listenforthelove »

Ahiku

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #34 on: February 24, 2015, 09:39:16 am »
Hm...I also thought the place names have something to do with hierarchy and status.

Chronos - Greek, aristocratic, high-born, wealthy, elite

Tsuki no Shizuku - administration center, for the entire city...including LT and Chrons, that's why they could use the language everyone is able to understand. In that case Japanse... or in the German version, it's German...
Well, it's at least some kind of fancy name.
@listenforthelove what about the forest park? Is it English or Japanese in the original version?

Lost Town - underclass, different from the rest, maybe that's why they use another language. Well, and English is the most common language in the world, maybe even in the No. 6 universe. I could imagine that they city states conduct negotiagtions in English as well. (I don't think they are all able to understand Japanese.)
But Lost Town is at least still a part of the city and safe.

West Block/South Block/East Block - downgrading, underclass, or even the dregs of society, garbage dump, or service sector, farming and agriculture for the city.
The names are very common and not very individuell. Places called like that could be everywhere in the world. So even the names are kinda downgrading. They serve the city.

Otherwise... English should be important and languages are rather something for the elite, so I guess it would make more sense to use English terms for important places and Japanese names for blocks. Whatever... 西の区画 nishi no kukaku for West Block (I'm pretty sure that's not correct! Haha XD)

Ah... Moondrop is also a plant, at least in English.
http://www.exoticangel.com/plant-library/species/schefflera/item/538-moondrop
It's a poisonous plant. 

I don't think it's called tsuki no shizuku in Japanese. o.o


listenforthelove

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #35 on: February 24, 2015, 10:23:04 am »
@Ahiku: Forest Park is Japanese: Shinrin kouen, but it's in the dictionary, so it might just be the generic name rather than a given one (e.g. the same as capitalizing City). West Block is Nishi burokku, so that's a mix, except burokku is commonly used in Japanese anyway to refer to a block of houses etc, so it might be considered Japanese (loan word) instead of English.
I forgot about one - Correctional Facility is also Japanese: kyousei shisetsu.

... I really have no idea, haha. Especially Lost Town all of a sudden. Maybe it just sounds fancy? Like 'let's pretend it's nice and give it a catchy English name so it sounds better'? But yeah, it'd make sense that Moon Drop is in the language everyone understands, good one.
Hmm, I guess it does make sense then. Except Lost Town. Still, eh, Lost on that XD;


Ohh, I had no idea moondrop was a kind of plant! It's indeed named differently in Japanese if wiki is to be trusted, but hey, more leafy things! ;) (I have no idea what the image of a moon drop would be though... I mean, a drop that came from the moon? The building looks like a beehive for all the obvious reasons, I really have no idea why they'd call it moon drop. Maybe eerie sounds = midnight = moon? Stretch-stretch-stretch?)

Weisel

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #36 on: February 24, 2015, 12:35:00 pm »
My guess is that it's called the Moondrop because it's really tall like it's a drop of the sky... sort of... but then the actual meaning behind it was after the poisonous plant to fit its place in the story.

AoYokai

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #37 on: February 24, 2015, 02:30:11 pm »
@listenforthelove just another comment about Lili's name (another attempt to be knowledgeable in Chinese please if anyone speaks Chinese tell me cause I feel like I'm making mistakes), in Chinese the name Lili (丽丽) is made out of, well, twice the character 'li' that means pretty.

@Curiousscarleteyes speaking of Greek Mythology, Chronos? At first I thought it meant Cronus but turns out they're pretty similar anyways...

Well the whole moon thing connects us to Jericho again, doesn't it?
 

listenforthelove

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #38 on: February 24, 2015, 03:16:36 pm »
@Weisel: ah, good point! I'd forgotten No. 6 doesn't have many tall buildings and that the Moon Drop towers over them all. That's probably it~

@AoYokai: ah, that's so sweet with Lili in Chinese! 'Pretty pretty'~

re: Chronos vs Kronos/Cronus: both are possible, since in Japanese the part of the city is called Kuronosu. So theoretically (and mythology wise I do feel it fits a bit better), Kronos/Cronus is just as valid, though the official translations went with Chronos I think.
Iiiif that's what you meant of course, otherwise apologies for cutting in!

AoYokai

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #39 on: February 24, 2015, 03:24:33 pm »
It totally is! But if it's Cronus, that's a weird choice, no? Chronos would make a little more sense... (I hope everyone understand the mythological explanation to that claim cause I'd feel stupid to explain it if everyone already knows...)

listenforthelove

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #40 on: February 25, 2015, 03:20:42 am »
@AoYokai: hmm, why Chronos? Maybe I'm getting rusty here, but I only know of Chronos as the personification of time - other attributes I know associated with him seem to come from Cronus/Saturn. Or wait, are you talking about the serpents around the world egg?
(Actually, I had to look the latter up online since none of my reference books mention it, so please do explain! I'm very interested in mythology and I'm already disappointed in myself for not knowing this oTL) 

Curiousscarletteyes

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #41 on: February 25, 2015, 02:21:05 pm »
Happiness and Cookies. XD I don't quite think that's what he was aiming for.

But Kronos (Chronos, Chronus: there's so many different spellings OTL) and Rhea were children of Gaia and Uranus also known as the earth and sky. Kronos overthrew his father because he wanted power and married Rhea (who's his sister). Kronos was super paranoid when Rhea had her babies because there was a prophecy that his children would overthrow him in the same way or something (It's been a while. I'm rusty xD) and so he swallowed all of his children. Rhea wasn't too happy about this so when she had Zeus, she tricked Kronos and gave him a rock to swallow instead. So long story short, Zeus defeated his father, freed his siblings (all the Greek Gods) and threw both his father and the titans into Tartarus (deepest part of hell).

But hey I also just found something really interesting that I didn't know: "Many human generations later, Zeus released Kronos and his brothers from this prison, and made the old Titan king of the Elysian Islands, home of the blessed dead. "

So. . . Chronos is the place for the people who are the elites. . .and if Elyurias was named after Elysium. . .maybe these were the people who were going to help No.6 reach that goal.

listenforthelove

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #42 on: February 25, 2015, 03:12:52 pm »
@Curiousscarletteyes: okay now I'm confused. I thought @AoYokai meant Chronos over Cronus/Kronos, with Chronos being the personification of time and part of some other myths, though he got likened to Cronus/Kronos possibly because of the similar names - but was there a difference intended between Chronos and Cronus/Kronos or are we just talking about one and the same deity now and is it just about spelling? ???

But that is very interesting indeed, I had no idea Zeus freed Kronos in the end. That sounds - very generous for Zeus, haha. But that ties in nicely~

Curiousscarletteyes

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #43 on: February 25, 2015, 04:51:34 pm »
@listenforthelove: AoYokai might have meant that. xD I was unaware until this thread hat he's also the personification of time. So there definitely could be the difference between the both of them. Oops. But Kronos' name is also spelled three different ways >_<

Meopat

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Re: Names in No. 6
« Reply #44 on: February 26, 2015, 03:35:06 am »
@listenforthelove: Thank you for explaining that page to me!! :d I'm half-literate in Japanese so I tend to space out and misinterpret things. You're also quite right in that Asano used very particular names for these characters. (Getsuyaku?! Really!?) We could try and interpret why she chose each kanji for each of the No.6-residential characters, but something about how rushed Vol 9 was also tells me that it's possible she never fully brought out the characters' full potentials. :C so it feels like we'll never know why Getsuyaku was named Moon-Medicine T_T

@Ahiku: So the Moon Drop is a flower and we have a bunch of killer bees in this story. XD IS THIS HAPPENING.
But omg, it totally makes sense for the Blocks to just be referred to as North, East, South, West just to be degrading. :c
The origins of Lost Town seems to be lost on us. I wish the interview with her in the Completed Guidebook also mentioned name origins. T_T ... but if it did, we wouldn't be having all these fascinating conversations :d

@Curiousscarletteyes: That's so interesting that Kronos was king of the Elysian Isles! I really wonder if it was named "Kuronosu" just to embody both Father Time and the Titan Kronus. Father Time, I quote Wiki, was said to have a "serpentine shape." (Though I'm not really sure what that implies? Since all the statues of him depict a very human shape. Maybe it's considered serpentine because he is always sitting and that makes an S shape??) and I feel with this background knowledge about the Titan Kronus that the name (Kuronosu) really fits for the elite members who'll bring No.6 to prosperity.

and now, this is totally wild and partially nonsensical fangirl theorizing, but suppose Chronos is the serpent of the No.6 Moondrop / flower. Asters are meant to ward snakes away. (only after you burn them, but that can be up for interpretation) doesn't this essentially set the stage for Shion being vital in overthrowing No.6? Feels like a complete stretch, but it's a fun theory. (of course, it also doesn't clue in on why Nezumi is Nezumi aside from his majestic grey eyes. D: )