Captive Prince: Historical References and Naming Conventions
Hi all! I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and I finally had some time (and an Ancient Greek dictionary), so I figured I'd give it a shot. I've always been fascinated by Pacat's worldbuilding, particularly the naming conventions, and as a classicist myself, I wanted to dissect them. So that's what this is. My focus is mainly going to be on Akielos since I don't have as in-depth a knowledge of French, but I'll go through some Veretian names too (je n'ai pas Ć©tudiĆ© le franƧais depuis deux annĆ©es, mais Arlesā¦ je voudrais parler d'Arlesā¦)
I'm not approaching this with any kind of formal, academic structure, so if something wonky gets through, please let me know! And lastly, I have no idea how many of these are intentional on Pacat's part. This analysis is less about authorial intent and more about how the associations inherent in these names can lend to our interpretation of the work. I'll also be doing this analysis over a few different posts since there is a lot I want to cover. For post #1:
This post will solely feature Vere and Akielos since that's already a lot, but I will tackle Patras et. al. later on. There's some very interesting stuff there that I would be remiss not to look at. Of our subjects for today, Vere is the simpler, and the one I am absolutely certain Pacat intended, so I'll start with it.
Disclaimer: I am in love with this choice. The word itself is actually a Classical Latin adverb derived from the adjective "vÄrus," meaning "true," and in Latin it's spelled "vÄrÄ" (though you will not see those macrons in extant texts, those are a modern pronunciation and differentiation aid). VÄrÄ can be translated a handful of ways; often it's used for emphasis, and in that case it's usually translated as "indeed," but "truly," "rightly," "exactly," and "truthfully" all work in different contexts. Extrapolate vÄrus and its derivatives for around a thousand years and you get the Old French word "verai" (ouah c'est vrai !) which means, well, "true."
It's also close in spelling and pronunciation to the modern French "verre," which means "glass," which isn't entirely relevant, but is cool. It makes me think of shiny, fragile displays of opulence like the Galerie des Glaces in Versailles.Ā
The first reason I really like this name is that it calls back to Artes, the Roman-inspired kingdom that we're told once encompassed all of Vere and Akielos, while still fitting current Veretian (aka half-old-half-modern French) grammar and pronunciation. The second is, naturally, that it fits so well into the series' themes of truth, deception, and verisimilitude. The second we're introduced to Vere, and by extension Laurent, there's a subtle hint there that both he and his country are, at their core, more real, genuine, and truthful than Damen and Akielos. We're already building towards Damen's Kings Rising line, "I have never known a truer man." Even if you don't recognize the Latin, your brain will make the connection between Vere and verisimilitude later. It's perfect, 10/10 Pacat, could not have done it better.
And just for fun: a Latin example!
Commentarii de Bello Civili, 2:27. Latin and English available here.Ā
Hi, sive vere quam habuerant opinionem ad eum perferunt, sive etiam auribus Vari serviuntā¦
Loeb Translation: "Whether they convey to him the opinion that they really held, or whether they only flatter his earsā¦" (165)
Slightly more literal translation (by me): "Whether these ones truly convey to him the opinion as they held it, or rather are subservient to Varius' earsā¦"
The name "Akielos" is a lot moreā¦ nebulous. I don't know if there is a Greek print of Captive Prince, but my guess is it would be spelled ĪĪŗĪ¹ĪµĪ»ĪæĻ (modern Greek speakers please weigh in, I'm only a year or so into Ancient Greek so I haven't really touched accent marks). That doesn't map neatly to any modern or ancient greek wordāat least that I know of. What is does remind me of is į¼ĻĪ¹Ī»įæĪæĻ (Achileos) from į¼ĻĪ¹Ī»Ī»ĪµĻĻ (Achilleus), aka, Achilles. They're so close that I actually realized lately I had unconsciously been pronouncing Akielos as "Akileos" for a while; and in fact, this makes the Veretian spelling "Achelos" make a bit more sense. English and French both use a hard "ch" to represent Ļ in Greek words; so I imagine, in universe, that the word might actually be spelled ĪĻĪ¹ĪµĪ»ĪæĻ. It wouldn't even surprise me if this was the way Pacat originally wanted to spell it, but had to change it for ease of comprehension.
I did have some other interpretations of the name, but I think this is the strongest. Because in addition to the obvious association, the name į¼ĻĪ¹Ī»Ī»ĪµĻĻ is thought to be derived from the words į¼ĻĪæĻ, "distress/grief" and Ī»Ī±ĻĻ, "people," making it either "the grief" or "grief of/to the people" depending on who you ask (you rely on cases for that sort of distinction in Greek and they're not exactly present here. iykyk).
I really like the idea of Akielos being associated with grief; we're first introduced to it as a country in mourning, and then later on, as the cause of grief in Delfeur. And then you have the association with Achilles, himself a prolific brother killer, who Pacat references later in 'The Fall of Inachtos,' our in-universe Iliad. Insane levels of grief on grief on grief. Plus, because it looks closer to the genitive form, I automatically associate it with the opening line of the Iliad:
Ī¼įæĪ½Ī¹Ī½ į¼ĪµĪ¹Ī“Īµ ĪøĪµį½° Ī Ī·Ī»Ī·ĻĪ¬Ī“ĪµĻ į¼ĻĪ¹Ī»įæĪæĻ
menin aeide thea Peleiadeo Achileos
Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus' son
So we can throw a little rage into the equation. As a treat.Ā
Also important to note that the -os there is a masculine ending. It doesn't have the most bearing, but it does mean that if we want to be strictly accurate to Ancient (and modern!) Greek grammar, I have to throw a quick article in front of it, making our final "how do the Akielons spell Akielos?" answer: į½ ĪĻĪ¹ĪµĪ»ĪæĻ ("ho Achielos"). The į½ here is equivalent to le in French, with the major distinction being that in French, you don't typically need an article in front of a proper noun, whereas you do in Greek.
That's it for today's analysis! See you guys next time around for Patras, Artes, and (maybe) Arles, Ios, and Delfeur/Delpha.
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