Thanks to @kuroposting I got around to making this comment (keep reading that comment thread) on one of their posts.
So, yeah....
Elic Phantomhive
I have even more reason now to stick with this name for our earl, at least for now.
ciEL <- -> ELic
The "c" and "i" are properly mirrored, while the "el" is moved into the mirrored position but preserved in meaning. In that way, those names are anagrams but also "mirrors" of each other, without needing to spell it Leic (which would work with Irish roots -- see links further down as examples -- but would remove the "El" aspect).
Even though Ciel is thought of as a French name, with Latin origins... it works well with Hebrew, just like Rachel is Hebrew in origin. We've previously been explaining "Ciel" in terms of "sky blue, sky, heaven", but WHY would this be a word for Heaven, and not just sky? Because of "el". Is it literally the "ci" of "El"?
I found meanings for Ciel that define it as "a divine blessing from heaven".
But I wanted to find something specifically connecting Ciel to Hebrew, and I found this: just as Ciel, cieling, ceiling, celing, ceal, cael, coel -- and all those other variations in Old English, French, and Latin -- speak of coverings, concealing something, such important words used in architecture and interior design (and biology)... these are also used for translations of the Hebrew Bible when speaking of covering things, specifically when it's not just to protect but also to hide from God's sight. There was also mention of a Hebrew word that can be translated as sailor:
And שָׂחִיף can be translated as wainscoting or thin paneling, but is also slang for thin, as in "skinny". Thin barriers used to protect but also hide... and then a reference to sailors?
Uh. Are sea and ci the same thing? Like... the Genesis account of dividing "the waters" above and below? So the sea/ci is the water below, while Ciel is the waters above?
Ciel is the "sea of god"... the sky protecting/covering Earth and hiding Heaven from human view. It's "heaven" in the sense that it's the closest anyone on the earthly plane can "see" of Heaven.
Let's not forget I'd explained (in numerous posts and comments, like big time here, slightly here, and here) that Elic is a variant of Alex, meaning "protection/protector" (also commented here), and Ciel also means protection, in the form of covering or hiding.
Mother3 theory hasn't let me down yet. Why would the mirror twins' naming scheme be any different?
Now back to Layla and Al/Alyal in Arabic... the dark cover of night.... heh 😏
