mustangscullaaay replied to your post “Okay, I’m confused about Scanran/Gallan names now (again).[[MOR] I...”
i think sarra's name must be a mistake and it's meant to be beneksra b/c otherwise it looks like 'sra' attaches to the paternal name and 'sri' attaches to the maternal name, regardless of child's gender.
honestly i might guess that tammy started with a system of ‘sri for girl children and sra for boy children’ and then by the end of the immortals had changed her mind and switched over?
this is my favorite explanation for right now tbh. also explains a little more why daine feels it’s SO OBVIOUS that she’s a bastard from her name, if -sri always attaches to the maternal name. (i mean, true, sarra is pretty obviously a woman’s name if you’re familiar with gallan-sounding names, but even in carthak i think she’s self-conscious about it).
Okay, I’m confused about Scanran/Gallan names now (again).
I assumed for a long, long time that -ri was for girls (and meant “daughter”) and -ra was for boys (and meant “son”) because I mostly just remembered:
Sarra Beneksri
Veralidaine Sarrasri
Inar Hadensra
But I just looked back and Daine actually said, “It’s my right to change my name. Weirynsra.” And also Kora from the Beka series is Koramin Ingensra.
So...what is the system? Is it whichever suffix sounds best? Is -ri for a bastard name? (That would make Sarra one, too). Is there some determinant in which letters are in the parent’s name that I can’t figure out?
I enjoyed this article and thought others might as well - a nice analysis of Mastiff’s importance as a piece of Tortall history (and the always-complicated steps towards a better future in her worlds).
Why is the name so different? (Surname haMinch, no 'of [Fief]' like most nobles, and they're referred to as Minchis/the Minchi clan, not haMinches).
(long winded ramble with no real conclusions below)
I would assume the Minchis go back to the Gold Book, given the whole pillar-of-the-realm thing, or I'd say maybe Tortall absorbed their lands during some bit of conquest. Although I suppose they'd have been absorbed much longer ago than Barzun. (Looking up stuff on the Tamora Pierce wiki is giving me a much better sense of things. I had no idea Barzun was the name of the land the Bazhir inhabit before they were conquered - nor that Jon's grandfather, who I did know was a conqueror, was the one who took Barzun for Tortall. THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. For some reason I thought the Bazhir had been conquered way longer ago and wondered why Tortallans and Bazhir were only now starting to make peace). (Hm, though I thought people from Barzun were Barzunni?). Only problem with the possibility of conquest: most of the Eastern lands seem to use the same naming standard for nobles. I suppose it's possible Galla uses ha____, but of the other possibilities for the Minchis' land to have been taken from, Tusaine uses of _____, and Scanra seems to just do surnames for its nobles (e.g., Maggur Rathhausak). (Which, in the case of Scanra, differentiates them from patronymically-named commoners).
Anyway, haMinch - is it maybe something from before the Thanic Empire? Except Tortall was apparently a state in the Thanic Empire. But that could've been an arbitrary division the empire made. There had to have been something there before the empire. Still, I don't know why the Minchis are the only ones we've heard of with a name like that! I don't know why she'd do a special name for no reason.
I am pleased that she said their lands are on the Gallan border. Given that the area where Galla's border intersects Tortall's is like, tiny, I know where it is, generally speaking. One annoyance on that front: Tamora Pierce has never mentioned what their fief is called. And since special name rather than of ____, I really don't know what it's called. I'd guess it's called Minch, a la "noh Daimoru" or "fer Landreg", but I could be wrong.
I really hope more is mentioned about the Minchis in a future book. All it would have to be is a throwaway line. -grumble-
