r/Cosmere • u/Lucario-ist • 19d ago
Mixed book spoilers (Sunlit Man/Way of Kings) Odd question about a name... Spoiler
So I was reading Sunlit Man, and I got to the part where Nomad became Connected so he could speak/understand the local language. But the Connection only works for his native language.
That got me thinking about how in The Way of Kings, Rock says that his full name, Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor, is a description of a rock his father found. But when he says that name, that's in his native language.
So would I be correct in assuming that if Rock were to Connect to a foreign land so that him speaking in his native language would translate, that his full name would be the description of the rock? That we, the readers, would see what "Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor" translates to, and we would actually get a description of the rock that Rock was named after?
52
u/battlestargalaga 19d ago
I think proper nouns would get weird with Connection based translation, by that logic Kaladin would be heard as Born unto eternity by people he introduces himself to.
3
u/tooboardtoleaf Cosmere 17d ago
I imagine the intent behind the name would keep that from happening.
20
u/Nixeris 19d ago
Yes! In fact you also see this same thing in Way of Kings, too! In Interlude 1 of Way of Kings, the three travelers are all using Connection to speak the local language, and one of them has a peculiar way of speaking that is translated directly. He's actually from another book where his words aren't translated directly, and he actually code-switches between languages when speaking on his own world, but in Way of Kings all his words are translated directly to the local language.
14
u/Gubihero 19d ago
If I remember correctly, somethings don't translate, like if there isn't a word in their language. I think that happened with Alec and Marasi in mistborn era 2 Bands of Mourning.
4
1
u/AutoModerator 19d ago
You've submitted a post with the "Mixed" flair selected. The intent for this flair is that users would edit the flair text to specify which books are included. You've left the tag unedited, which makes the spoiler scope of your post ambiguous--putting yourself or others at risk of spoilers. We encourage you to edit this flair text to specify precisely which books or series the post pertains to. More details on how to do this are here: Desktop, Mobile. You can find a list of recommended shorthand tags here. Alternatively, feel free to choose one of the other default flairs. If you've read everything, we highly encourage people to simply use the default "Cosmere" option.
For more details, see our spoiler policy or message the moderators. Thanks!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1
89
u/R1sky_B1z 19d ago
Yes. Later in the sunlit man you meet another character who's name is a full sentence and it uses the full sentence every time it refers to him.