jack kincaid

Hi everyone,

I'm going to need help from a persian speaker in an unusual way here Let me explain...

I'm currently working on the project of a fantasy book (not really fantasy but that's not the point), in which several imaginary nations will be involved. I didn't want the names of the characters and places to come out of nowhere or to sound similar regardless of the nation, but I was too lazy to create my own systems of phonotactics & phonemes, so I decided to pick some already existing systems and just build my names from them. One of the systems I picked was the persian system.
The trouble with my technique is that, since I have only a basic knowledge of the way the language works (I'm sorry to say, especially for persian), I've probably missed or misunderstood some of the rules that it uses to build words... That's why I would really appreciate your help in "checking" those terms I created...

Now, the names (at last ). I included what the name would supposedly be in persian script, and since I'm totally new at this script and it's probably full of mistakes (mainly, I can't figure out what to do or not to do with the harakat ), an IPA phonetic transcription too. I hope that thus it will be complete enough

What I basically need to know is :
- Would it be difficult for a persian speaker to pronounce some of those names, or would they sound foreign ? If so, what should I change ?
- Do some of them actually mean something ? (I wouldn't want to baptize someone "idiot" without intending to... )

Buqmád - /buːɣˈmɒːd/ - ﺑﻮﻏﻤﺎﺩ
Chosín - /tʃoˈsiːn/ - ﭼﺴﻴﻦ
Hændják - /hænˈdʒɒːk/ - ﺣﻨﺠﺎک
Hukhák - /huːˈxɒːk/ - ﺣﻮﺧﺎک
Jorák - /ʒoˈɾɒːk/ - ژﺭاک
Juréb - /ʒuːˈɾeb/ - ژﻮﺭﺏ
Khannín - /xɒːnˈniːn/ - ﺧﺎﻧﻨﻴﻦ
Lakhlós - /lɒːxˈlos/ - ﻟﺎﺧﻠﺲ
Mín - /ˈmiːn/ - ﻣﻴﻦ
Neilán - /neɪˈlɒːn/ - ﻧﻴﻠﺎﻥ
Qád - /ɢɒːd/ - ﻗﺎﺩ
Sheitéb - /ʃeɪˈteb/ - ﺷﻴﺘﺐ
Towzád - /toʊˈzɒːd/ - ﺗﻮﺯاﺩ
Vænelós - /væneˈlos/ - وﻧﻠﺲ
Zenják - /zenˈʒɒːk/ - ﺯﻧﮋاک
Gídr - /ˈgiːdɾ/ - ﮔﻴﺪﺭ
Keryán - /keɾˈjɒːn/ - ﮐﺮﻳﺎﻥ
Khoshún - /xoˈʃuːn/ - ﺧﺸﻮﻦ
Mæqintés - /mæɣiːnˈtes/ - ﻣﻐﻴﻨﺘﺲ

Here is what I came up with for now... Thanks for your help and for having taken the time to read me

__________________
These people ought to know who we are and tell that we are here.

Persian Multilingual

Hello and welcome here,

You have come to the right place.
I will go out of my way to help you.

So here we go.
First answer: None of the names (with some modification) would present any major difficulty for Native speakers of Persian. The only problem would be that if they see the names for the first time, they will read them somewhat different unless there is a transcription. I read them at first without looking at the transcription and they were like:


Buqmád - ﺑﻮﻏﻤﺎﺩ OK
Chæsin - ﭼﺴﻴﻦ
Hændják - ﺣﻨﺠﺎک OK
Hukhák - ﺣﻮﺧﺎک OK
Jærák - ژﺭاک
Jurb - ژﻮﺭﺏ
Khannín - ﺧﺎﻧﻨﻴﻦ Alright, but better omit one of the double Ns
Lakhles - ﻟﺎﺧﻠﺲ
Mín - ﻣﻴﻦ
Nilán - ﻧﻴﻠﺎﻥ
Qád - ﻗﺎﺩ OK
Shitæb - ﺷﻴﺘﺐ
Toozád - ﺗﻮﺯاﺩ
Vænles - وﻧﻠﺲ
Zænják - ﺯﻧﮋاک
Gídær - ﮔﻴﺪﺭ
Kæryán - ﮐﺮﻳﺎﻥ
Khæshún - ﺧﺸﻮﻦ
Mæqints - ﻣﻐﻴﻨﺘﺲ Difficult = Omit one of the vocals at the end, never ever three consonants come consequently, It had better be --> Mæqins - ﻣﻐﻴﻨﺲ

The names really sound ancient (or too modern).

Second answer:
Interestingly enough some of them mean or signify some words.
There are the words:
Chosín = the first syllable means "fart"
Mín = that's a mine, as in a minefield.
Toozád = means "in-born", just two words which accidentally follow each other.
Zænják = Zæn means woman, ják(æt) would be like Jacket
Khæshún = reminds me of khoshúnæt which means violence.

Interesting, isn't it?
Anyway, Have I missed anything?

__________________
Native speaker of Persian

Advanced Speaker of English

Intermediate Speaker of german

Upper-Elementary learner of arabic

I am an undergraduate of Russian

I just know a little bit French !

I'd love to learn Chinese...

jack kincaid

thank you so much, you were a really big help

Since I'll be writing in french I'll be using the transcriptions most of the time, if not ever, so that's mostly ok. However, the ending syllables "los" and "[.]eb" have historical value in the story, so it would look better if I could indicate them completely... Is it the kind of cases where I would use harakat, or is it simply not possible ? If it isn't, I'll have to come up with other ending syllables...

"Khannín - ﺧﺎﻧﻨﻴﻦ Alright, but better omit one of the double Ns"
-> Would this sound ok? ﺧﺎﻣﻨﻴﻦ

"Gídær - ﮔﻴﺪﺭ "
-> I wanted a monosyllabic name here, I didn't know "dr" was wrong... I'm almost certain that "br" is allowed in arab, is it allowed in persian too?
Thus: Gíbr - ﮔﻴﺒﺮ ?

"Mæqints - ﻣﻐﻴﻨﺘﺲ Difficult = Omit one of the vocals at the end, never ever three consonants come consequently, It had better be --> Mæqins - ﻣﻐﻴﻨﺲ "
-> All right, I corrected this, thanks

"Chosín = the first syllable means "fart""
-> That sucks What about Chusín ﭼﻮﺴﻴﻦ ?

"Zænják = Zæn means woman, ják(æt) would be like Jacket"
-> And moreover, it sounds quite close to Hændják, I hadn't even noticed I'll find something else for that one.

"Khæshún = reminds me of khoshúnæt which means violence."
-> I like that Now I get to pretend that I did it on purpose

Again, thanks for your time I gave you a rep point, least I can do

__________________
These people ought to know who we are and tell that we are here.

Persian Multilingual

Hi again,

You can use harakat in these cases, with them (and/ or transcriptions) there won't be any problems reading the mentioned words. This is because long vowels often overshadow shorter vowels.

Yeah, this is better.

You may do so.

If you can not find anything better, you may use this one, but it still reminds me of it.


Here you go...

__________________
Native speaker of Persian

Advanced Speaker of English

Intermediate Speaker of german

Upper-Elementary learner of arabic

I am an undergraduate of Russian

I just know a little bit French !

I'd love to learn Chinese...

bubble852003

Hello.
How would you write

The Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
- (William Ross Wallace)
in Persian?

And do you read from left to right or right to left?

Persian Multilingual

Hello and welcome here,

Persian is read from right to left.

And here is the translation of the sentence (nice!):

دستی که گهواره را تکان میدهد، بر جهان حکومت میکند

I guess he means "Mother". Doesn't he?

__________________
Native speaker of Persian

Advanced Speaker of English

Intermediate Speaker of german

Upper-Elementary learner of arabic

I am an undergraduate of Russian

I just know a little bit French !

I'd love to learn Chinese...