Learn Mando'a

So I'm working on a fanfiction story. It's not based on Star Wars in any way, but my main character is fluent in Mando'a, English, and D'ni. I'm planning to give her a new 'pet' during the events of the story. I'm going to want to call it 'Hunter.' Not any particular type like Bounty Hunter, just Hunter. Does anybody know how I'd say this? I think it would be either Oyala or Oyayc, or possibly oya'karirla or oya'kariryc. Would one of these be right?

I'd say Oy'ad, for "the one doing the hunting"

I think you're right, Vlet, but now I'm curious: what about the name Mirdalan? I mean, couldn't it be Oy'adla or Oy'adlan? That -n was always a little confusing for me.

Hmm... it does show up in places like Ruusan, as well... I don't know if we have enough basis to suggest that's a naming convention, but it's certainly something I'd not noticed before.

Mirdala is the root for Mirdalan, though, so perhaps just Oyan? That sounds pleasant to me...

That's what I would think, Oyan. It flows nicely, and if the -an, -n is indeed how one denotes a name from the original word, it fits right in.

Should we tentatively agree that the -an, -n endings denote a name? Ruusaan, Mirdalan, remove the -an or -n and you have the root word.
Hmm. I think that I may have hit something here....

Works for me as a general rule

Lets make it a rule for making a noun out of adjective. For adjectives ending with -la you should add -n. For adjectives ending with -yc you replace the ending with -ii. For other adjectives you add -n or -an.

Examples:
Aruetyc - aruetii (traitorous - traitor)
Mirdala - mirdalan (smart - smart one)
Cin - cinan (pure - pureness)

I like it

I like it too, and I think that may be how the language was originally constructed. It flows well.

Definitely going to make this my personal rule.

I found another one. Skira becomes Skirata when it is a name. Thoughts?

I dunno. When I get the time (haha finals), I'll look through a bunch of canonical names and see if there's any clear pattern.

Ruus wrote:That's what I would think, Oyan. It flows nicely, and if the -an, -n is indeed how one denotes a name from the original word, it fits right in.

That sounds fine as a name, (even aruetiise use Hunter as a name) but I think for one who hunts, we should use something like Oy'ad, or maybe oya'kar'ad.

There is also one more factor that ought to be brought up: gender in names.

I am fully aware that there is no gender in the Mandalorian language, and I quite like that. But names are different; Arla appears to come from kar'la, but it would be wierd as a boy's name.

My point is that Mirdala sounds more like a girl's name than a boy's name, especially given that the word dala is right in there at the end. Adding a consonant like n to the end makes it seem less feminine.

Also, when I make Mandalorian names for female characters, I often add an a or i to the end of them (kal becomes Kali, etc.)


Just a thought.

Arla as a boy's name doesn't sound that off to me, really. Or at all, honestly. Reason probably being that I know Pali, a language where both male and female names can end in "a". So like Mara is a name that would read to many as a woman's name, but I read it initially as a man's name because in Pali that's what it is. There's some other things as well in terms of languages I've studied, but Pali is the one I've studied most that does that.

Aondeug wrote:Arla as a boy's name doesn't sound that off to me, really. Or at all, honestly. Reason probably being that I know Pali, a language where both male and female names can end in "a". So like Mara is a name that would read to many as a woman's name, but I read it initially as a man's name because in Pali that's what it is. There's some other things as well in terms of languages I've studied, but Pali is the one I've studied most that does that.

I agree with this. Also, Mirdala is the non-infinitive form of clever. Mirdalan appears to be the "name" version. I could see that as either male or female.