Recently I comped through old Q&A by RJ. In one of these from Dragoncom 2005 I found this info, which intrigued me a bit:
"Tar Valon doesn't mean 'white tower'. It does mean something else, but that's RAFO."
Wondering what Tar Valon really means then, and why the answer is a RAFO, I checked Old Tongue dictionaries on the net. It was suggested that "valon" is related to the word "val" for "guard" (or maybe "valon" is where a guard stays, namely a tower?), and "Tar Valon" could mean "Tower Guard".
However, no one seems really certain what it means. "Tar" can also be found in "tarmon gai'don", which might literally mean "Last Battle" (or maybe something a bit different?). Since "gai" probably means "battle" (like in "gaidin", which means "battle bother" ), "tarmon" could be translated with something like "last", and thus "tar valon" could maybe mean "the last guard".
Of course, if one detaches from comparing the words and just considers what "tar valon" might mean, maybe its translation is "guards of the light" or "towers of light" (contrary to "towers of midnight"?). Maybe "tarmon gai'don" literally means something like: "The Lights' Last Battle".
However, I still don't know, why RJ would give a RAFO on this..
Anyway, does anyone here has a better idea how to translate "Tar Valon", and maybe also "tarmon gai'don"?
"Tar Valon doesn't mean 'white tower'. It does mean something else, but that's RAFO."
Wondering what Tar Valon really means then, and why the answer is a RAFO, I checked Old Tongue dictionaries on the net. It was suggested that "valon" is related to the word "val" for "guard" (or maybe "valon" is where a guard stays, namely a tower?), and "Tar Valon" could mean "Tower Guard".
However, no one seems really certain what it means. "Tar" can also be found in "tarmon gai'don", which might literally mean "Last Battle" (or maybe something a bit different?). Since "gai" probably means "battle" (like in "gaidin", which means "battle bother" ), "tarmon" could be translated with something like "last", and thus "tar valon" could maybe mean "the last guard".
Of course, if one detaches from comparing the words and just considers what "tar valon" might mean, maybe its translation is "guards of the light" or "towers of light" (contrary to "towers of midnight"?). Maybe "tarmon gai'don" literally means something like: "The Lights' Last Battle".
However, I still don't know, why RJ would give a RAFO on this..
Anyway, does anyone here has a better idea how to translate "Tar Valon", and maybe also "tarmon gai'don"?
Translation of "Tar Valon"
- 18/12/2009 05:08:49 PM
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As far as we can tell
- 18/12/2009 05:32:31 PM
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Wait, so it translates similarly to Minas Tirith, the White Tower of Gondor? *NM*
- 18/12/2009 07:26:37 PM
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Well, it's based on Avalon
- 18/12/2009 05:33:44 PM
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I think there is an actual old tongue dictionary ...
- 18/12/2009 10:08:27 PM
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Place Names Drift Over Time
- 19/12/2009 12:59:25 AM
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I think you meant this in response to the main thread, and not my post
- 19/12/2009 11:13:14 PM
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Given how terrible Jordan's "language" system was, it could be almost anything.
- 20/12/2009 05:26:56 PM
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