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The Name 'Temerant' Encodes the Mortal World Through an Ancient Root

plausible symbolism · popularity 156 · 1 source thread

'Temerant' and 'Faeant' are parallel constructions, with 'Tem-' an ancient root naming this world's mortal namer peoples.

About: Temerant

Also involves: The Fae, The Adem, Edema Ruh, The Chandrian, Naming, Temic Language

The theory§

The titles 'En Temerant Voistra' and 'En Faeant Morie' present Temerant and Faeant as parallel constructions, the latter readable as 'land of the Fae.' By analogy, the theory reads the '-ant' suffix as a locative like the Romance '-ia' (as in Francia or Graecia), yielding 'Temerant' as the land of the 'Temer' and pairing the mortal world against the Fae. It traces the root 'Tem-' through Tema and its ancient parent tongue Temic, the language old enough that the name Chandrian descends from its word 'chaen' (seven) -- a root that recurs as 'chan' in Siaru, as in Kilvin's proverb 'Chan Vaen edan Kote,' evidencing a shared linguistic ancestry. Because T and D are readily interchangeable, the root is extended speculatively to Adem and Edema. A supporting strand notes that in Ademic 'Tempi' means 'little iron' and 'Tempa' means iron, anger, and to strike iron, so the Temer/Fae split may distinguish the iron-using mortals from the iron-abhorring Fae.

Evidence§

  • it has already been noted that Temerant and Faeant must be parallel constructions, Faeant somehow meaning "world of the Fae" or likewise, and a contrario Temerant meaning "world of the..." (mortals? Humans? Namers? Etc.)
    OP's core claim: the two titles are parallel constructions splitting Temer from Fae. — u/adamexcoffon
  • the suffix -ant could be like in Roman languages "-IA" (Francia, Graecia, Allemania etc.) with a meaning between "the land of", "where there is the" … from this, we can deduce that we have two denomination for two parts of the living people : "Fae" and "Temer"
    Reads -ant as a locative suffix, yielding two peoples: Fae and Temer. — u/adamexcoffon
  • The root "tem" in "Tem-er" is also present in "Tema" and more importantly "Temic", its parent language … "chaen" in Temic also looks like "Chan" in siaru, with same significance of "seven" (as in Kilvin's proverb "Chan Vaen edan Kote" … So it's fair to assume that an original language influenced siaru, Tema, etc.
    Traces Tem- root through Temic and shows shared ancestry via chaen/Chan. — u/adamexcoffon
  • in linguistics, "T" and "D" are the same letters, the same sound … So it wouldn't be surprising that the root "Tem" in Temic and Temerant would be the same as in Adem and Edema, all originating in an hypothetic name that designated the People of this world, by contrast with the people of the Fae.
    Extends the root to Adem/Edema via T/D interchangeability. — u/adamexcoffon
  • if we compare Myr Tariniel and Faeriniel like we did on Temerant /Faeant, we find that all that remains without the "-riniel" part … is again a "Ta", so a T-root … we have a "T" short word on the side of the mortals by contrast with the Fae in a similarly constructed world.
    OP's edit: a second parallel pair (Tariniel/Faeriniel) reinforces the mortal T-root. — u/adamexcoffon
  • "Tempi means 'little iron'. Tempa means iron, and it means to strike iron, and it means angry." … maybe the names Temerant and Faent are making a distinction between the worlds of the iron users (mortals), and of the Fae.
    Comment adds Ademic iron evidence: Tem- as iron, splitting iron-users from iron-abhorring Fae. — u/GalarBorderSecurity
  • if your hypothesis is correct, and the mortal languages share a root with the Fae, how would you explain kvothes difficulty in picking up the Fae language? How also would you explain Yllish, a language which we're told is quite different to the other mortal languages?
    CounterCounter: shared roots conflict with Kvothe's trouble learning Fae and with distinct Yllish. — u/King_FitzChivalry
  • "Tu" means "you" in Portuguese, both Brazilian and from Portugal … Awesome analysis though!
    CounterCounter to OP's fragile 'tu = you are' strand; tu just means you. — u/ed-billy_bill

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier kept: parallel titles give a reasonable linguistic fit

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