The Sephiroth

[The Man]

I prefer the Hebrew - it's a heck of a lot more obvious what it's referring to :P

Originally posted by BG-57
It's clear that the English translators often don't realize what the Japanese makers meant to say. They just transliterate the sounds and hope for the best.

yes, as demonstrated by the HORRID MANGLING of the names from Dante's Inferno in FFIV (Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, Rubicante, Calcabrina as MilonZ, Kainazzo, Valvalis, Rubicant, and Calbrena respectively) :P

With all credit to the translators, though, it's very hard to recognise every reference the original games had in them, although you'd expect the people who came up with the names would make notes or something for the translators. I'm sure that the Hebrew, the Norse, and the Inferno references aren't the only time Square has done that, either (heck, if I knew more of them, I'd start up a list or something) :P

[Sephiroth858]

yeah im back...whats up?

[Big D]

Your first post in a very long time... and it's spam.
In the middle of a Final Fanatsy VII thread. Hmm...

1) Welcome back.

2) Don't do it again.

[BG-57]

My personal favorite bad translation is of the Elements in Xenogears: Seraphim, Cherubim, Throne and Dominion into Seraphita, Kelvina, Tolone and Dominia. I didn't even realize that they're all supposed to be named after angels.

I suspect the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Clearly the game designers have left little or no instruction to the translators. I feel bad for them.

I never knew the source of the Fiends' names. Those demons or rivers? I always thought Rubicant was from the river Rubicon.

Ah well, the die have been cast.

[Wightraven]

I've noticed more than one reference to Franz Kafka (and yes, outside of FFVI) though I forget what they all are. *sighs, realizing he should really re-play all his FFs*

[The Man]

Originally posted by BG-57
My personal favorite bad translation is of the Elements in Xenogears: Seraphim, Cherubim, Throne and Dominion into Seraphita, Kelvina, Tolone and Dominia. I didn't even realize that they're all supposed to be named after angels.

Holy fork, that's bad. *needs to get Xenogears*

I suspect the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Clearly the game designers have left little or no instruction to the translators. I feel bad for them.

I never knew the source of the Fiends' names. Those demons or rivers?

They're demons, I'm pretty sure :P

And yes, I feel bad for the translators too. And you're probably exactly right.

I don't think there's supposed to be a Kefka/Kafka similarity either, although there is a track called "Metamorphosis" on the soundtrack so who knows.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

The Four Emperors' names in FFIV come from Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Sephiroth, Sephirot, and Sefirot are all prettymuch equally valid. Sources simply differ.

[§håd0w]

yea, and if u havent noticed (to any one in general) most things in the FF games have some historic reference

[TheAbominatrix]

Yeah, I think pretty much everyone has noticed that.

Anyway, it's my understanding that most references to The Sephiroth are from the Dead Sea scrolls, and most of that information isnt available to the general public, only the higher up religious scholars. I could be wrong though.

The Japanese seem to love referencing the Sephiroth... I've seen it in a lot of different anime, including Evangelion and Digimon. I dont know much about it... once I get around to going to college, I plan on taking a lot of religious studies.

[The Man]

Originally posted by Kawaii Ryûkishi
The Four Emperors' names in FFIV come from Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Bah, I thought I'd already mentioned that, but turns out I hadn't.

Yup. The Inferno, Canto XXI, to be exact.

Edit: wait, actually, I had

Sephiroth, Sephirot, and Sefirot are all prettymuch equally valid. Sources simply differ.

Fair enough, I wasn't sure on that one so thanks for clearing it up.

[BG-57]

The tricky thing about translating from Hebrew is that vowels aren't written. So if you transliterated the original word, you'd get something like 'SFRT'. My guess is the vowels are known in this case, since sefirot is still a commonly used word. But it must be awful to try to figure out vowels for words that aren't in use today.

[Doomgaze]

[§håd0w]

now click here for an even farther in depth topic about sephiroth. really makes u think