Safehold Names; Common Names versus Geographic Names

Safehold place names is one area where I feel that our honored author is, to use a technical term, "off his rocker!" or else being very sneaky

RFC has made a point to have a drift in common name spellings to the point where my forehead veins tend to knot. Yet in this religious theocracy with a 'Sanctified' atlas, most all of the place names are 'Standard English'. To my mind this is illogical in a society where the theocracy has a 'thing' about heresies. On the Map (Capitalized since the Sanctified Original is in the Temple), you have the Continent of 'Howard' yet in the common vernacular of personal names, how is Howard spelled? Hauwerd!

So is this a red herring in that the spelling matches the place names and it is only as people are talking that we get the shifted spelling to account for a form of 'vowel shift'? Is this a plot device for further on when Safeholdians encounter TF survivors and realize that they are separated by a common tongue?

Anybody care to psychanalize this issue?

Charybdis wrote:RFC has made a point to have a drift in common name spellings to the point where my forehead veins tend to knot. Yet in this religious theocracy with a 'Sanctified' atlas, most all of the place names are 'Standard English'. To my mind this is illogical in a society where the theocracy has a 'thing' about heresies. On the Map (Capitalized since the Sanctified Original is in the Temple), you have the Continent of 'Howard' yet in the common vernacular of personal names, how is Howard spelled? Hauwerd!

I think "Hauwerd" is still spelled "Howard," it is only the pronunciation that has changed.

Or, it may be that somewhere along the line, someone decided "Howard" was too ordinary and, like my granddaughter change the spelling to be more exotic -- eg change "Alex" to "Alyx."

Charybdis wrote:Safehold place names is one area where I feel that our honored author is, to use a technical term, "off his rocker!" or else being very sneaky

RFC has made a point to have a drift in common name spellings to the point where my forehead veins tend to knot. Yet in this religious theocracy with a 'Sanctified' atlas, most all of the place names are 'Standard English'. To my mind this is illogical in a society where the theocracy has a 'thing' about heresies. On the Map (Capitalized since the Sanctified Original is in the Temple), you have the Continent of 'Howard' yet in the common vernacular of personal names, how is Howard spelled? Hauwerd!

So is this a red herring in that the spelling matches the place names and it is only as people are talking that we get the shifted spelling to account for a form of 'vowel shift'? Is this a plot device for further on when Safeholdians encounter TF survivors and realize that they are separated by a common tongue?

Anybody care to psychanalize this issue?

Remember that the geographic names on the Safehold map were sanctified by being included in one of the Writ's Books. As such, no change could be allowed.

On the other hand, there was no such injunction against changes in the names of individuals, as the language of Safehold differentiated into various languages and dialects.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is why Mr Weber gave people's names such weird spellings, in order to emphasize the Church's 'purpose'.

It's not just place names - Look at all of the titles, such as Baron Green Valley, or the Earl of Gray Harbor, or Earl of Lock Island. These are all named after places, and while place names haven't changed, titles such as this should have drifted, spelling-wise, the way personal names have. I definitely wonder what RFC's rationale for the way names work is.
Philip Stanley

Philip Stanley wrote:...titles such as this should have drifted, spelling-wise, the way personal names have. ...

I would expect any drift to be something like "Bron Gree Valley" or "Url Lock Island" due to the influence of the Writ on place names.

The fact Titles of Nobility haven't drifted suggests than the Writ might specify the organization of Feudal Hierarchies.

David has implied that he regrets ever trying to make the name spellings so weird because of the inconsistencies. I think we can forgive him.

SWM wrote:David has implied that he regrets ever trying to make the name spellings so weird because of the inconsistencies. I think we can forgive him.

Hey, he's welcome to use my 'explanation' as an out.