Latin Pony Names · 10:16pm Oct 4th, 2014
Pony names are a much appreciated and well documented part of the awesomeness of Friendship is Magic. It is, however, a little disappointing that this anglophone phenomenon does not extend much to other languages. At least for linguistic nerds like myself who take delight in repeatedly switching audio tracks to compare character names, and deciphering the logic of each rendering. In this respect, the Strawberry Shortcake franchise is rather more fun.
The names of all the main pony characters are the same in all the dubbed versions. Presumably this is due to a global marketing strategy to ensure that the core underlying message of the series (“Buy Hasbro Toys”) is not lost in translation. But this rule does not extend to ancient Rome, as while perusing the Latin wikipedia article of My Little Pony, some time ago (as you do) I was delighted to find that some creative wikipedian(s) had taken the trouble to compile a list of our favourite characters in lingua latina. An exercise in nomenclature creation going far beyond anything envisaged by Linnaeus.
On a more recent visit to this site, however, I noticed that this endearing endeavour had been removed by more recent edits. And tragically, one cannot challenge or justifiably reverse this action, as every wikipedia editor knows the site is an encyclopedia and not an indiscriminate collection of cute fan created pseudonyms. Yet it seems a terrible waste for such creativity to get lost in the archive of past wikipedia revisions. Thus I will now publish this lexicon here on FimFiction, the true home of pony-inspired literary ingenuity. So, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License et cetera, here you are. Taken from this version.
Twilight Sparkle: Crepusculum Scintilla (Would that also be Sunset Shimmer?)
Rarity: Raritas
Fluttershy: Volitaretimida
Rainbow Dash: Arcus Impetus
Applejack: Malaiacha
Pinkie Pie: Crustum Roseum (Rather missing the alliteration)
Spike: Clavus
Princess Celestia: Princeps Caelestia
Princess Luna: Princeps Luna
Granny Smith: Avia Smith
Big Macintosh: Macintosh Grandis
Apple Bloom: Floscula Mali
Scootaloo: Scutalu
Sweetie Belle: Ducilla Pulchra
Shining Armor: Scutum Lucidum
Princess Cadance: Princeps Numerae (This looks like it should be a mathematical joke, but I don't get it)
Derpy Hooves: Oculitransversi Ungulae
Doctor Hooves: Doctor Ungulae
Dinky Hooves: Parva Ungulae
Berry Punch: Potio Bacarum (Not sure of the grammar here, but it plays nicely with Bacchus)
Golden Harvest: Messis Aurea
Babs Seed: Barbara Granum
Great and Powerful Trixie: Magna et Potens Beatrix
Nightmare Moon: Suppressio Nocturna Lunae
Discord: Discordia
Arcus Impetus sounds almost imperial, or at least Shakespearean. (And now I'm imagining Dash as written by Shakespeare, and it's kind of fantastic.)
Floscula Mali sounds like an unpleasant fungal infection. A bloom, if you will.
Thanks for preserving these for posterity!
They sound awesome.
This is easily my favorite.
"Princeps Numerae" is … kinda right?, if my understanding of Latin serves. "Numerus" is a synonym to "rhythmus", or rhythm, but it also literally means numbers, and that's not what she's the princess of. ("numerae" is in the genitive case, which is possessive — "of numbers".)
In between that and Hasbro stubbornly insisting that her name is spelled with two A's, I think the Latin needs to go further afield. If they're willing to translate Derpy's name as "cross-eyed hooves" they clearly don't need to stick with the literal names.
I'd probably go with something like "Princeps Amoris," the Princess of Love, but "Princeps Cadens" might work too; literally it would make her the "princess of falling" (better than numbers, I suppose), but that's the actual root word from which Italian "cadenza" was derived, and thus her name.
Also, their translation of Nightmare Moon is a hot mess, unless they're going for something really metaphorical. I'd go with something more like Nocturna Malasomnia (though properly declined).
I like what they did with Dash and AJ, though I can't help but feel that they could have had more fun with Scootaloo; scutum lucis is, if one takes minor liberties with the translation, "paladin" (="warrior of the light").
This reminds be about feedback I gave to the translation of Discord’s Library into Esperanto. It had inventive translations of the names. Unfortunately, I had to point out that Hasbro does not translate names.
¿Ĉu vi scipovas paroli la lingvon internacian Esperanto?
Interesting list!
I´ve done a (partly) translation of these names myself, and tried to make the names sound good.
Applejack: Pomotollat
Rainbow Dash: Iridis Linea
Twilight Sparkle: Dilucula Scintillula
Pinkie Pie: Rosea Scriblita
Fluttershy: Papiliona (Since I couldn´t get a good translation for her name, I took the latin word for "butterfly", because "Fluttershy" is a play on the old word for "butterfly", "flutterby".)
Rarity: Rarita (Duh)
Applebloom: Pomoflorescant
Sweetie Bell: Dulcia Campana
Starswirl the Bearded: Stellavolu Barbatos
Granny Smith: Avia Faber
Maybe I will complete it, but I will still leave out the names that already are latin, like Luna for example, and those that don´t have a translation, like Tirek.
Also, in my headcanon, in the pre-Discordean era, the ponies spoke three languages: The Pegasi Ancient Greek, the Unicorns Latin, and the Earth Ponies... Well... No Idea.. Old English maybe?
Therefore, the names of the founders of Equestria would be:
Commander Hurricane: Dioikitis Typhona (In Latin, this would be "Imperator Arktos". Not bad, either.)
Chancellor Puddinghead: Cancellery Heafod Mearhgehsecces (No Idea how to pronounce that. But it got a pun in it.)
Princess Platinum: Reginilla Platinum
Private Pansy: Dekaneas Panses (I have an odd feeling about this.)
Smart Cookie: Snellic Bredhlaf
Clover the Clever: Trifolium Callidum
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Princpes Cadens sounds a bit too much like 'a fallen princess', which doesn't seem quite right. I was hoping that 'Principes Numerae' would mean something like 'prime number', but it seems not. The best I could do was 'Principes Harmoniae', but that sounds like the elements of harmony.
'Mi Amore Cadenza' works well partly because it is ambiguous, alluding to 'my love', 'falling in love', as well as the musical term. Curiously Google translates it as 'amo omni' or 'I love every', which doesn't match any use of 'cadenza' I've seen anywhere else. But Google comes up with some funny things.
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I note the Esperanto wikipedia page is the same.
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When I wrote The Equine Comedy, my original idea was that the Pegasi would quote Latin, the Unicorns French, and the Earth Ponies Shakespearian English. It only partly worked out. I gave the leaders the full names:
Imperator Perfectus Tempestas Hurricane
Princess Regnant Platinum Cheval de Bataille
Chancellor Plum Duff Puddinghead
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French for unicorns? Not a bad idea, that. I use Latin for them, because Latin is in fiction often considered the language of magic, expecially since Harry Potter. And since the Pegasus culture appears pretty much Greek (Greco-roman, maybe), I thought Ancient Greek would be fitting.
As for the Earth Ponies: Because the other two languages are so old, I thought the Earth Pony language should be about as old. But since I don´t have any idea about Ancient Saxon, the language Old English is based on, I used Old English.
As for Google: Yep, it is quite crazy. It´s not too bad with grammatically easy languages like English or Chinese, but Latin or German? Two languages which regularly appear high on lists of the grammatically hardest languages in the world? If not on top? That is linguistic slaughter, it is.
For example, someone asked me some time ago to correct the German translation of their Minecraft mod. They had the feeling that the translation they got from Google was inediquate, and the were correct: Google translates "Alien Creeper" with "Ausländer Schlingpflanze", which is translated back to English "Foreigner Climbing Plant". Correct, but complete Stuss.
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*ears perk up*
Do you speak/read Old English beyond the "grab words from online dictionaries" level? Not to impose, but I'd love a little help. My own historical Highlander crackfic crossover is using Unicorns = Old English, Earth Ponies = EME, and Pegasi = Modern English, and in two years I've never been able to get a second pair of eyes on my OE use.
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You misunderstand me, which is my fault:
The Library of Discord, is a story teaching mathematics. I figured that you would know about it because you like mathematics. The point is that somepony, who is not I, decided to translate Esperantically:
The Library Of Discord Esperanto Translation
I proof-read the translation. The had some really clever inventive translations of PonyNames. I had the displeasure of informing the translator that Hasbro does not translate PonyNames. I made it clear that, in FanFiction, we can do what we want, even translate names if we want. I hate that I volunteered to proof-read, because it was no fun having to bust the bubble of the translator.
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Nope, sorry. I could help you with Latin a bit, though.
Hoc amo. Latinam amo et et id sequitur disco.
(I love this. I love Latin and presently I'm learning it.)