Translating Game of Thrones
So I was in my Sanskrit Independent Study yesterday, when my professor commented on the unseasonably cold weather by saying, "It's almost like winter is coming." I stared for a moment, and then asked her if she watches Game of Thrones. Her response: "I read. I don't have time for TV." We proceeded to "waste" the next ten minutes of class time discussing Book 4 of Game of Thrones (I won't spoil from the book, but STOP reading if you're not up to date on the show).
So in honor of having an intensely serious classics professor who can also engage in a deep discussion of Game of Thrones, the following is a Sanskrit vocabulary of Game of Thrones terms (in Sanskrit alphabetical order, of course). Now you can have deep discussions of Game of Thrones with your friends in Sanskrit, which I'm sure was a void in all of your lives. Enjoy!
KEY TERMS
अश्वमेधः - Aśvamedha, Horse Sacrifice
A completely different set of cultural values here, but both the Dothraki and ancient speakers of Sanskrit put a pretty great emphasis on horse sacrifices. Kings used to perform this ceremony to guarantee prosperity throughout the entire realm for years to come.
उदचि नृपः - Udaci Nrpah, King in the North
The King in the North! The King in the North!
गुच्छयोधः - Gucchayodhah, The Knight of Flowers
I combined the word for "bunch of flowers" with the word for "soldier" to throw this together.
धूम्रो विवाहः - Dhūmro Vivāhah, Purple Wedding
Everyone's favorite wedding! Added bonus - "dhumra" can mean purple, smoky, or dark red as an adjective, but as a noun can refer to sin, evil or wickedness.
न किञ्चिद्वेत्सि जोन् हिम। - Na Kiñcidvetsi Jon Hima, You Know Nothing Jon Snow
You'll notice I had no idea how to translate Jon, so just transliterated it. Snow was easier.
नीला हि भीपुर्णा रात्रिः। - Nīlā Hi Bhīpurńā Rātrih, For the Night is Dark and Full of Terrors
This is a weird sentence. First, it has no verb. As my professor says, if you give a Sanskrit sentence a good shake, the "be" verbs will fall off. It's just a list of adjectives with the noun (night) at the end. I combined "Bhī," fear, and "Purńa," full, to mean full of terrors, and added the particle "hi," which has no related part of speech in English but is basically just thrown on there for extra meaning, in this case meaning "for."
पण्डुराश्चार्तारः - Pańdurāścārtārah, White Walkers
There are better words for white than "pańdura," but most of them mean pure or radiant where as this one refers to a sickly, pale color. Much better for the White Walkers, I think.
पावकप्राणः - Pāvakaprāńah, Dragon
So Sanskrit does this really interesting thing called compounds, where you can just smush words together and have them become one super word with a meaning that incorporates all the parts. One type of compound, called a बहुव्रीहि or bahuvrīhi, is where they mean something like "the thing that has these words". So for dragon, I went with "the thing with fiery breath." It's a compound of prāńam, meaning breath, and pāvakah, meaning fire.
भूबृद्धन्तृ - Bhūbrddhantr, Kingslayer
Everyone's (second) favorite Lannister. This looks super weird because "r" can be a vowel in Sanskrit. Technically we have "r" as a vowel sound in English as well, we just don't think of it that way. Take any word that ends in "-er" and say it out loud and you'll realize that the "r" makes up much more of the vowel sound than any kind of "e."
राज्ञो हस्तः - Rājño Hastah, The King's Hand
There are about a billion different ways to say both king and hand in Sanskrit, but these two are the ones I know best.
रात्रे रक्षा - Rātre Rakśā, The Night's Watch
As above, there are again about a billion different ways to say each of these words. Sanskrit really loves synonyms.
लोहितो विवाहः - Lohīto Vivāhah, Red Wedding
This one works particularly well, because lohita can be the adjective meaning red OR the noun meaning blood. A match made in heaven.
शीतकाल आगच्छति। - Śītakāla Āgacchati, Winter is Coming
It wouldn't be Game of Thrones if winter wasn't on its way.
सर्वे नरा म्रियन्ताम्। - Sarve Narā Mriyantām, Valar Morghulis or All Men Must Die
Three languages here, for added fun. The slogan for Season 4 promises lots of fun...
सिंहासनस्य क्रीटां क्रिडन्यदि पराजयसे तर्हि म्रियसे। - Simhāsanasya Krītām Krīdanyadi Parājayase Tarhi Mriyase, When You Play the Game of Thrones, If you Lose, You Die
The guiding statement for the whole series, pretty much. Simhāsanasya is an interesting word - it combines the "lion" (simha) and "seat" (āsana). Both of those Sanskrit words are pretty familiar, Simha being the origin of Simba, who was a HUGE part of my childhood, and āsana doubles as the word for pose in yoga.
सूची - Sūcī, Needle
Everyone's favorite sword, which recently made its dramatic reappearance in Arya's hands to open Season 4. This word can also refer to a specific style of dancing. Water-dancer, anyone?!?
होदोर् - Hodor, Hodor
Hodor hodor! Hodor... hodor hodor.