What's in a Name? (Astrologian Ver.)

[Fernehalwes]

Recently, Foxclon posted a reply to a player query about the name astrologian.

As most of you know, the term astrologian has been used in ARR to refer to those Ishgardians employed at the Observatorium in the Coerthas central highlands. The Japanese term for the profession is 占星術士 (sen-sei-jutsu-shi). When the new astrologian job was announced for Heavensward, however, the documentation shown at the Tokyo Fan Festival had a different 'spelling' for the Japanese: 占星術師. This word, while pronounced exactly the same (sen-sei-jutsu-shi) can be seen to be using a different 4th character.

Foxclon's reply states that the shift from one character to the other is intentional, with the former being an Ishgardian spelling, and the latter a Sharlayan one. There is also the fact that (while both esentially meaing 'person') the meaning of the two characters actually differs slightly (士 being used in words like 騎士/knight, 兵士/soldier, 消防士/fireman and 師 being used in words like 教師/teacher, 医師/doctor, 薬剤師/pharmacologist).

So why, then, did the EN choose to stick with astrologian for the job name than choose a different term (like, say, astrologer)? Well, back when deciding the terms to be used for the new jobs, I discussed this very issue with Oda-san (XIV Lore Team lead). A proper conveyance of slight difference in meaning between 士 and 師 couldn't simply be done by having one be astrologian and one be astrologer because the difference between 士 and 師 is different than the difference between astrologian and astrologer.

Because I wasn't ready to simply change the word for the sake of changing it, I explored several different options with Oda-san, finally coming to the consensus that keeping the terms the same in English was the best option. The main reason behind this was that in Eorzea, spoken language has far more weight than written language (with literacy rates amongst the commonfolk being low). As both Japanese renditions of the job name are pronounced exactly the same, it felt right to have the English terms also be the same, preserving the oral similarity. As for the slight difference in meaning between the Ishgardian and Sharlayan spellings in the Japanese, we agreed that these could be explained within in-game quests, NPC dialogue, or tomes found in...certain locations ().

I hope that helps clear things up!

(On a side note, now that Fan Fests are all finished and 2.5 patch craziness is winding down, I'm hoping to take time over the next few weeks to sit down and address a lot of the pending questions that have been filling up the Lore Forums. Thanks for being so patient, and thanks to those players who have chimed in to answer stuff where they could. You guys are lifesavers!)

EDIT (01/09/2015): I fixed a critical spelling error in the Japanese word(s) for astrologian (the first two characters are supposed to be 占星 (sen-sei), and I had them backwards as 星占 (sei-sen)). The rest of the post remains unchanged. I apologize for the craziness!!

[Dynza]

To be honest, I'd've been more than happy with the differentials between Sharlayan and Ishgardian being Astrologist and Astrologian. But then again, you're right in that is isn't really the same in terms of translating, and you can't really use Astronomer for a number of reason. =)

Ah well, Astrologian is fine with me. I just worry that some folks are going to end up pronouncing it incorrectly for a while and others are going to shorten it (Go Astros!) Either way, nice to see you again. Get to work on the Dravanian naming and Au Ras soon, please =)


EDIT: Oh by the way, slight off-topic but I did want to ask something regarding Machinist.

In the past FF games have often used the term Machina using a hard "C" sound (Mah Kee Nah). I wonder if the pronunciation of Machinist is supposed to using a similar sounding pronunciation or if you're going for the more traditional pronunciation?

[Zedd702]

EDIT: Oh by the way, slight off-topic but I did want to ask something regarding Machinist.

In the past FF games have often used the term Machina using a hard "C" sound (Mah Kee Nah). I wonder if the pronunciation of Machinist is supposed to using a similar sounding pronunciation or if you're going for the more traditional pronunciation?

Yeh I was like "Lol Mah-sheen-ist? No. Mah-ken-ist..."

[Fernehalwes]

In the past FF games have often used the term Machina using a hard "C" sound (Mah Kee Nah). I wonder if the pronunciation of Machinist is supposed to using a similar sounding pronunciation or if you're going for the more traditional pronunciation?

In ARR we've used both 'machine' and 'machina,' the former in a more general sense, the latter to refer almost solely to Garlean technology. As the former is more widely seen throughout Eorzea, we're probably going to go with the soft 'sh' sound for machinist. I'd like to go into a little more depth, but the evil eye Oda-san is giving me right now has me frightened for my life, so you'll have to wait for further details.

[WellFooled]

I'd like to go into a little more depth, but the evil eye Oda-san is giving me right now has me frightened for my life, so you'll have to wait for further details.

Wait, don't go! Let us at least offer you a bribe first! D:

[EinherjarLucian]

Wait, don't go! Let us at least offer you a bribe first! D:

Or a drink. Or a bribe that's a drink.

[Eltaire]

I'd like to go into a little more depth, but the evil eye Oda-san is giving me right now has me frightened for my life, so you'll have to wait for further details.

But... you're an Ahriman! How could anyone possibly out evil eye you?

[SirSaber]

But... you're an Ahriman! How could anyone possibly out evil eye you?

Oda-san as two evil eyes + an evil eyes intensifier (glasses).

I would be scared too.

[Inzoum]

I'd like to go into a little more depth, but the evil eye Oda-san is giving me right now has me frightened for my life

Oh, the irony of it all.

[Kio]

Oh, the irony of it all.

Don't you mean the eye-rony?