A note

[benlehman]

The modern named of the ancient capital of China, where the Terra Cotta warriors are, is pronounced "she-ahn". The tones are both high, and it's a beautiful, sung out word.

It is not, under any circumstances, pronounced "zai-anne." Ever. EVER.

Comments

[silvergoose.livejournal.com]

xi-an?

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

In pinyin, yeah.

For an English audience, I try to write things in English words or, at the least, English phonics. So xi -> she , an -> ahn

[silvergoose.livejournal.com]

Sean, a sophomore here at Brown, is playing a character with that name in the current LARP.

Summons the pheonix all the time.

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

What meaning does the name have? In other words: 什么“xi"什么”an"?

[silvergoose.livejournal.com]

Given he's a samurai, I'm actually kinda confused by it. I'll ask him this afternoon.

[psychotropek.livejournal.com]

It's his Chinese name (his mother is Chinese), and I'm not exactly sure as to the meaning.

[silvergoose.livejournal.com]

The an is peace, and thus xi-an is some form of peace.

Beyond that he is unsure.

[foreign-devilry.livejournal.com]

In the surprisingly good comic X-Men 2099, the far-future version of Professor X was this Chinese guru named "Xi'an Chi Xan," obviously invented by someone who didn't understand either 1) Chinese naming practices or 2) pinyin. There was one issue where they clarified that they intended it to be pronounced "Zai-An Chee Zan."

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

Okay, so, if we're going to parse that as actual Chinese, I could see it as: Xi'an Chi Shan
西安吃山

"The mountain-eater from Xi'an," which is kinda a cool name.

yrs--
--Ben