Bleach terminology - suggestions of use

[Quevache]

*saved for later entry: Espada Aspects of Death (死の形 shi no katachi)

also ♪


I'm a newb here, so if by trying to start a thread I've violated the rules, please don't kill me .

As I've become more and more interested in Bleach, so have come more and more signs and examples of poor, vacillant and artless translations by Viz and the like of everything from character names to Shikai releases.

My goal with this thread is to establish a precedent, in spite of all other "official" this and "fanon" that, for Bleach names and terminology that can be adhered to as the "best ("bestest" ? ) try" at consistent and accurate usage.

After this "preface"/test post, my future posts will make such an attempt. I look forward to any feedback you can provide, and hope to foster the same warm, conversational community as I've seen elsewhere in this forum.

Thank you much.

[Rain]

do you mean like for example

visored > vizard

ogichi > shirosaki > hichigo

and words like that

[Kastro187420]

Lieutenant > Vice-Captain
Shinigami > Soul Reaper

Stuff like that if we're following what Rain Said. Thats the closest to what I think your talking about.

[Quevache]

*Note: I prefer using the same form for the plural as for the singular in most cases for two main reasons, a) it better represents the original Japanese usage (a minor point), and b) I like how it imbues the term with a more august, poetic feel, as it does statements e.g. "the Strong" for "those who are strong."

I also prefer to spell Japanese forms with a modified form of the usual Hepburn system that represents the spelling more accurately. After all, why does usu. Hepburn spell all the "long" vowels with a macron except ii? Why spell the sounds ou and oo both as ō, confusing what word might be intended? Thus, I will follow the actually orthography in my romanizations.

The suggested pronunciations are in the International Phonetic Alphabet with tiny modifications for notations not represented thereby. In cases of derivation from non-English names, e.g. Nnoitra from Richard Neutra, the situation is complicated: use the (in this case Austrian-German) native pronunciation, or an Anglicized one that includes pronouncing the final unstressed -a as [ə]? In such cases, I'll err on the side of safety, and use as close to the native as possible.

For words direct from English, no IPA will be used except when necessary.


The Arrancar (破面 (アランカル) Arankaru) [ä.ränˈkäɾ]

The Bount (バウント Baunto)

The Hollows (虚 (ホロウ) Horou)

The Modified Hunpo (改造魂魄 Kaizou Konpaku)

The Quincy (滅却師 (クインシー) Kuinshī)

The Plus (整 (プラス) Purasu)

The Shinigami (死神)

The Visored (仮面の軍勢 (ヴァイザード) Vaizādo) [ˈväɪ̯.zɝd]

[Skip00]

^^Well I would think that Shinigami would be acceptable - it's just the Japanese name after all

[Quevache]

Lieutenant > Vice-Captain
Shinigami > Soul Reaper

Stuff like that if we're following what Rain Said. Thats the closest to what I think your talking about.

Yeah, that's my meaning.

I know in one of the guidebooks, Kubo describes Ichigo as a "Soul Reaper" (in English), not a Shinigami, but in all others materials, he uses "Shinigami," not ソウル・リーパー Souru Rīpā. Sic, I use "Shinigami," especially since characters like Keigo and Karin saying "a Soul Reaper?!" doesn't make sense, since there's no historical precedent for an entity so named in English (though there is, of course, a "Grim Reaper")

I use "Visored" since "Vizard" rhymes perfectly with "wizard," and this would be katakana Vizādo.

Stuff like that.

[Skip00]

"Vizard" could also be pronouncd as V-eye-zard.
Just like they say it in Japanese, but without the "o" at the end

[Quevache]

"Vizard" could also be pronouncd as V-eye-zard.
Just like they say it in Japanese, but without the "o" at the end

I go by the American Heritage and Merriam-Webster dictionaries, which specify that the only "proper" way, in English, to pronounce the first syllable of vizard, visard is IPA [vɪz], wherein the notation [ɪ] is the same sound as in English bid (IPA [bɪd]). Thus, if Vizard was the intended romanization, it would, most likely, have been in katakana as Vizādo, not Vaizādo (the latter approximating the English pronunciation VEYE-zuhrd).

Thanks for helping bring up a possible source of confusion regarding my intentions. Everything helps this thread... "spin" (?)

[Quevache]

THE ARRANCAR (破面 (アランカル) Arankaru)
[ä.ränˈkäɾ]

Hollows that have removed their masks and gained Shinigami-like abilities. The process by which a Hollow becomes an Arrancar is referred to as Arrancarifaction (破面(アランカル)化 Arankaruka).

As seen in the creation of the Arrancar Wonderweiss Margera and (in the anime) Grand Fisher, Shinigamifaction seems to entail a Hollow's mask growing to cover the Hollow's entire body, like a cocoon, before shattering apart, leaving only a few fragments of said mask upon the new, more humanoid being.

A great surge in power seems to accompany the transformation, and whatever abilities they've suppressed through this anthropomorphism are sealed into the shape of a Zanpakutou they may unleash at will, restoring some of their Hollow appearance and its skills.

While the existence of Arrancar-like beings has apparently been known for a while in Soul Society, Isshin Kurosaki has remarked that no progress amongst their ranks has been noted, beyond "pseudo-Arrancar" (破面もどき Arankaru modoki, from a special reading of 擬 gi (suru), ni(seru), imitate, mimic), for decades.

At least, before the advent of Aizen and the Hougyoku.

Etymology
Spanish arrancar, uproot, tear or gouge out, of uncertain origin : probably Latin ad-, to, at (intensive verb prefix) + an unattested verb *rancar, probably of Germanic origin, akin to English wrench ("pull at by twisting"), from Germanic *wrankjan.

The kanji read "rent mask" : ya(buru), tear, rip, rend + men, mask, visage, face.

[Quevache]

THE BOUNT (バウント Baunto)

*I have to confess, I've something of a natural aversion to extended filler, so I have little direct knowledge of the much-bemoaned characters known as the Bount. However, in the interest of (more) completion, I include some data on them here.

Anime-only. Race of spiritually-empowered humans accidentally created by the Shinigami Landao in the forerunner of the Technology Development Bureau.

Attempting to achieve eternal life using the longevous souls of Shinigami as the base, a disruption of the experiment and unintended blending with souls from the living world produced the Bount who, on reaching their prime, ceased to age. They later learned, too, that consuming the souls of other, deceased humans can prolong their lives indefinitely, although consumption of living souls causes the Bount body to senesce.

Afterward, despite the best efforts of a contrite Landao to salvage a better life for them, the Bount twice suffered near-genocide at the hands of the Shinigami (acting on the Central 46 Chamber's orders) and later also the Quincy, all while simply trying to find a place in a world that now summarily rejected them.

Personally saved and then instructed by Landao herself in how to unlock the Bount's spiritual potential, a Bount boy named Eugene Currier, grown to manhood under the name Jin Kariya, revealed how the race could manifest powerful totems in the forms of Dolls--the Bount analogue of Zanpakutou--and plan their vengeance against Soul Society.

In a similar move to the Spanish motif of the Hollow, the Bount utilize several German terms.

Etymology
Uncertain. A Germanic derivation, in keeping with established Bount motifs, would presumably involve a word like *Baund or *Baunt, but no such German word exists in the usual language.

My best bet is a derivation from the root of English bounty, which derives from Middle English bounte, itself from Old French bonte, ultimately from Latin bonitās, goodness, from bonus, good. The intention may be equating the Bount to bounty hunters, rewarded with lengthened life via the seizing of others' souls.