Hacker News Reader

Names don't normally survive intact when crossing languages; even more so when crossing multiple languages (original -> Greek -> Latin -> English).

Examples from Wikipedia:

- The Greek name for Alexander is Alexandros (Ἀλέξανδρος).

- The Persian name for Alexander is Iskandar (اسکندر).

- Porus is a similarly Latinized version of the Greek version (Πῶρος) of the Sanskrit name Purushottam (पुरुषोत्तम).

View on HN

The Greeks made very little effort to retain the phonetics of the original language. This is not a criticism of course, merely an observation, and perhaps partly driven by the impossibility of rendering certain sounds (eg "sh") in Greek. compare the Greek and native names of the various Egyptian gods for extreme examples.

Yes, its interesting to trace the routes of these words. The Persian word for Alexander is also Sikander and it was quite a popular name among sultans in medieval India. And my favorite: Tsar was derived from Caesar :)

And the scandinavian word "kejser/keisare", which meaning is equivalent to the English "emperor" (As in "Holy roman emperor")

And "Caesar" is properly pronounced "kaisar". Try to guess where the German "Kaiser" comes from.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com