Ni'nat or Ninat?

[Ashen Key]

I was watching the movie the other night with some friends, when I noticed something. In the scene Tree of Voices scene, when Neytiri is offering Jake both Ninat and Peyral, the way she says Ninat is far closer to "Ni'Nat" than "Nin-at".

Anyone else notice this? (and I can't remember the way Jake says it) And would you write it "Ninat" or "Ni'nat"?

[Helicoradian]

Noticed that also, so I would assume the way Neytiri pronounces it would be the correct one. Not to sure on Ninat vs. Ni'nat, seems that most people just write it "Ninat".

[Human No More]

Ninat. The ' is a more obvious stop (contrast Mo'at), the use of it as a letter isn't actually present in English so there's no real base for comparison for many people.

[electrosphere11]

Hmm, never actually thought about how one would write it. The way Neytiri says it could arguably be one or the other. I'll just stick with Ninat for now though

[Ashen Key]

Cool, thanks guys. If I ever do this fic of Peyral and Ninat, I'll use 'Ninat'.

Although, hrm. Now I'm more confused over the meaning of her name - "nin" is "look at", from memory (at public comp, can't easily check), but Neytiri clearly says 'ni-nat', so logically the meaning would be 'ni' ("like/as") + other things. *rubs head*

[Human No More]

Not all names have a literal meaning (actually, the only one that DOES is Toruk (technically, I guess Seze could be considered although I think that's different because it's named after something else and isn't a compound word. ))

[Ashen Key]

Originally Posted by Human No More

Not all names have a literal meaning (actually, the only one that DOES is Toruk (technically, I guess Seze could be considered although I think that's different because it's named after something else and isn't a compound word. ))

Well, Peyral means "Meant to Wait", Neytiri (as far as I can remember) is "Wants Life" - they aren't just meaningless symbols thrown together. Take your real name, or mine - my full first name, Ashleigh, means "ash-tree field". By and large, names have meanings. And in fiction, these meanings can (but not always) be quite symbolic - Miles "soldier", Jake from Jacob "supplanter", Trudy from Gertrude "spear-strength". Even Neytiri's "wants life" - she's so vibrant and fierce, and the name suits her.

So, not knowing what Mo'at means, or not knowing what Ninat means, bothers me. But I can be pedantic like that *g*