Names for the Nevernever in non-English

[eri]

Hi, so ... I GM a game set in Norway. We're playing mostly in Norwegian. Not a problem, most of the time, but I'm having a bit of a problem deciding what to call the Nevernever. Now I realise that most of you, not being Norwegian, are not going to be able to help me with that, (and since as far as I know there are no Norwegian translations of the Dresden Files I can't just look up what the translator used) but maybe you have your own stories of translating stuff like this into another language that could be of help?

For the curious and/or the Norwegian speaker, these are the ideas I have so far, (maybe I'll get lucky and actually get some input):

My first thought was Underjorden (means something like "the earth below") because I've been calling the fae underjordiske, because, well, that's what fae like creatures are called in Norwegian, but apparently my players heard that as under jorden, which means "below ground", which wasn't what I was going for.

Aldriland (literally Neverland, which is what the translator of Peter Pan used) or Aldrialdri by analogy thereof. Decent I suppose, but they sound somehow awkward to me...

Hvittenland ("Whiteland" basically, only the word for white is very oldfashioned) or Soria Moria (this is just a name, no particular meaning), both magical places in fairy tales, could work, I particularly like Soria Moria, but they're more like specific places in the Nevernever than the Nevernever in its entirety.

I could always just stay with Nevernever, I suppose. We usually play in English anyway, when we're playing DnD and stuff.

[Mr. Death]

Not Norwegian or anything, but one of my PCs is a Valkyrie, and I've had it be a thing of hers to sometimes refer to Faerie as "Alfheim." May not be applicable to a modern Norwegian, though.

[eri]

Oh, forgot about that one. It's decent, but has some of the same problems as Soria Moria, in that it means "home of the elves" and as such is kind of just one part of the Nevernever and not the whole thing. I'm planning on using all the Norse Mythology place names (like Alfheim and Jotunheim and Aasgaard etc) as names for specific places in the Nevernever.

[Orladdin]

I always got the feeling that Nevernever was just something mortals called it, and it was mostly influenced by Neverland in Peter Pan.  Using Aldriland or Aldrialdri would be reasonable as a straight tranlation in that case.

On the other hand, other cultures or even subcultures will use other names.  Consider: I don't think any of the Fae or other denizens ever refer to the Nevernever as the Nevernever.  In my games I have random spirits and non-wizard humans simply refer to it as "the other side."  You could go that route and use some mystical, referrential title.

[Shecky]

"The other side" is used a lot for where you go after death. This feels more like an Otherland or Otherworld or some such.

[admiralducksauce]

"The other side" is used a lot for where you go after death. This feels more like an Otherland or Otherworld or some such.

Heheh.  In that same vein, Mortal Kombat called it Outworld.

EDIT: Which... could be badass. NeverNever fighting tournament!

[Orladdin]

Heheh.  In that same vein, Mortal Kombat called it Outworld.

EDIT: Which... could be badass. NeverNever fighting tournament!

That certainly would be a fun hook.

"The other side" is used a lot for where you go after death. This feels more like an Otherland or Otherworld or some such.

How do we know you don't end up somewhere in the NN upon death?  It's already been shown that A) spirits/ghosts can transition there at-will, B) the DownBelow is in the NN somewhere, C) the NN is nearly infinite, D) powerful beings have their own Demesne in the NN  E) everywhere on earth and out to the distance of the moon has a mapping in the NN... 
I think where you show up just depends on where you step through.  Also, we have not observed that everywhere in the NN has a real-world mapping. 
It could support the traditional idea of heaven and hell being in the NN somewhere.

I don't want to hijack the thread anymore, though, so I'll leave it up to someone else to start a new thread if they want to continue.


To the OP: I guess my point is that not every faction calls it the same thing, and certainly not every language is going to have an analogous name for it.  Since it sounds like you're a native Norwegian speaker, just think of how you personally would have referred to a place described as they describe the NN if you had appeared there in real-life with no prior knowledge of the Dresden Files.  What would you have called it?

Another idea: "Drømmen" is what google gives me.  "The Dream" or something similar.

[Fyrchick]

How about whatever might translate to "the in between" "lost space"
or "unseen world"
or something that refers to the monsters under the bed or "behind the shadows".
Or Wonderland or something like it...

I always think the best names are the ones that have sound good and are easier to say in whatever language it is being translated into rather than the exact meaning.

[eri]

Thanks for all the great ideas! Not all of them are workable, but I've gotten much closer to the answer I wanted.

Since it sounds like you're a native Norwegian speaker, just think of how you personally would have referred to a place described as they describe the NN if you had appeared there in real-life with no prior knowledge of the Dresden Files.  What would you have called it?

That's the problem: there's no good name for it. Or rather, there's too many names for it and those that are best generally have connotations I don't want to invoke. Also, my first instinct felt wrong to the players, so that won't work. (And yes, I'm a native speaker.) I like your idea about "the Dream" though, Drømmeland (“Dreamland”) would fit. It's currently in my top three choices.

I'm currently wavering between these options:

Ginnungagap, (see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginnungagap) even though I was trying to avoid something that was so blatantly Norse. I mean: it is huge, it's "the chaos that everything originated from" and most of the mythological places are technically located within it. That seems to fit.

Drømmeland "Dreamland"

Eventyrland "Fairytale-land"

or just have everyone call it by different names and / or euphemisms, like landet som ikke finnes "The land that isn't" Landet på den andre siden "the Land on the Other Side" (another good idea, thank you), I berget det blå "In the blue mountain" or bak stjernene "behind the stars"

[Orladdin]

...or just have everyone call it by different names and / or euphemisms, like landet som ikke finnes "The land that isn't" Landet på den andre siden "the Land on the Other Side" (another good idea, thank you), I berget det blå "In the blue mountain" or bak stjernene "behind the stars"

Yeah, and I was just listening to Summer Knight this morning on the way to work-- Harry even calls it "the other side" at one point; mentioning how every place theorized to exist, Mount Olympus, Alysium Fields, Heaven, Hell, etc. is likely somewhere in the NN.

I think it adds a lot of flavor to both the place and the people talking about it if they all refer to it by different names.  This guy calls it The Nightmare World?  Hmm, I wonder where he's been.  or This guy calls it elf town?  He must only have been to the nice places,  etc.

[CottbusFiles]

I have the same problems in german. I finally got my hands on Blood Rites in the german translation but i'm not sure if it is even plays a role in the book. The translation is halfway decent.

BUT the translation of Blastingrod is more or less "Boom/Bang-stick/cane" (Knallstock) and this drives me insane. Why not call it a flamestaff or flamefokus...

[Orladdin]

I have the same problems in german. I finally got my hands on Blood Rites in the german translation but i'm not sure if it is even plays a role in the book. The translation is halfway decent.

BUT the translation of Blastingrod is more or less "Boom/Bang-stick/cane" (Knallstock) and this drives me insane. Why not call it a flamestaff or flamefokus...

Because "blasting" is something you do with explosives such as dynamite.  Boomstick is a pretty good analogy.  Especially since I wouldn't be surprised to have Harry quote Ash from Evil Dead II at some point.  Very fitting.

[Tsunami]

I have the same problems in german. I finally got my hands on Blood Rites in the german translation but i'm not sure if it is even plays a role in the book. The translation is halfway decent.

BUT the translation of Blastingrod is more or less "Boom/Bang-stick/cane" (Knallstock) and this drives me insane. Why not call it a flamestaff or flamefokus...

Knallstock... you have got to be kidding.
Now i'm even happier that i don't need to bother with the translation.

Because "blasting" is something you do with explosives such as dynamite.  Boomstick is a pretty good analogy.  Especially since I wouldn't be surprised to have Harry quote Ash from Evil Dead II at some point.  Very fitting.

Trouble is that "Knallstock" sounds totally silly. Personally i think i would have gone with "Brennstab" or maybe "Brennstock" because "Stab" would have to be used to translate "Staff" . Brennstab is what you call nuclear fuel rods in German... somehow i like that or something close to it for harry's blastingrod. *g*

As for The Nevernever. I think the german books call it Niemalsland, but in our game we just use Nevernever. Or if we really need a german name we call it Geisterwelt, or maybe Feenreich or Astralraum, Astralebene, Anderswelt, Anderland, Nebenwelt, Nebelreich, Nebelheim... whatever sounds vaguely mystical. Theres probably dozens more out there that i can't think of right now.

[CottbusFiles]

Thinking about it, we have the Niebelungensaga and Niebelungen is roughly translated to "children of the fog". Calling it "The Fogs"/Die Nebel is something to think about.
Other ideas for german translation are

Die andere Seite / The other side
Anderswelt / Other(s)world (also a shout out to a cool song of a folk-rock)

[eri]

Ooh, that's very good.

Tåka and Tåkebarna (The Fog and the Fogchildren), I like it. Definitely the feel I was going for. There's a fairly well established LARP setting in Norway with something like that as a main, um, antagonistic force. I'm fairly sure none of my players know it though, so that should work very well indeed.