Is Ceres' name actually Celes?

[Shax]

I just started watching the series and I'm up to ep 5. Anyway I think Ceres' name is actually Celes, coz as we know the japanese don't have the letter 'L' and thus they always pronounce 'L' as 'R'. Also she's a celestial. So what do you guys think?

[Aku Shi]

Actually, Ceres is the name of a Roman goddess, as is Juno and a few other names that some of the tenyou on the series have. But, it IS a pun, as you have noticed. While her name IS ACTUALLY CeRes, when spoken in Japanese, it does sould like CeLes, as in celestial. But, that's all it is, a pun, because her real name does actually have the r in it.

[EdXu21]

just a bit of side deviation ~sorry:p
i was wondering how ceres is pronounced.. i noe they said it
cer-eh-s in the show, but i always felt it should be cer-ee-s

[jus like evan-JEH-lion]

:confused:

[Aku Shi]

Uh... First I wanna say that it's Evangelion is pronounced eh-vahn-Gehl-ee-on...with a hard G... There are no soft g's (as in germ...you know...when it makes a j sound) in Japanese.

Now, on to Ceres...

Ceres, as in the Roman goddess, is pronounced sear-is... Think cereal with an s instead of al, since that's where cereal gets its name. Ceres was the goddess of grain and the harvest. Thus, you get cereal from her name. Yeah.

Now, if you are going to talk how it should be pronounced on a Japanese anime series, I'd say seh-rlehs. That's how it turns into the pun, because of the r. It sounds almost like celes as in celestial.

Hope that cleared some things up... Heh.. ^_^;;

[Kawaii Miko]

Sighs

In accordance of the Japanese language, there is no C, L, V or X.

Example Only

Evangelion will sound like this = Ei-ban-ge-ri-on

Hence there is no V or L sound in the word.

For Ayashi No Ceres

For Ceres, its = Sei-ri-su

Again, the Japanese don't have C and an L sound.

Was there a pun to begin with?

Once again from the top! Ayashi No Ceres has ONE pun in this particular title and it does not refer to the name of Ceres or any goddess. The heroine of the story, Aya is a pun used for the title, hence she changes over to Ceres at certain and expected times and her powers are overwhelming.

This is all the information I obtained and remembered from the series

[Aku Shi]

This sense of mystery even extends to the series' title--Ayashi no Ceres is yet another example of the type of word play that is so common in manga and anime. Ayashi means strange; wonderful; mysterious; marvelous; unearthly supernatural. But the kanji, or Chinese character that Watase uses for ayashi is not the traditional one. She uses instead the character for "bewitching." So the title literally means "Bewitching Ceres." The main character's name, Aya, also ties into the "Ayashi" of the title. Additionally, Ceres is the Roman name for Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, grain, and fertility, pronounced "keresu" in Japanese. Just to keep things interesting, the manga uses a different derivative of this name pronounced "seresu."

-Animerica


And yes, I know about the Aya pun, as well as there not being C, V, L, or X. Taxi is takushi, my last name (Lester) is Resutaa, and my first name (Cassie) is Kashii (because they also do not have the "see" noise in their vocabulary). And, it's because of that that I believe Vash's name from Trigun is a pun, because it would be written as Bashu (bash), and what usually happens when he's around? Things get bashed! Yay!! ^_^

Anyway, back on topic. In the show, it is not pronounced like the actual goddess' name should be. Instead, it is pronounced in a way that is like celes from celestial. You cannot ignore that. There is a pun there, besides the Aya thing. Hell, I notice it everytime I say the name that Viz gave it when they brought it over- Ceres: The Celestial Legend. I tend to roll my r's a little, making the r/l noise, when I'm saying something Japanese or from a Japanese title (which would make sense, no?). So, it sounds a lot like I'm saying Celes: The Celestial Legend.

Yeah. I go now. I'm hungry.

[jennwenn]

Wow! I never knew there was all that depth to the title. One thing I actually do like about Watase's work is her research, love of mythology, and word play that is evident even in the titles.

Also, you're right there is no "L" sound in Japanese. "L" sounds become "R" sounds. (Usually when a foreign word is brought to the Japanese language.) Pronouciation-wise, the Japanese are actually prounoucing it wrong, but only in relation to how the word was originally supposed to be prounouced. (Ah, gotta love those katakana vocab tests...)


But as previous posters have explained, there is added depth to the title as both "ceres" and "celes".

[Twilight]

Heh... you all know how to make my brain just shut down. :eek:

Branching off of Kawaii's Aya pun, if you separate it it becomes:

Aya shi no Ceres, which, my japanese um... is severely lacking but shi means death. So couldnt that roughly translate into Ceres of/is Aya's death?

Umm where am I going with this: Aya receeds when Ceres is out, hinting at the transformation, which is kinda like death since the personality is extinguished.

*rubs her head* I think something broke up there... Im out!

[Key]

Watase probably was thinking of the word "Celes" when she made Ceres' official romanization "Ceres." Not that uncommon for something like that to happen.

The title "Ayashi no Ceres" is a play on words though as the Kanji used for the "Aya" in "Ayashi" uses the same character as the one that is used in Aya-chan's name instead of the normal Kanji used to spell the word. "Ayashi" roughly translates into "suspicious," btb.