Worldbuilding I: Meaning of Names and Discongruent Stores · 4:27am Jul 20th, 2014
Almost a year ago, I posted my surprisingly-popular Science blog. Not long after, I began a long e-mail exchange with a fellow philosopher, scientist, and all-around good guy on the topic of worldbuilding.
One of these days, I'm gonna began to post those things on my blog. And one of these days, I'm gonna make a handy index. But unlike some users, I am an avid reader and a reasonably prolific writer, so I don't have the free time to make a nice shiny user page.
Still, there are some ideas that bounce around in my head from time to time, and while I touch upon them in blog posts for chapter notes, I don't often expand upon them, unless I see a large response in the comments.
I also do still gaze upon the group threads every now and then (remember those?), and some of them give me inspirations. Sometimes i comment; other times I don't. One of those comments I wished I'd saved was a fairly well-reasoned discussion of pony naming traditions.
I'm gonna cover two topics here in some detail, and I'll also leave a third at the end. This isn't the kind of blog post which lends itself to pictures, more's the pity. So grab a cuppa and lean back and enjoy.
We're gonna begin with names.
Pony names.
There is quite a bit of speculation about how ponies get their names, since most of them seem to have names which relate to their cutie marks, yet we know from canon that they don't get their cutie marks for years—so how do the parents know?
Well, I can't answer that. I have some ideas—but I'm sad to inform you that this is not the topic of discussion. I'll touch upon that in a later blog post.
No, one of the problems with names is that they're just silly. Cities are puns, pony names are clearly unrealistic. What kind of mother would name her foal 'Fluttershy,' for example?
Those of you who read my blog post for the last chapter of OPP no doubt observed that I'd named the Buffalo Chief after a Native American. I used the translation of his name.
Snowy correctly figured out that the Native American in question was Tecumseh.
Now, in popular culture in America, it's well known that Native Americans often had rather silly names. [Before you start throwing rocks at me, hear me out.] For example, we have Geronimo, also known as Goyahkla. His name translates to 'one who yawns.'
He was the first prominent Native American who came to mind, but his name hardly lead to ponification. Following Wikipedia links, I also found names meaning "he-just-sits-there," "Something-by-the-campfire-already-cooked," "dexterous-horse-thief," "mischief-maker," and so on.
I don't think their parents all had a cruel sense of humor when it came to naming their children. I think those names had particular meanings to them—whether they were named that at birth or achieved that name through deeds. And I think that something is lost in translation.
For those of you who haven't already, I have an assignment. Your real name—whatever it is—didn't come from nowhere. It's got a history in your culture, and I want you to look it up. Find out what it really means. [And feel free to comment on it, if you want to.]
My actual first name is Philip. It's a Biblical name, dating back to Greek times. It means 'lover of horses.' (I swear that I am not making this up. That really is my real name, and a more appropriate name I can't imagine.)
(because it's adorable)
So now let's imagine that instead of being called a boring 'Philip' throughout my life, I'd been called "Horse Lover" or some variation thereof. It wouldn't seem odd if everyone in class had similar names . . . it would just be what we're used to.
While this might not fly in a "holy crap I'm in Equestria and everypony just happens to speak English" fic, in a language barrier fic the protagonist is probably never going to know that everypony has a 'funny' name. Twilight Sparkle might introduce herself as Dammerung Glanz, and that's not going to mean anything to our protagonist (unless he speaks German [and that was Google translated; I don't speak German]).
The point is, if you examine names in foreign language, they almost certainly have a meaning in that culture, and in some cases it's a meaning which might have been lost with time. My parents named me after my maternal grandfather; I doubt that they looked at me as a foal baby and thought he'll write MLP fanfic one day. For authors, if you're writing a realistic language-barrier fic, you don't have to come up with a reason to justify pony names. You can if you want to, but you don't have to.
(unrelated)
A recent thread in the Writer's Group about store names got me to thinking.
In canon, as a throw-away joke, we were introduced to "Quills and Sofas." It's led to a fan cliche of stores which sell two very different items. I used that humorously in Celestia Sleeps In with a Vengeance with Spatulas and Alarm-Clocks (said alarm clocks being manufactured by the Greater Canterlot & Manehattan Fire Hose & Alarm Clock Company), and somewhat more seriously in OPP with Apple Honey being both the owner of a farm supply store and the sole propriator of the Ponyville Express newspaper (which is badly in need of a copy editor).
Okay, it's good for a few laughs. But let's imagine ourselves in an earlier society. Giant maga-corporations are probably unknown to the ponies—the only possible contender is Barnyard Bargains (if we take the IDW comics as canon).
Many of the ponies are doing the same thing their parents did, and learned the trade from them. We know that Applejack is carrying on the family farm, and we know that she's the fourth generation of Apple to run it (Granny's parents, Granny [and husband], AJ's parents, and now her). But what if she hadn't liked apples?
She went off to Manehattan to hang out with the Oranges. She moved back . . . but what if she'd gotten an orange cutie mark?
I can see that playing out one of two ways. She might have stayed in Manehattan, building an orange empire . . . or she might have moved back to Ponyville, and planted a grove of orange trees.
In Apple Family Reunion, both Golden Harvest (AKA Carrot Top) and Cherry Berry were shown in some of the scenes. This suggests that they diverged from the normal apple theme, and set off down their own paths once they got their cutie marks. In my headcanon, it was Golden Harvest's parents who started the carrot farm (conveniently right next to Sweet Apple Acres), and Cherry Berry is related to Cherry Jubilee, who is the missing link in that branch of the Apple family.
We've also seen that Sweet Apple Acres grows corn. Why, we don't know. They also keep various animals—chickens, cows, sheep, and pigs—which means that there's always a chance that Apple Bloom will get her cutie mark in animal husbandry or corn-growing.
If we shift to the skilled trades department . . . let's imagine that Davenport's parents really like sofas. A lot. Enough to name their foal after a piece of furniture. As soon as he's old enough, he's working in the store, learning the ins and outs of the sofa business. All the while, though, he's got a strange interest in quills. Maybe he really likes pegasi (seriously, where do you think they get the quills from?).
One day, he gets his cutie mark—but it's not a sofa, it's a quill. [I do know that he has a sofa and a quill as a cutie mark, but bear with me here.] What's he to do? He knows that he's most likely going to take over the family business, but he's got a cutie mark in something else.
Isn't the obvious answer to expand the store to carry a new line? Intellectually, he knows the sofa business. He's been immersed in it his whole life. Emotionally, he knows quills like nopony else.
Alternately, depending on your own personal view of Equestria, the same thing could come about as the result of a marriage.
So, as a writer, rather than use odd store juxtapositions as a bit of comic relief, they can instead provide a bit of insight into the pony who's currently running the store, as well as a glimpse into their family history. We should embrace stores like Quills and Sofas or Spatulas and Alarm Clocks, not groan when we see them.
Finally, I have one further bit of wisdom to impart. We know from canon that ponies rarely cover their cutie marks. We presume that if a pony has enough of an interest in a field to get a cutie mark in that particular subject, that they're probably an expert. For example, we know that AJ and her kin grow the best apples. We've seen Roma's tomato cutie mark, and it's not a stretch to imagine that Goldengrape knows a thing or two about grapes.
(whoever goes to that asparagus stand had better have an asparagus cutie mark)
We also know that different crops mature at different times.
Given all that, imagine how difficult it must be for a farmer to sell a fruit or vegetable when her cutie mark is for something else. While this might not be an issue in a small town like Ponyville, I could see it being a huge problem in Canterlot. A mare selling cantaloupes with a hammer cutie mark is not going to be able to command as high a price as the mare who has an actual cantaloupe on her flank.
Your final thought, inspired by one of my brilliant readers:
Griffons are a hybrid of eagles and lions.
There are many other birds of prey, and many other great cats.
What kind of offspring might you get if you combined a peregrine falcon with a cheetah? Would it be a very fast griffon?
Could different crossbreeds have different skills, including their propensity towards flight (or not), endurance, top speed, and so forth?
It's worth consideration.
EDIT: above, my spellchecker corrected 'cantaloupes' [which I misspelled] to 'antelopes.' I fixed it. Here's the as-published passage:
A mare selling antelopes with a hammer cutie mark is not going to be able to command as high a price as the mare who has an actual antelope on her flank.
I think that what the Equestrians are really speaking is not just a different language, but a language based on a different phenomal set than English, for the good reason that the Ponies have alien vocal tracts and neither of us can easily make the sounds of each others' languages. The puns may be Translation Conventions and even much of the displayed facial and body language may be such conventions, rather like in Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky (where the "Spiders" are really more alien to humanity than the humans realize because the Focused translators are creating really good translations).
Also, in some cases, Ponies may change their names, and this may happen more frequently than in Human cultures. One very likely thing is that there are "foal names" and "mark names" with Ponies sometimes taking new names upon receiving their Cutie Marks. For instance, "Bulk Biceps" was probably not called this when he was a tiny little colt -- he was probably called something cuter -- given his coloration, "Snowflake" is actually rather a likely name!
Some names seem to have nothing to do with Cutie Marks and are probably retained foal names. For instance, "Rarity" -- whose Cutie Mark is three diamonds but whose whole life is a quest to be special -- to re-imagine herself as a "rarity."
We may reasonably assume that the show simplifies for our consumption.
2301017
While I touched on that with Lyra and Dale speaking a few octaves apart (and her using a spell to lower her voice), for a purely realistic setting it's likely that the aliens might be speaking outside of our audible range, or making noises which are physically impossible with our vocal structure.
For my purposes, I assume that puns are Translation Conventions; much of the body language in MLP does mimic IRL horses (a nice touch--I really like how they animate the ears). I like to add IRL equine behavior wherever I feel I can get away with it.
This is a headcanon I'm willing to embrace, and which I'll cover in a later installment.
Quite so, and one of the fun things as an author is deciding which parts to take and which to leave.
As an avid reader, I enjoy discovering when another author has taken an element I would have ignored and run with it.
Dammerung Glanz....
I like it.
Can I call her that now?
2301046
Sure, go right ahead.
It's way cooler than "Purple Smart."
In fact, I bet that every pony name translated to German would be freaking epic.
I think that would be a great name, actually!
GOLDENGRAAAAAAAAAAPE!
Sorry, but I've kinda-sorta adopted him as my personal pony... um... proc...tor? Dang alliterations are too hard sometimes...
Names are weird. Words are weird. Language is weird.
I forget which story I read this in, but the explanation I like is sort of similar to the "foal names" and "mark names". Basically, ponies have lots of names; some they were given at birth, and some they accumulate throughout their life. Then, they just choose a convenient subset of their names for other ponies to refer to them as.
For example, "Twilight" is a reasonable name to be given at birth for a pony of her coloration. She probably added the name "Sparkle" after she got her cutie mark, since it looks like stars, and she might have had even more names related to her love of magic, or books, or academics. The same sort of thing could work for "Rainbow Dash".
And heck, we already know that "Pinkie" is a nickname.
Fluttershy: flattern schüchtern
----eh....
Rainbow Dash: Regenbogen Strich
---Not bad
Rarity: Rarität
---ehhh.....
Pinkie: kleiner Finger Kuchen
---So that's where that "Kuchen" name comes from.
Applejack: Apfelschnaps
---cool.
2301109 Well, except for her being *called* Twilight Sparkle in that scene.
I think it's vaguely canon that ponies can easily change their names when they get their cutie marks, but I can't point to anything specific. If nothing else, as they go through school, people have a general tendency to collect names like Cooter, and Deke or Crash...
If you want names that mean strange things when translated, I think there is no better source than Japan/China/Korea.
Well, my first name is biblical and boring, but my last name might bring something to the table here. Translated, it means something like Stone Mason, or Stone Carver. Either way, could easily pass for a pony name.
But my cutie mark is totally unrelated.
What do?
Well, my first name apparently originated in words meaning house warden or house guard, and is a famous Scottish royal family. I'm destined to be a seneschal or something. My last name, given my ancestry, is more likely a misspelling of a word meaning "ardent," "enthusiastic," or "rash" than it is the title of a rice-merchant. I should change my last name to something more appropriate. Maybe Snails.
Ardent Homeguard sounds like a pretty kickass name though...
2301017
Stop stealing my headcanon!
Could this be a reference to me?
2301100
I figured you'd be happy to see him mentioned in a blog post
2301109
It's certainly a possibility. I've accumulated a few nicknames, pen names, and usernames throughout my life, and in a world like Equestria it's not hard to imagine that names aren't as 'fixed' as they are here in the Western world.
The tendency to change names might be more pronounced among one tribe over another, with the lines getting blurry as the centuries have passed and the three tribes lived together and intermarried.
Another possibility, given her mother's name, is that Twilight is a family name.
Very true. "Maude" probably is, too. Maybe her full name is Maudlin.
2301151
If we go with the changing their names idea, that could just be another example of Translation Convention.
I'm not aware of any actual canon material which says they do, but given their society, I can easily see it being plausible. I wouldn't be surprised if ponies aren't 'officially' registered until after they get their cutie mark--especially since Cheerilee claims that they're all unique.
Well, here is another thing with names, and it is a fairly recent development in wide society. Many people are no longer using our given name as our identity. People have a net presence, and the name they chose themselves for that net presence is often as important an identifier as their given name. I mean if someone called out Silvadel, I would turn around, and it means a lot more to me than my given name. It has something more unique to myself.
2301171
The Admiral's got your answer! In the show, there are a number of ponies who have cutie marks which appear to be unrelated to their names. Pinkie, for one--no part of her name has anything to do with balloons or parties. Cheerilee is another. And while many people think that Fluttershy's name is appropriate for her demeanor, those butterflies on her butt . . . well, IRL butterflies are boldly colored, and pretty good fliers. Monarchs migrate to Mexico for the winter, you know.
2301225
Heck yes!
My full name, traced back to its roots, would quite likely mean something like "That guy who likes horses and guards the village by the pool."
2301579
Oh, right, my middle name. Hmmm... Latin for small or humble. Now that throws a wrench in the works. Especially since that would refer to me and probably not the other parts of my name.
"The humble but ardent guard of the home"?
2301552
The part where it's on the internet certainly is a recent development, but I'm less sure that the non-permanence of birth names is. My grandmother had one name on her birth certificate, and went through life using a different name. She didn't even know it wasn't her 'real' name until she tried to get a passport. And I should mention that this wasn't someplace rural; she lived in metro Chicago (Glendale, if I remember correctly).
That's quite true. It's entirely likely that more people know me by Admiral Biscuit than know my real name.
That's probably the reason so many people use nicknames, too. In many cases, a nickname is something that's earned, and as such it's more meaningful than an assigned name. Heck, in high school I somehow picked up the nickname "Louie,"--and would answer to it--even though there was no part of my name that it stemmed from.
My name translates to "beloved pilot."
2301598
Hey, that works! And it's pretty cool, too.
I'm curious to see what other people come up with. Maybe I'll start a thread on the HiE forum or something.
2301258
It could and it is.
2301609
That's pretty cool! Just imagining how one might have earned such a name. . . .
2301616
It could also mean "beloved maker of helmets," but pilot sounds better.
Names in the west used to be more fluid as well. The common people only started adopting last names in the 18th century in many places when states became more centralized. There are people in the Netherlands whose last names are very rude because they expected this whole surname thing to blow over and they treated the whole thing as a joke.
People didn't start using surnames in Turkey until 1934 when they were forced to adopt them by law.
2301607
Well, before recent times, such names were mainly acquired by people in the military, who put their lives on the line, and were amongst comrades who also put their lives in their hands.
Air Force Callsigns are the prime example of that sort of thing.
Yes there have always been nicknames, but they are usually a modification/customization of the name that was given.
-----
When I have a dream, the people (or ponies or whatever -- yes I am not always a person in dreams) call me Silvadel. They do not call me by my given name. That kind of does prove that it holds a greater self- identity for me than my name.
My matrix-style residual self image isn't even human.
2301632
Perhaps they still are, and we just think of them as being immutable.
Most people in town don't know my last name, and if they needed to distinguish me from someone else with the same first name, would probably mention the shop where I work.
2301654
I never really thought of that. What can I say? I'm a bureaucratic kind of guy.
2301109
Yes, exactly. A Pony's earliest name would be something given at birth by his parents, often added to a parental name, and often following a family tradition. This birth name might well derive either from the little foal's appearance or some external aspect of his or her background. For instance "Snowflake" for the Pony now known as Bulk Biceps, who would have been named that because he's very white-coated and would then have been very small.
Most full names follow a noun and adjective form in which the family name is a noun and the personal name is either an adjective or a modifying noun or verb (essentially being used as an adjective). A good example of this is "Apple Bloom" which is noun / (modifying noun or verb). When there are multiple members of the family whose name are given the family name is usually obvious (Apple Bloom is an Apple); otherwise it is usually the more common of the two words.
According to Chengar Qordath the old Pegasus Clans in particular have a tendency to use verbs or verb-based nouns ("Kicker," "Doo", "Charger" etc. as family names. This makes a lot of sense given the active and militaristic nature of traditional Pegasus culture.
Fluttershy's family name in my fanon, "Wind," is a noun but describes something active, and ultimately derives from her matrilineal ancestor, Wind Whistler of Paradise Estate. Her mother Sweetwing probably named her "Fluttershy" because Sweetwing was obsessed with the legend of the Flutter Ponies. Fluttershy kept the name into adulthood because she felt it suited her personality. Given Fluttershy's awesome power levels in my fanon (mind control and a developing ability to partially-shapeshift to adapt to her needs), this now counts as a "Fluffy the Terrible" sort of situation.
We don't know very much about Rainbow Dash's family names, either in canon or in my fanon. "Dash" follows the rules for a Pegasus family name; her father is shown as having a rainbow mane and hence may have had something polychromal as a personal name, or "Rainbow" as a family name, in which case her name would have been a matrilineal composite with "Rainbow" both describing her mane and honoring her father.
As the Pony becomes older her or she might be given or choose a new name. It seems improbable that "Scootaloo" was the birth name of that Pegasus, though it might have been a foal-name based on the activity levels displayed by Pound Cake.
Earth Pony families seem to be matrilineal and matrilocal, with the husband sometimes adopting the wife's family name and in any case being counted as belonging to the maternal family. Carrot Cake and Cup Cake were probably not both "Cakes" until they were married, and since there is a "Carrot" family in town it seems likely that his pre-marital name was "[something else] Carrot." It is probable that he changed his name because he loved his bride very dearly.
A very common sort of Earth Pony name structure is the "family product / personal variety" structure. The Apples provide some clear examples of this, with such individuals as "Macintosh" and "Red Gala." The Pies have a modified version of this, in that they are primarily rock farmers but seem to have baking / cooking as a famiy sub-specialties -- they tend to pick personal names based on varieties of rocks (a tendency augmented by their marriage into the Quartzes, who have been doing this since they were a branch of the royal dynasty of the Crystal Empire -- but then, the Quartzes were originally unicorns).
The Apples and Pies are both traditionalists in this regard. The children always take the family name of the mothers, with the fathers usually keeping their own name. A husband may be honored by having his name added to a child's, thus Jasper Quartz is honored by having his eldest daughter named Cloudy Quartz Pie, though this is further justified by the fact that "cloudy quartz" is a variety of quartz and hence this works as a variety-name.
Unicorns seem to trace both matrilineages and patrilineages, with the older and nobler custom being patrilineal and a more recent (post-Harmony) matrilineal tendency having been instituted (probably under Celestia's influence and for her own benefit).
Twilight Sparkle is the daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light. The family name here is the matrilineal"Twilight" with the patrilineal contribution being a verb-based noun referencing the concept of "light." In her case she is probably carrying her birth name into adulthood, since as a little foal she might have been conceived of as a little "sparkle" of light.
Her brother Shining Armor is almost certainly not carrying his birth or foal name, which was probably something like "Twilight Shining." Instead, what probably happened in his case is that he got a Mark Name.
A Mark Name would be a new name assumed on the revelation of a Mark and Talent which strongly suggest it. In the case of Shining Armor, this talent was his immensely-strong force fields, which act as "armor" to protect himself and others. His full name might have been something like Twilight Shining Armor, but he tends not to use the "Twilight" part of it any more, especially since he and his sister started tending to refer to one another by the diminutives "Shiny" and "Twilie."
In Rarity's case a lot of fanon tends to assume that her family name is "Bell/Belle" with the former spelling being used for males and the latter for females. This makes a lot of sense and my charts have it as being a patrilineal name (her father was Magnum Bell) with the matrilineal name being "Sweetie" (hence Sweetie Belle's name is a deliberate composite of the two lineages). This in turn implies that the patrilineal name is a particularly old and honorable one. (In my fanon, the Belles were major gentry during the Time of Thrones and kin to the Twilights and Lulamoons, though their descendants are unaware of the connection).
With "Rarity" and "Sweetie" the family is following a virtue-name pattern. This is not uncommon among Ponies because parents love their children and like to think of them as embodying positive traits. In both cases these may have been birth-names which the Ponies in question liked enough to keep into adulthood (in Rarity's case) and early adolescence (in Sweetie's case) -- my Twelfth Equestriad Interview shows that Sweetie keeps her name into her adult career as a singer.
The general rule seems to be that Ponies can acquire a lot of names (or nicknames) and then pick which ones they want to keep: in the case of Mark-Names they have probably invented the names themsevles.
2301646
That's certainly one of the most prominent examples, but other groups of people often adopted different names--writers, for example, using pen names or actors using stage names. Nicknames given to sports figures. CB 'handles' in the 70s. I believe there has always been a tradition aboard ships to give nicknames--often based on the sailor's job. And of course there's the traditional way of identifying someone by where they live or work.
Perhaps the bigger question might be where the distinctions between 'official' names, nicknames, and titles lie, and I don't think that's an easy answer, especially since there is so much regional variation.
That's interesting.
In my dreams, place or people names are almost never used by anyone. I suspect it's because I have a very bad memory for names (street names, people's names, or whatever). On the other hand, literary names do get used; in one memorable dream, several of my theatre friends were wearing fairy costumes which gave them the power of flight, and one of them specifically explained they were wearing them because they had to do a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
2301658
And when bureaucracy collides with reality, sometimes things get weird.
2301724
Holy long reply, Batman!
Can I quote that as a different perspective (or provide a link to it) when I get around to my theory-of-pony-naming-traditions blog?
Also:
Sadly, They (Hasbro) have re-named him to something stupid. (Hondo Flanks)
Still, I'm sticking to Magnum.
2301757
Magnum Bell makes more sense. Hasbro probably did the renaming to avoid copyright clash with the TV show Magnum (especially necessary because he's drawn to look like a Ponified Tom Selleck). I could see "Hondo Flanks" as a (teasing) nickname for him though. Possibly bestowed by Sweetie Pearl.
2301757
Yeah, it wound up so long that I edited it a bit more and turned it into this blog post, "Pony Names."
2301763
One of the things I've done in some of my stories is to handwave away some of the inconsistencies with well-known fan names vs. official Hasbro names.
At this point in one of my stories (set before the show), most of the characters call Golden Harvest 'Goldie;' eventually someone's going to call her 'Carrot Top' and it'll stick.
Managed to look the origins of my RL name, and get something like famous island of secret weapons.
I aint brilliant, Im just broken. The same way reality is broken when Pinkie.
2301572 In other words,
imageshack.com/a/img849/7206/spitfiredealwithit.gif
2302492
Yup, pretty much.
2301752
Yes, reality can be so inconvenient sometimes, can't it?
My name comes from Norse mythology and means (The) Strong. There's a bit of horse attached to my name too, as my mythological namesake was given the horse Gullfaxi by Thor. Gullfaxi means "Golden mane", which sounds pretty Equestria-ready to me
I'll leave it to you to figure out exactly what my name is. It should not be hard with the details above
2305067
Magni/Magnus?
If you don't mind my asking, what country do you hail from?
2305367
Indeed, it is Magni though we spell it with "e" rather than "i" in the Scandinavian languages. I should note that the same is true with Gullfaxi/Gullfaxe.
As for my country, I hail from the Kingdom of Sweden. Though my name isn't very common here (~600 out of ten million people), you'll find it used a lot more by our neighbours in Norway.
2307220
That's a cool name! Mine's way more boring.
Also, it's cool that you're from Sweden. I've also got a reader in Norway and one in Denmark.
I visited your fair country once long, long, ago.
2301942
That's pretty cool!
I took your advice, Admiral, and discovered that my name means something along the lines of "The dark, small resident of a stone settlement."
2312599
Cool!
Late to the party, but Mine, would be "Meadow Treader the Blessed" across Gaelic, Hebrew, and Medieval/Crusades-Era French.
2346042
That's a really cool name! Heck, if you're ever playing D&D or something like that, you've got a character name ready to go . . . it would also work really well as a pony name. . . .
In fact, upon reflection, I can't think of anywhere it doesn't work.
All of these awesome names. . .
. . . mine means crooked/broken nose.
2454774
To cheer you up, my brother's means (roughly) "One who guards a cowshed on a hill of broom."