Thread by @ZevHandel

Within my thread on Pokémon names posted last week, I talked about the English, German, and Japanese names of the three Pokémon pictured here, which make up an evolutionary family.

Two readers, @CranberryMorph1 and @gyankotsu , made an interesting observation. 1/

Before I get to their observation, let's review the names of these one-, two-, and three-headed dragon-like Pokémon:

ENGLISH / GERMAN / JAPANESE
Deino / Kapuno / Monozu モノズ
Zweilous / Duodino / Jiheddo ジヘッド
Hydreigon / Trikephalo / Sazandora サザンドラ

2/

Each set of names contains some form of the numbers 1, 2, 3.

The English names: German eins, zwei, drei

The German names: Latinate uno, duo, tri ("tri" could also be Greek, which matches Greek "kephalo")

The Japanese names: Greek mono, Japanese ji and sa/san

3/

I noted that Japanese "ji" in Jiheddo ジヘッド is the Kan-on reading of the kanji 二. ("heddo" is, of course, from English "head".)

The Go-on reading ni for 二 is far more common than the Kan-on reading ji.

4/

But the reading ji, though uncommon, is hardly obscure, as it is found in the astrological sign jikoku 二黒 and in a number of proper names like Jikai 二介.

5/

Here's where we get to the suggestion by @CranberryMorph1 and @gyankotsu : that "ji" might *also* be a rendering of Greek "di-" meaning 'two'.

And if you look at words containing the Greek "di-" prefix that have been borrowed into Japanese from Western languages ... 6/

... you do indeed find "ji". For example:

dilemma: jiremma ジレンマ
diptych: jipuchika ジプチカ

7/

So the "ji" in Jiheddo could simultaneously be 'two' in Greek and Japanese. And that would mean that in the three Pokémon names we would have a sequence of two Greek prefixes (mono- and di-) and a sequence of two Japanese numbers (ji and sa/san).

Monozu
Jiheddo
Sazandora

8/

To what degree these semantic resonances are present for the average Japanese speaker is a different question than what the creators of the names were consciously trying to do.

Is it just a coincidence that "ji" can be construed as 'two' in Japanese in two different ways? 🤔 9/

Or is this yet another example of an incredibly clever bit of multi-lingual etymological manipulation on the part of Pokémon naming engineers?

Who knows!

That's what makes this all so interesting. /end

P.S. Full original thread is here:

https://twitter.com/ZevHandel/status/1368088025561853953