654 Tẽrunã (Braixen)

terunaTĒRUNÃ

テールナー

Pokemon name meaning:

テール tēru, tail – Japanese word based on English.

Renard – French, “fox”

Notes 

ルナー reflects French pronunciation of Renard – the French unnaccented e roughly approximated by ル ru and the final long ah-sound with the d silent.

Reynard/Renard was a fox trickster in mediaeval European tales, a very distant cousin of the Japanese kitsune.

The traditional French word for “fox” was goupil from Latin vulpecula. However, mentioning the fox was considered bad luck among farmers. Because of the popularity of the Reynard stories, renard was often used as a euphemism, so that today renard is the standard French word for “fox” and goupil is now dialectal or archaic.

About Cure Dolly

Precure! — Dolly volley! A small doll that can sometimes transform into a shining defender.

3 responses »

  1. Would the English name, Braixen, be a combination of brazier and vixen?

    Reply
  2. Definitely vixen. Some online sources give the first element as braise – presumably because it includes the i. Brazier and braise are both ultimately from Old French brese, hot coals, embers, so the distinction is probably not very important.

    Reply
  3. Out of inerest, in Afrikaans a barbecue is known as a brai. While I doubt that word was in the minds of the English-language Pokemon localizers, it does show how that syllable is associated with coals, embers and burning in the West European languages.

    Reply

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