Need Assistance for a Book: "Hunter" and "Werewolf"

[corter]

Hi,

I am a moderately successful writer, and my newest book is a paranormal. Part of the book takes place in the Hindu Kush. I research all of my books to try and ensure they are as accurate as possible, and that is why I joined this forum. In the book, there is a Pashtun village with several of the villagers being major characters, as well as one other person. I will hit up the culture forum to make sure I have hospitality customs and things like food and dress correct, but for now, I hope I can get some help with two words.

I have read about ancient tales of werewolves in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, I cannot seem to find the Pashto word for werewolf. I've had "ghuul" suggested, but that was not suggested by a Pashto speaker.

Second, I need a word for "hunter." I found "won-rrai," but I don't know if that is accurate or has the correct connotation. I am looking for a word that has a heroic connotation, someone who unselfishly strives to protect the people. It could have a religious connotation as well as the hero is devout.

I would appreciate any suggestions and will happily give credit in the acknowledgements.

[marwat]

[MENTION=1234]Smarty[/MENTION]

[marwat]

Hi,

I am a moderately successful writer, and my newest book is a paranormal. Part of the book takes place in the Hindu Kush. I research all of my books to try and ensure they are as accurate as possible, and that is why I joined this forum. In the book, there is a Pashtun village with several of the villagers being major characters, as well as one other person. I will hit up the culture forum to make sure I have hospitality customs and things like food and dress correct, but for now, I hope I can get some help with two words.

I have read about ancient tales of werewolves in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, I cannot seem to find the Pashto word for werewolf. I've had "ghuul" suggested, but that was not suggested by a Pashto speaker.

Second, I need a word for "hunter." I found "won-rrai," but I don't know if that is accurate or has the correct connotation. I am looking for a word that has a heroic connotation, someone who unselfishly strives to protect the people. It could have a religious connotation as well as the hero is devout.

I would appreciate any suggestions and will happily give credit in the acknowledgements.

Hi,

most of the members currently active here are westernized pashtun, they lack sufficient pashto knowledge.
however i made a post on your behalf in facebook group where most of members are pashto speakers and active in literature. i wish someone helps.

[Smarty]

corter I do not belong to Hindu Kush so i am not even aware if there is legend of Werewolf in those mountains, so i cant help you regarding that. Usually the rural folk of the area which this legend exists, can help you and tell you the exact word for that monster. "Shkaari" (shkaar means hunt) is the word that you use for hunter, "leywo (plural: lewan)" is word for wolf. I suggest you use "lewano-shkari", meaning wolf-hunter.

[corter]

Hi,

most of the members currently active here are westernized pashtun, they lack sufficient pashto knowledge.
however i made a post on your behalf in facebook group where most of members are pashto speakers and active in literature. i wish someone helps.

Thanks for your assistance!

[corter]

corter I do not belong to Hindu Kush so i am not even aware if there is legend of Werewolf in those mountains, so i cant help you regarding that. Usually the rural folk of the area which this legend exists, can help you and tell you the exact word for that monster. "Shkaari" (shkaar means hunt) is the word that you use for hunter, "leywo (plural: lewan)" is word for wolf. I suggest you use "lewano-shkari", meaning wolf-hunter.

The legend is pretty widespread throughout the world, and there has been some recent literature on werewolves in the "mountains of Afghanistan," but that literature was all in English with no reference to Pashto. I think mankind has always had tales of the unknown, told around campfires, of things that wander in the night, and even today, those tales can be fun.

Thanks for the hunter information. I like that better than what I had previously found.

"Leywo" and "lewan" are interesting. They are similar to the word for wolf in quite a few languages. It is likely that more people use some sort of permutation of this than a permutation of "wolf."

[marwat]

corter I do not belong to Hindu Kush so i am not even aware if there is legend of Werewolf in those mountains, so i cant help you regarding that. Usually the rural folk of the area which this legend exists, can help you and tell you the exact word for that monster. "Shkaari" (shkaar means hunt) is the word that you use for hunter, "leywo (plural: lewan)" is word for wolf. I suggest you use "lewano-shkari", meaning wolf-hunter.

the better word for hunter might be "shkarzan" singular, plural "shkarzen".

[corter]

How about a generic term for "foreigner" similar to "gaijing" in Japanese or "falang" in Thai. Both of those terms are not really derogatory, but they probably have a bit of a negative connotation.

THe word I have been able to find online is "parangay," but I don't know if that has the right connotation.

[corter]

I am quite skilled in Pashto Let me give it a try:

1) اتل - Atal - Hero
2) وڼى - Waṇay - Hunter

The word Werewolf comes from Old English: wer [man] and wolf (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=werewolf).

In Pashto a Man is called سړی and a Person وګړی. While a wolf is لېوه.

So a Calque from English to Pashto would be:
a) سړلېوه - Saṛlewa
OR
b) وګړلېوه - Wagaṛlewa

The ی is dropped because this itself is a suffix indicating a masculine singular noun.

Hope that helped

Thanks so much.

Which calque do you think would be better understood or more likely to be used? Sarlewa or Wagarlewa? In many languages, wolf and werewolf have a warg/varg/war base to the word, so even if it does not come from the same linguistic tree, wararlewa had a nice feel to it. "Lewa" is similar to various words for a wolf in different languages, so wararlewa works with that almost comes out as "varg-wolf."

I can't read Pashto, but one online source gave me لټول سوی لغت. Of course, that might mean something like "no results" for all I know.

I also found this: هغه سړى چې ليوه شوى وي اوپه تيره بيا دليوه اشتها ولري (په افسانو كې) but once again, I have no idea what it means.