What Does Aslan Mean?

[aytacstar]

[Sven]

Welcome, aytacstar!

Yes, I think most of us here do know that

In Farsi also (you may know Farsi as Persian, the language of Iran).

Actually, even in Turkish, 'Aslan' is a slightly old-fashioned word, it is usually spelled 'Arslan' in modern Turkish. Lewis go it from a footnote in an old copy of the book Arabian Nights.

[Theo]

It was also (in a slightly different form) a honorific name of at least a couple of sultans of the medieval Seljuk Turk empire, notably Alp Arslan and Kilidj Arslan (the latter fought the First Crusaders in the late 1090's).

[Tony]

[Monica]

And I like Paul F. Ford's note in Companion to Narnia that 'As' is an old Scandinavian word meaning God (as in Asgard, the home of the gods.)

Add 'As' to 'lion' and it almost sounds like 'Aslan.'

[Summer]

[The Bigsleep J]

I once worked in a call-center where we got calls non-stop. Then one person called. When I asked him his name he said his name was Aslan. It was something of an odd surprise that cheered me up, even if I knew he's not the real Aslan (I doubt Aslan would advertise a car).

[Stanley Anderson]

I have suggested in the past that whether Lewis was consciously aware of doing it or not, it is an interesting contrast that the bespelled Turkish Delight in the book acts as a kind of "Aslan substitute" or "false Aslan" for Edmund to desire at the beginning of the book. And that the true "delight" he had to come to know later on is the Turkish name for Lion, Aslan. The parallel is even more striking when considering the fact that the other three children were equally "entranced" by a Turkish thing, in this case, the name of Aslan when they first heard it from the Beavers. (I am reminded of the Bob Dylan line "Now it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have serve somebody":-)

--Stanley

[Summer]

[The Bigsleep J]

[Stanley Anderson]

[robsia]

[Karen]

[Stanley Anderson]

[robsia]