(urth) Severa

[Gerry Quinn]

From: David Stockhoff 

On 12/4/2011 9:10 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:

> > Certainly the book seems to be suggesting that a twin sister exists 
> > somewhere.
> > With regard to this question, it doesn’t really matter if the 
> > torturers pick names, or defer to the client’s wishes.
> > There is a possibility that occurs to me – the torturers name the boy 
> > and the witches name the girl. Might the torturers have given a twin’s 
> > name to the boy, then handed over the girl to the witches, who gave 
> > her a standard name? It would explain Merryn’s name, but it seems a 
> > slightly convoluted explanation.

> That's what I said, except that Severian is not "a twin's name." It's 
> just a name. Any Latinate male named can be twinned with a female form.
But we do get a hint that it’s typical of a twin:
****************************************
"She was your sister, wasn't she?"

He nodded. "We were twins. Big Severian, did you ever have a sister?"

"I don't know. My family is all dead. They've been dead since I was a baby. 
****************************************

And probably not all Latinate names can be associated with saints of both genders.


> What's convoluted about it?

The explanation?  Just that the torturers take the trouble to select a twin’s name for the boy, but then say nothing to the witches.  [Assuming it’s a name indicative of a twin, obviously.  Perhaps there’s nothing there.]

- Gerry Quinn

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