Moshe: The Man in the Coppermind. Scroll 6. What Is In A Moshe Feder?

MF refers to Moshe Feder, Brandon Sanderson's editor. SH refers to Sharon Hooper, interviewer. Besides minor edits to remove redundancies, transcript is pretty much unchanged.

The Surname Feder

According to Ancestry.com, Feder is: German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): metonymic occupational name for a trader in feathers (see Feather) or in quill pens, from Middle High German veder(e), German Feder ‘feather’, ‘quill’, ‘pen’.

MF: I’ve seen that ancestry page. My interpretation is that we were scribes, but the feather/quill theory is also plausible.

Of course, if we WERE scribes a likelier name would be "Schreiber."

According to Ancestry.com, Schreiber is:

German: occupational name for a clerk, from an agent derivative of Middle High German schriben ‘to write’ (via Old High German from Latin scribere). Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Schreiber, Yiddish shrayber ‘writer’, adopted as a translation of Hebrew Soffer ‘scribe’.

Moshe



Moses in a basket being put into the river by his mother Jochebed in the left panel and is seen been picked up by a Egyptian princess in the right panel. Photo credit: Kevsoraone

MF: Well, it’s the Native form of ‘Moses.’ Traditionally, it’s supposed to be based on the ancient Egyptian for “drawn forth from,” referring to his being pulled from his basket on the Nile by the princess.

SH: My best friend says your name sounds like Japanese mochi.



MF: I think there's also another Japanese word with a similar sound. There's a restaurant in London with that name.



Partial screenshot of homepage of Moshi Moshi, London, UK.

SH: San Francisco has one too. It is a common restaurant name.

MF: Well, I was amused when I first saw it there.



SH: It’s Japanese. It can loosely be translated to mean “Hello? Hello?”

It is used on the phone to say hello and also used to get someone’s attention.

So what you do is when u get a call, you pick up the phone and go “Moshi Moshi”, and when you call someone, you start the conversation by saying “Moshi Moshi?”.

Say you are in a store and you want to know the price of something. But you don’t see the proprietor of the store around, so you go “Moshi Moshi?” to get their attention.

Similarly , if you go to a friend's house and they are not there, you pop your head in and go “Moshi Moshi are you there?”

On being Moash's namesake

WARNING: MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS AND MODERATE PROFANITY AHEAD

MF: Brandon originally claimed the name was a coincidence, and anyway, I think he pronounces it in two syllables, Mo-ash.

I mean looking at it, you might think it was an alternative spelling of Mōsh, as my friends call me.

Anyway, more recently, he's admitted that he is inspired by or connected to me in some way.

SH: To a traitor?

MF: Yes, not thrilled by that.

I identify more with Kaladin.



Kaladin. Photo credit: Michael Whelan



Moash. Photo credit: exmachina

Personally, I don't think I have much in common with Moash, besides his strong sense of justice, unless you think I'm “hawk faced.” My eyes are greenish, his are brown, etc.

SH: Are we talking about the same Moash here? The same Moash who betrayed Kaladin? A strong sense of justice? Maybe, but if so, it is a very misguided one.

MF: Well, Moash is simultaneously a traitor to Bridge Four in its mission of guarding Elhokar and loyal to his grandparents whose unjust deaths he's avenging.

I think the point is that what he does is externally motivated and reactive rather than arising from purely selfish and internal motives. He's not trying to win something for himself.

Compare him to Amaram.



Amaram. Photo credit: esamitch

SH: Amaram is a right-out BASTARD.

MF: As an editor, I try hard to avoid asking authors to change character names.

They usually have strong feelings bound up in them and a strong identity connection between the name and the character's personality.

SH: *pulls up information from WOB*

sheesania:

Wow. I'd be pretty offended if the author I got published, after something like ten huge books, named one minor vengeful, traitorous character after me. Or else I would find it really amusing.

Brandon Sanderson:

Moash was actually named before Moshe became my editor, as Alethi has some Hebrew roots, making some of the names similar to Hebrew names. He considers it a fun homage that I left it, after he became my editor. (Even considering what Moash does in WoR.) But Moash came from Moshe, for example.

MuslinBagger: Is that a hint of things to come? Is Moash like Moses or something? He is, isn't he?

Brandon Sanderson:

Sorry. It doesn't mean anything other than "My editor is named Moshe, and I've always liked how the name sounds."

MF: The Moses idea is silly.

SH's note: So for all those fans speculating that Moash will be pulling a "Moses" by the end of the series, both WoB and Moash's namesake & Brandon's editor himself have poured very icy cold water over the very idea, with Moshe himself calling it "silly" and WoB indicating that Moash's name doesn't mean anything other than "My editor is named Moshe, and I've always liked how the name sounds." One never knows though; authors can and have been known to change their minds. (See J.K. Rowling re: Hagrid) Moshe could very well decide he hates being associated with a such a Judas-like character and successfully browbeat his writer into giving Moash a Moses-like redemptive arc sometime before the series end, or Brandon may very well have already planned a redemption arc for Moash somewhere down the line, although it would most likely not involve Moash doing something so Moses-like like parting say the Drying Sea or leading his people (The Parshendi?) to find a new homeland away from all those pesky human Knight Radiants and their silly Ideals.

SH would like to give a special shoutout to ChangOfHeart69 for asking if Moash is Moshe's namesake, without which the above entire section "On being Moash's namesake" would not have existed at all.