#''A duck comes bearing a leek'' translating directly into Clanmew tickles me lmao

[bonefall]

I am a very normal person who gave her real life cats warrior names, and now I am being a very normal person who spends her lunch break translating them into Clanmew:

Owlberry: Huobayab. Huo (eagle owl) + bayab (blackberry/brambles). She’s a big, fluffy, mostly dark brown cat who is motherly and protective but can definitely be very prickly, so I think it fits well. Her real name is Cheesecake.

Batwhisker: Fepfr’hussk. Fepfr (long eared brown bat) + hussk (whisker). The first thing I said upon seeing him, an eight week old bundle of rage, was “Oh my GOD his EARS” so I love this. He’s a tuxedo with big ears and BIG whiskers. His real name is Junior Bacon Cheeseburger. Fun fact: nothing is legally stopping you from naming a cat Junior Bacon Cheeseburger.

Poppyfang: Liafiki. Liafi (poppy) + ki (fang). She’s a calico and her real name is Poptart. This sounds very dainty and pretty which is very accurate to the real cat.

Turtlecloud: this is where I need help; is there a Clanmew word for Turtle yet? Google tells me they’re not native to Britain which genuinely surprised me. Of the introduced species I found on Wikipedia, she vaguely resembles the European pond turtle, she’s a dark tortie with a few specks of very bright orange. Her suffix will be -hai (fat cloud) because good lord she is a fat little cloud. Her real name is Ginger, and she is Poptart’s wikffra.

Hazelsnap: Her prefix was originally meant to reference hazelnuts, but after searching the spreadsheet I love Geehees- (hazel slender moth) for her, because it looks pointy and weird, and the real cat was the pointiest and weirdest animal I ever met, plus she was very small and flighty like a moth. I referenced my silly nickname for her, based on the noise she used to make, to invent the word “grecc”— the “ekh” noise cats make when you startle them, the Activation Noise, a sudden surprise. Geehees’grecc. Her real name was Hazel Grace/Grecc and she has since gone to walk in Starclan, and is squinting at me judgmentally even as I type.

It is such a shame that mainline WC doesn't do more with the idea of a cat carrying multiple names, unironically they should have taken inspiration from Cats: The Musical for that. You are doing the lord's work by sharing the kittypet names, love it

I'll give you two new words plus related terms, just to get a Clanmew phrase for hazel trees out there, though I'd absolutely keep Hazelsnap's prefix as Geehees because that's perfect.

Turtle = Ooba

Turtles are an invasive species in the UK, you're correct! They are released as a product of the pet trade, where they can wreak havoc on water ecosystems. They tend to like ponds and lakes more than rivers, though.

So it's usually ShadowClan that's encountering them, and they have a FAVORITE use for the little guys... their shells make perfect soup bowls.

The word for "Turtle" and the word for "Bowl" are the same. A bowl of turtle soup is an Ooba-en-Soogwa Ooba (Bowl/Turtle-of-Soup Bowl/Turtle). Turtle shells are also valued as decorative dishes, almost like our idea of 'fine china.' It's a morbid joke in ShadowClan that the first food a bowl holds is the turtle that it used to be.

(I need to come up with some kind of phrase similar to "having your own ass handed to you" but it's "Being served in your own shell." "He made you into the bowl AND the soup")

Stumptail's daughter Turtlebelly in Clanmew is Oobaboma. Bowl-Belly.

Unfortunately for Clan cats but FORTUNATELY for the ecosystem, there aren't any turtles in the Lake territory. Not ones that breed, anyway, ShadowClan has immediately killed the 2 or 3 irresponsible releases that have occurred in the past 10 years since they've been here.

Hazel (Corylus avellana) = Ans

One of the most important trees for Clan use. It's a small, thin-wooded plant that makes the PERFECT size for harvest. It's the wood that WindClan tends to use to reinforce tunnels, it's supple and strong enough for use in building, and produces helpful "cob" nuts that can be used as a prey lure.

In BB, Hazeltail's name, her whippy tail like a hazel branch, and young wisdom were taken as a sign that she would one day be a fantastic builder. Since she's not dead in this AU she is going to be rising through the ranks there.

Most Clans don't have a particular word for Hazelnuts. They call them Nekboq Ans. ThunderClan, however, uses them as prey lures on a frequent basis. They call them Ansneb, and it is part of a 3-stem verb "to lure."

Lured/Luring/Will Lure = Ansnebok/Ansnebo/Ansneb

As a prefix in a name, Ansneb is best translated as "Cob" or "Hazelnut," but based on context can mean "alluring," "tempting," or "bait."