Learning Japanese with Berserk: Kelpie
Added 2022-08-29 22:18:05 +0000 UTCKelpies are originally beings from Scottish folklore. A kelpie is usually depicted as a stunningly beautiful white horse that seduces humans into sitting on its back, then plunges back into the river or lake from which it came, drowning its victims. Miura kept the basic concept alongside the name, but associated it with his own design, a creative mix between a pony and a frog.
The Japanese word used in Berserk is ケルピー (KERUPI—) and it's applied as furigana on 川馬, literally meaning "river horse". Appropriately, in volume 25 we see the Kelpie emerging from a river. Another, more tropical type of Kelpie makes an appearance in volume 41, still with the same name.
Comments
Sounds like a stretch to me to be honest. My guess is he looked for possible monsters in traditional European folklore, then created a design he found cool and that fit the kind of abilities and habitat the creature has. But of course it's impossible to tell what his creative process was for sure.
Skullknight.NET
2022-08-30 07:55:37 +0000 UTCwhat are the chances he went with a frog because “keru” is phonetically close to “kaeru”?
Walter
2022-08-30 02:09:16 +0000 UTC
