Bradtholomew
What is the origin of the name Kaladin?
My wife and I recently had our first child and that's what we named him. Just curious if there's any story behind the name.
Brandon Sanderson
I use Arabic in some of the creation of Alethi names, and Kaled (or Khaled) was the root I started playing with to come up with a new name for Kaladin, as I didn't like the one I'd used in 2002. I'd already designed Kalak after this, the Herald, and wanted a common name version of this.
When I arrived at Kaladin, it sounded right to me--likely because of the similarity to Paladin, as others noted below.
Dragonsandman
So if Kaladin's name is derived from Khaled, is it fair to assume that the Alethi language sounds similar to Arabic?
Brandon Sanderson
Alethi has some Hebrew to it too. I used Semitic language roots for the Dawnchant, which had a huge influence on Rosharan languages. While there are a few oddballs rules, and some linguistics that stand on their own, both major language groups on Roshar (the Azish family and the Vorin family) would probably sound very Arabic to you.
For example, the Alethi Kh is a voiceless velar fricative. The Azish kk or q sound is a voiceless uvular, sometimes stop, sometimes an affricate. Sometimes a uvular ejective.
No, I can't make those sounds on demand. Peter can, though. It's helpful to have a linguist on my team.
Shin is its own language, as is Iriali.
BeskarKomrk
What can't Peter do? He seems to be an expert on everything!
Brandon Sanderson
He is amazing. But, in this case, he was a linguistics major in college. So there's a little extra amazingness from him in these areas.