“What do you mean we weren’t always talking mice?”
Talking Animal names in Narnia follow two patterns. The first are descriptive and in English, like Pattertwig or Slinkey. The second are from the natural sounds the animal makes. Lewis never calls it a language, though that is surely what it is. Examples are the names Bree and Hwin for horses (I go into Talking Horse names here) and Reepicheep and Peepiceek, for mice. Today I’m going to go into these mouse names.
Though we get only two examples it’s easy to see how they’re extensions of a small rodent’s natural high-pitched squealing and chirping cries. So syllables like peep and pip, squeek and squip, and adding vowels between them, makes for a good formula.
Since both named mice are male and have an i as the middle vowel, I’m going to say this is a naming convention for male mice only. Female mice have an a as the middle vowel.
Narnian Mouse Names
| Male
Pikisqueek Pipikeep Chittiteek Ripipeep Squipipeep Ripinceek Chichiceep Chipimeep Ceekipeep Tippireep Reechireep Neesimeep |
Female
Teepaceek Tippasqueek Cippapeep Cheekareep Squeekacheep Pripacheek Richareep Pippapeek Teepacheep Squeepameep Tipaneek Pipasqueek |
