Emerald Dragon: Etymologies F.A.Q. ------------------------------- Revision 1 - 03/30/03 Document and Translations by D-BOY http://www.oakland.edu/~dcsoboda/ ------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGE LOG: ------------------------------------------------------------- Revision 1: Initial release. Anyone who can figure out any names in the Unknown section, PLEASE e-mail me. ------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS: ------------------------------------------------------------- I. Agreement II. Forward III. Item Names IV. Place Names V. Character Names VI. Unknowns VII. Credits & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- I. AGREEMENT ------------------------------------------------------------- Suggestions for improvement are quite welcome. You can e-Mail them to me at dcsoboda@oakland.edu. If you would like to use my names list for any kind of Emerald Dragon project (be it another FAQ, a hack, etc) you have my permission to do so as long as you credit my FAQ. Please do not redistribute this document without my permission. Currently the only websites with permission to house this documents are my website and GameFAQS (located at http://www.gamefaqs.com/). If you see this document at any other site, please e-Mail me and let me know. ------------------------------------------------------------- II. FORWARD ------------------------------------------------------------- I am the biggest, if not the only, English speaking fan of Emerald Dragon. I maintain what is, to my knowledge, the only English website dedicated to the game (http://emedora.the2d.com/), and this FAQ represents a lot of work. That said, while some of the names following later may seem a little odd, understand I spent a lot of time on this. Years ago when I first played Emerald Dragon, I remember being baffled at the names. Normally some English approximation of character names could be made, but in the case of Emerald Dragon, no matter how hard I tried everything sounded strange. It wasn't until five years later I would realize why. The names aren't English. I'm sure that last statement has a whole lot of people saying "DURRRRR! No kidding~!" However, they're not Japanese either. When I was throwing out a load of notes from my Ancient Near-East history class I just happened to flip open to a page of notes that had a word that stuck out at me, "Avesta." My brain jumped straight to Emerald Dragon (since I was listening to the Radio Show a few days before) and realized "Wait, wasn't that the huge weapon that tanked the Western Desert?" Sure was. Then I flipped through a bit more and saw another word, "Vendidad." Oh yeah, and that was the sword that housed the spirit of the Emerald Dragon. What section of class notes was this all from? Zoroastrianism. Zoroastria-whatsa? Well, I'll explain in brief. Zoroastrianism was an ancient religion started by Zarathustra who apparently came down from a mountain after seeing God in a fire and told everyone to worship the one true god and creator of the universe, Ahura Mazda. Name aside, I'm sure that story will ring a bell for anyone who's heard the name "Moses." While it's still a debated topic, it's very likely that the stories of the Zoroastrianism faith were incorporated into Jewish and then Christian religions later. In fact it happened to preach of a Saoshyant (Messiah) being born a virgin to save the world. He would be killed then come again to judge the living and the dead, etc etc etc. I'll shut up before I get a lot of hate mail from fundamentalist groups but one thing is for sure, it pre-dated Christianity by at least 1500 years and likely pre-dated the Hebrew migration from Egypt. As such, it had a tremendous impact on thought in the region, especially after being made the official religion of the Persian Empire during the time of Darius. So yes, this old religion is where most of the Emerald Dragon names came from. A Few others were taken from Sumerian or Egyptian, but almost all of them came from the Near-East (modern day Iran). So, now that you know the region, maybe these names will seem a bit less odd. The format of the following text is simple. The S-JIS name will be written. Below it will be the following: TRANSLATION (ORIGIN): DEFINITION ------------------------------------------------------------- III. ITEM NAMES ------------------------------------------------------------- アヴェスタ Avesta (Persian): The holy scriptures of Zoroastrianism. ヴェンディダード Vendidad (Persian): A section of the Avesta dealing with myths, purification ritual, and religious observance. ------------------------------------------------------------- IV. PLACE NAMES ------------------------------------------------------------- ヴォウルカシャ Vourukasha (Avestan): A great mythical ocean mentioned by Zarathustra in the Avesta. ウルワン Urvan (Avestan): The Zoroastrian term for a person's soul. ドゥルグワント Draugwand (Olde Persian): From 'drauga,' the demon of lies. アーパス Arpath: Taken from Harsapatha, the name of a river in the region. エルバード Ervad (Parsi Gujarati): A priest of a higher ecclesiastical order. ザーマ Zam (Avestan): The yazad of the earth. スローシュ Srosh (Pahlavi): The spirit who guards the soul for three days after death. ダードワ Dadarwa (Persian): From Dadar Hormazd, a variant on Ahura Mazda, the creator of the universe. キルデール Kildale (possibly Celtic): From "gildale," a drinking bout where everyone pays equal amounts (found in 1913 edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary). バージル Basil (Greek): From the name of the Christian saint, Basil the Great. He was one of the strongest proponents of orthodoxy in the early church. オヴィングストン Ovingston (unknown): Presumably taken from the name of a famous historian. フウォーウィー Frawardi (Avestan): The maidens who sew the spiritual garments worn by a soul after death. ナナイ Nanai (Sumerian): Equivalent of Venus, was worshipped until Persia's official religion was made Zoroastianism. ヘルロード Harerud (Modern): One of the 16 perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda. マルギアナ Marguan (Olde Persian): From Margu, one of the 16 perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda. カシャ Kasha (Avestan): From Vourukasha, the mythical ocean. パールシー Parsis (Persian): The term for Zoroastrians who fled Persia and settled in India. ヘルマンド Helmend (Modern): One of the 16 perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda. ------------------------------------------------------------- V. CHARACTER NAMES ------------------------------------------------------------- アトルシャン Atrushan (Armenian): Sacred ritual fire altar for Zoroastrianism practice. Barsom are lain across its poles. タムリン Tamryn (Russian): The word for "palm tree." バルソム Barsom (Pahlavi): A bundle of twigs tied with a date-palm cord used by priests during liturgies. ヤマン Yaman (Avestan): Taken from the name Airyaman, the yazad of friendship. サオシュヤント Saoshyant (Avestan): The Zoroastrian word the Messiah who will be born of a virgin to save the world. カルシュワル Karshwarl (Pahlavi): One of the seven continents of Earth. オストラコン Ostracon (Hebrew): Writing on pottery. バギン Bagin (Armenian): The image shrine used for Zoroastrianism practice. ホスロウ Khosraw (Persian): One of the early heroes of Zoroastrianism. サダ Sada (Persian): Avesta texts without Pahlavi commentary. ティリダテス Tiridates (Armenian): An early king of Armenia. フラワルド Fraward (Avestan): From Frawardigan, the Zoroastrian "All Soul's Day." ダストール Dastur (Persian): A high priest. ゴーメズ Gomez (Pahlavi): Unconsecrated bull's urine. ホルス Horus (Egyptian): Egyptian god of the moon or son of Osiris and Isis depending on who you ask. ラー Ra (Egyptian): The Egyptian sun god, Ra, worshipped in the region from very early times. ------------------------------------------------------------- VI. UNKNOWNS ------------------------------------------------------------- These are based on suggestions from a Japanese website with it's own attempts at character name etymologies (read it at www.asahi-net.or.jp/~qi3m-oonk/tosyokan/fantasy/c-emedra.htm) The trick is, since it's a Japanese webpage, there's no actual spellings of the names. Not to mention obscure Zoroastrian names and Near-East deities aren't the kind of thing you can easily find in a dictionary. ファルナ (FARUNA): Possibly from フワルナ (FUWARUNA), a god/goddess who came and gave beauty to people. マジュレス (MAJURESU): Some kind of Iran governing body. フシュルヌム (FUSHURUNUMU): Unsure, somehow related to science or spiritual knowledge. ワラムル (WARAMURU): Possibly the name of a straw used in the winter. ザンディーグ (ZANDIIGU): Suggested it could be from ザンティーク (ZANTIIKU), a term for pagans? フワル (FUWARU): Possibly a pre-Zoroastrian sun goddess. ------------------------------------------------------------- VII. CREDITS & NOTES ------------------------------------------------------------- A Japanese webpage with it's own set of etymologies (some of which I disagree with) was used many times as a reference point to start from in my search for a name. Because it was in Japanese, there's no way to tell what the heck they were trying to spell most of the time (You think Engrish is bad? Try seeing Old Avestan raped into Japanese). I relied on their description of the term and hunted various pages for something similar sounding and meaning. The Japanese page is at: www.asahi-net.or.jp/~qi3m-oonk/tosyokan/fantasy/c-emedra.htm Some of my other sources were: The Armenian Church (Parthian and Sasanian Periods) www.armenianchurch.org/heritage/history/vartan/essay2.html Avesta -- Zoroastrian Archive www.avesta.org/ Introduction to the Zend-Avesta hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/zoroscripts/venintro_01.htm ----------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003