Emerald Dragon: Etymologies

Emerald Dragon: Etymologies
F.A.Q.
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Revision 1 - 03/30/03

Document and Translations by D-BOY
http://www.oakland.edu/~dcsoboda/

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CHANGE LOG:
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Revision 1: Initial release. Anyone who can figure out any
names in the Unknown section, PLEASE e-mail me.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
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I. Agreement
II. Forward
III. Item Names
IV. Place Names
V. Character Names
VI. Unknowns
VII. Credits & Notes

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I. AGREEMENT
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Suggestions for improvement are quite welcome. You can
e-Mail them to me at [email protected].

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.

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II. FORWARD
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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

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III. ITEM NAMES
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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.

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IV. PLACE NAMES
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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.

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V. CHARACTER NAMES
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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.

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VI. UNKNOWNS
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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.

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VII. CREDITS & NOTES
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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

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Copyright 2003