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Orkeosaurus wrote:Horus is actually the son of Osiris most of the time, not Ra.

Osiris is the king of the underworld, but not the king of the Egyptian gods as a whole.

I think he's actually both the son of Ra and Osiris, he's also a reincarnation of Osiris too if I'm not mistaken.

He's usually the sun of Osiris and Isis, although Osiris may have been created by Ra.

There's so many different Egyptian myths I'm sure that Horus is Ra's son directly in at least a few of them, and they're probably the same person in a few of them as well.

I haven't heard the reincarnation one, but having been raised from the dead is a big thing for Osiris, so it certainly seems like a possibility.

Kroeger wrote:
C'tan is an archaic spelling of Satan. Hence the "war in heaven"

The Horus Heresy is much more similar to the war in heaven than the C'tan and the Old Ones IMO. The Primarchs being angels obviously.
God's (the Emperor) favorite son (Horus) becoming prideful and turning half of God's angels against him (the Primarchs).

Also almost all of the SW fluff and names come from Norse mythology. Lukas the trickster is close to Loki, the god of trickery.

What a great thread! Lots of people have pointed out stuff I had no idea of, some have pointed out things I knew already, and some have pointed out things that I can't believe I've never realised! Here are some things said so far I disagree with, because I'm a smart-ass.

Orkeosaurus wrote:Lictor too, actually.

They were royal bodyguards or something.

Lictors were the ceremonial attendants given to Roman officials (in the republic) and later used by the emperor. They could act as (unarmed) bodyguards, but usually disgraced themselves when threatened by armed men or a sufficiently angry group of people!

crazypsyko666 wrote:Ragnar Blackmane: Ragnar Lodbrok.

Lodbrok = hairy britches. Don't think this one really works, Ragnar is just a very common Norse name.

Emmkay wrote:Lictor, advisor to caesar,
Heirophant, type of priest,
Hyrodule court concubine, there's lots.

Lictors, see above - Caesar was accompanied by an increasing number as he rose through the elected positions, I believe he had 24 once he made himself dictator for life. Classsic example of how bad they were as bodyguards, they fled when he wa assassinated.

Dunno if you're right about hierodules, should mean sun-somethings (sun-dwellers?)

Sgt. Salt wrote:Lysander is a character from one of Shakespear's plays (or maybe poems).

Ancient Greek name, one very good Spartan admiral had it, can't remember any others.

A lot of the names I know don't have any particular 'secret' meaning like some of the awesome explanations given here, they're just kind of jumbo-latin, or mythological names given to units: Manticore, Hydra, Chimera, etc are all Greek monsters, that sort of thing is to represent the Imperium giving their own units and some enemies 'code names'. Just like today, we call out armoured vehicles 'Challengers' and 'Warriors' as opposed to using a designation number or something.

A lot of the character names are just meant to be evocative, or are severely stretched to sound latin, but not mean anything particular. Example: Shrike is a kind of bird of prey, Chronus just means 'time', 'Telion' means bugger-all as far as I know, but could be related to Teucer, a famously good archer in the Trojan war. Like a lot of the names posted already - the designers came up with it off of an existing name, but it doesn't really mean anything. Fun to notice though, isn't it. Whoever caught 'Russ' as the word for viking, good job!

In the IG codex, all the special characters just seem to have names picked from the sound - lots of names in science fiction tend to have hard noises, lots of 'r's, 'k's, etc. Same for the Eldar codex, although Eldrad in supposed to sound like 'Elder' probably.

Obsidian wrote:Tau - The Greek letter T.

It's also a type of particle or something, a mate who does AS level physics says they learned a bit about it with antimatter, i think that it might have something to do with that

Helbrecht wrote:

Obsidian wrote:Tau - The Greek letter T.

It's also a type of particle or something, a mate who does AS level physics says they learned a bit about it with antimatter, i think that it might have something to do with that

That's just because we name anything after greek letters.

I-bounty-hunt-the-elderly wrote:Lictors were the ceremonial attendants given to Roman officials (in the republic) and later used by the emperor. They could act as (unarmed) bodyguards, but usually disgraced themselves when threatened by armed men or a sufficiently angry group of people!

Lictors, see above - Caesar was accompanied by an increasing number as he rose through the elected positions, I believe he had 24 once he made himself dictator for life. Classsic example of how bad they were as bodyguards, they fled when he wa assassinated.

Sound about as useful as the Tyranid ones.

Oooooh, snap. Seriously, I think they're ok if used to support the right units, but part of that is because we never played them as taking a hit from deepstriking into terrain. Tyranids are getting a new codex, so soon your wit will be invalidated!

Unless lictors are still terrible.

And what's the meaning of Perturabo? Perturbated?


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And what's the meaning of Perturabo? Perturbated?

And what's the meaning of Perturabo? Perturbated?

Jaghatai (Chagatai) khan is the son of ghenghis khan.

Ragnar as in the space wolf.

Ragnar was the name of a early Swedish king.

Sergeant Bastonne in the IG codex, sounds the same as Bastogne, which was a strategic location in the Battle for the Bulge in early 1945. IIRC It was surrounded, by the Germans, but the US (82nd?) airborne troops that held it, refused to surrender.
When a surrender was demanded by Germans, the commanding officer replied with one word - "Nuts!"




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IronChaos wrote:And what's the meaning of Perturabo? Perturbated?

Been 15 years since high school latin, but I think that's the future tense. So it would be "I will perturb"

Apologies to Mr. Dennis-Jones (my latin teacher) if I got that wrong! (I was so scared of that man great teacher though)

Valhalla (and its respective Imperial Guard) are a reference to the Norse myth about the greatest warriors going to a certain place (heaven of some sorts) called Valhalla to train and be ready to fight for the gods once Ragnarok took place, interestingly enough, the warriors in the myth where taken to Valhalla by Valkyries, just like the Imperial Guard!

I love that this thread is only 3 pages long but people are already repeating things that have already been pointed out.

@Montag If Perturabo is interpreted as Latin you're right on target that it would be first person singular future tense.

Vulkan (Vulcan) The Roman god of fire, especially destructive fire, and craftsmanship. His forge is located beneath Mount Etna. It is here that he, together with his helpers, forges weapons for gods and heroes.

LunaHound wrote:Pedro Kantor:

LOL, vote for Pedro Kantor; Pedro and the Crimson Fists offers offers you their protection.

Though Pedro Kantor is actually named after Peter Cantor, one of the GW staff at the time of GW.

Another name reference is the Rainbow Warriors (as mentioned in the RW thread). They're named after the Greenpeace ship which was sunk by the French Government; in the Rogue Trader book, there's a Sister of Battle (Sister Sin) killing a Rainbow Warrior Marine - she has a fer de lise logo which is been traditionally associated with France.

Space Marines tend to have angel names, or some manner of Hebrew or Arabic names. For instance, Israfel, Azrael, Azariah, Ezekiel.

Also, the term tread-fether among the Tanith First and Only, while obvious in its origin, still makes me giggle at times.

I'm on my cell phone so I don't have a pic, but /Facepalm...