Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

BoyMac wrote:Lion El Johnson is the Primarch of the Dark Angels. Lionel Johnson was a homosexual poet that wrote a poem about his homosexuality called the Dark Angel.

wow.
hey- you should put all this in an article.

I love the Mshen reference.

It made me laugh when someone pointed that out to me on here some time ago.

I love the smell of promethium in the morning!

It would have to be two articles.

Puns in Warhammer 40,000 and Allusions in Warhammer.

Or something like that.

A lot of the primarchs names are puns or pop culture references.

Can someone help me fill in the story behind some of their names?

Lion El'Jonson-As noted, Lionel Johnson poet and author of the Dark Angel.

Fulgrim-Latin for shine

Perturabo- Latin to disturb (preturb)

Jaghatai Khan-??? Other than the obvious Mongolian reference

Leman Russ-First appeared in Rogue Trader as an Imperial General who helped found the Space Wolves. I once heard he was named for British tank commander (also explaining the LR tank) but can't confirm.

Rogal Dorn-??? Regal?

Konrad Curze/Night Haunter-Konrad is from Joseph Conrad author of Heart of Darkness (adpated for film as Apocalypse Now), Night Haunter is a take on Batman.

Sanguinius-Latin for Blood.

Ferrus Manus-Latin for Iron Hand (4th worst Primarch name)

Angron-Angron the ANGRY VERY ANGRY! (Second worst Primarch name)

Roboute Guilliman - ??? French?

Mortarion - Latin for Death

Magnus the Red - ??? Magnus=Mage?

Horus-Egyptian hawk headed god.

Lorgar-???

Vulkan-Roman god of the forge.

Corax- Latin for Raven (3rd worst Primarch name)

Alpharius-Alphie! he's Alphie the Alpha Legionnaire! (The very worst primarch name, were they even trying at this point?)

Saintspirit wrote:

battle Brother Lucifer wrote:

Saintspirit wrote:

Ouze wrote:

fahujaskillz wrote:how about Dante, Mephiston, and Baal from the BA? not only a Diablo reference

Don't get me started on just how much Warhammer Fantasy Battle ripped off World of Warcraft. WoW has dwarves, they gave WHFB dwarves. WoW has Orcs, they gave WHFB orcs (and Orks). They even took a lot of the same classes - WoW has wizards, so WHFB has bright wizards. No shame.

WHFB is essentially one big giant ripoff of WoW and I think Blizzard should sue the pants off of them.

Uhh no its not. Warhammer FB came far earlier than WoW. If anything, it's blizzard that has ripped stuff from gw.

And on a side note: Baal is NOT some kind of devil! He was in fact a fenicial god of fertility and storms. It's most likely the catholics that defiled him, just as they did with so many other gods (such as Poseidons trident turned into the devils).

Sorry for that. But all the church has done makes me angry.

I was referencing that you thought he was being serious about Warhammer ripping from WoW.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:A lot of the primarchs names are puns or pop culture references.

Can someone help me fill in the story behind some of their names?

Leman Russ-First appeared in Rogue Trader as an Imperial General who helped found the Space Wolves. I once heard he was named for British tank commander (also explaining the LR tank) but can't confirm. Rus = Viking people who settled in Russia

Rogal Dorn- Rogal = Regal Dorn = Fist (Gaelic)


Roboute Guilliman - I think there was a famous scholar by a similar name, Jacque Gullman or something?


Magnus the Red - Magnus = Mage = Sorcery

Horus-Egyptian hawk headed god. Note, Horus became a one eyed deity (Previously had the sun/lunar reference). Hence the "Eye of Horus"

Lorgar-??? No idea

Ptera-squirrel.

fasterthanlight wrote:Most of these examples are not puns, just borrowed names and references.

I don't wish to be pedantic but a pun has to have a linguistic double meaning.

Tiq' Taq' To = Kind of but not really a pun

Dante = a borrowed name, not a pun

Commoragh = a word that sounds like Gommorah (also not a pun)

What you are refering to is malapropisms. A word or phrase used as a subsitute for another but without double meaning.

Anyway....

FTL

Well said sir!

Lorgar: combination of greek "logos" meaning word of god and "lore" perhaps?

AgeOfEgos wrote:

Kid_Kyoto wrote:A lot of the primarchs names are puns or pop culture references.

Can someone help me fill in the story behind some of their names?

Leman Russ-First appeared in Rogue Trader as an Imperial General who helped found the Space Wolves. I once heard he was named for British tank commander (also explaining the LR tank) but can't confirm. Rus = Viking people who settled in Russia

Rogal Dorn- Rogal = Regal Dorn = Fist (Gaelic)


Roboute Guilliman - I think there was a famous scholar by a similar name, Jacque Gullman or something?


Magnus the Red - Magnus = Mage = Sorcery

Horus-Egyptian hawk headed god. Note, Horus became a one eyed deity (Previously had the sun/lunar reference). Hence the "Eye of Horus"

Lorgar-??? No idea

Cheers, well done sir.

Also, once again more of a reference, Cadia! Home of some of the best guardsmen of the imperium, regarded as shock troopers

Storm troopers- german troopers.


Ready for a lame, lame lame pun?

..get ready..

The minotaur. From greek mythology!

..why are you guys all leaving?

Now this isn't a pun...

But I remember reading the Vampire Counts codex, the main guy or whatever it is...

Uses a ring, and that's why he's immortal. (Insert LOTR rant here.)

However, I'm sure for all you Vampire fans, if you read you'll find so many Zombie/Vampire related jokes.

Ok, so here's a good one. An internet cookie goes to the winner;

Tie the Emperor, the Aquila and history together. Name the reference (be specific, not just "Roman Eagle")...

AgeOfEgos wrote:Ok, so here's a good one. An internet cookie goes to the winner;

Tie the Emperor, the Aquila and history together. Name the reference (be specific, not just "Roman Eagle")...

Icarus?

Just taking a guess, haven't even read it.

AgeOfEgos wrote:Ok, so here's a good one. An internet cookie goes to the winner;

Tie the Emperor, the Aquila and history together. Name the reference (be specific, not just "Roman Eagle")...

2 headed Eagle is the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire that looks east and west.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

kenshin620 wrote:Also, once again more of a reference, Cadia! Home of some of the best guardsmen of the imperium, regarded as shock troopers

What does Cadia refer to?

I can do most of the others...

Valhalla - Home of the Norse warriors who fall in battle
Mordia - Another death reference
Kreig - German for war
Tallarn-???
Praetorian-Emperor's guard in Rome, not sure what the tie to Colonial British is.
Cadia-???
Catachan-From Rogue Trader, not sure if there's a real world reference in there

Kid_Kyoto wrote:

AgeOfEgos wrote:Ok, so here's a good one. An internet cookie goes to the winner;

Tie the Emperor, the Aquila and history together. Name the reference (be specific, not just "Roman Eagle")...

2 headed Eagle is the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire that looks east and west.

More specific to the Emperor.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:

AgeOfEgos wrote:Ok, so here's a good one. An internet cookie goes to the winner;

Tie the Emperor, the Aquila and history together. Name the reference (be specific, not just "Roman Eagle")...

2 headed Eagle is the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire that looks east and west.

Nah, its totally GW IP. They've copyrighted it and everything.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Praetorian-Emperor's guard in Rome, not sure what the tie to Colonial British is.

Uniform and paintjob.

Redcoats with white detailing and beige to white pith helmets. Very Colonial British in the Sub-continent or African colonies.
Although the match-up against rather dark (brown) skinned orks with assegai does point them more towards (sub-Saharan) Africa.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:

What does Cadia refer to?

The only thing I can think of is that I always pictured Cadians as a mixture of UK/US soldiers. Take Creed, with his twin pistols, physique and cigar. If you took Churchill and Patton, smashed them together...well I think you would have Creed (Here comes the CREEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD pictures). Cadia fits inside Arcadia, which was the first meeting between the US and UK when we entered WW2. My best guess but it's kind of weak.

Ouze wrote:Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see a man about a song which ends the world.

Obligatory, albeit several pages late.

chromedog wrote:

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Praetorian-Emperor's guard in Rome, not sure what the tie to Colonial British is.

Uniform and paintjob.

Redcoats with white detailing and beige to white pith helmets. Very Colonial British in the Sub-continent or African colonies.
Although the match-up against rather dark (brown) skinned orks with assegai does point them more towards (sub-Saharan) Africa.

That part I know, my question was why call them Praetorians rather than Sons of Albion or something more British.

Oh, I can't believe no-one's mentioned mon-keighs.

What about guardsman Ramb-

Oops, almost said it. Sorry Gee Dubbya, I meant to say Marbo.

Honestly.

Fuegan==Fuego!

Ouze wrote:

fahujaskillz wrote:how about Dante, Mephiston, and Baal from the BA? not only a Diablo reference

Don't get me started on just how much Warhammer Fantasy Battle ripped off World of Warcraft. WoW has dwarves, they gave WHFB dwarves. WoW has Orcs, they gave WHFB orcs (and Orks). They even took a lot of the same classes - WoW has wizards, so WHFB has bright wizards. No shame.

WHFB is essentially one big giant ripoff of WoW and I think Blizzard should sue the pants off of them.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see a man about a song which ends the world.

ehmm.. what? wow is only 6 years old and the original warcraft games come from 1994+ if gw ripped of anyone it'd be dungeons and dragons/ the lord of the rings books, pretty much just your average fantasy setting with dwarves, humans, elves and orcs.
warhammer fantasy had recently had it's 25th birthday so yeah....

sjefke wrote:ehmm.. what? wow is only 6 years old and the original warcraft games come from 1994+ if gw ripped of anyone it'd be dungeons and dragons/ the lord of the rings books, pretty much just your average fantasy setting with dwarves, humans, elves and orcs.
warhammer fantasy had recently had it's 25th birthday so yeah....

He was making a reference to a webcomic joke. Fair enough if you weren't familiar with the comic... except it was reposted in this very thread.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Perturabo- Latin to disturb (preturb)

Actually, IIRC, it was originally a Crowley joke/reference that slipped past the editors.

"Aleister Crowley -- Perdurabo (Latin: "I Will endure to the end")"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_motto

http://www.amazon.com/Perdurabo-Aleister-Crowley-Richard-Kaczynski/dp/1561841706

reds8n wrote:

Kid_Kyoto wrote:Perturabo- Latin to disturb (preturb)

Actually, IIRC, it was originally a Crowley joke/reference that slipped past the editors.

"Aleister Crowley -- Perdurabo (Latin: "I Will endure to the end")"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_motto

http://www.amazon.com/Perdurabo-Aleister-Crowley-Richard-Kaczynski/dp/1561841706

GW=tacit Satan worshippers.

FACT!

Ultramarines: Ultra Marines.
Worst. Pun. Ever.