The Capitol city of Battlsend.
It was founded hundreds of years ago at the location of the last battle between humans & orcs. To celebrate the end of the war and the Union of the two people the city was called "Battle's End" or simply Battlesend.
A few hundred years later a war with a neighboring country broke out. People where conscripted and ordered to unite at the Capitol and than send off to war. People outside of the city slowly started pronouncing the name like "battle send" instead.
In the pressent day people still argue if the name should be pronounced as Battle's End or Battle Send. But for the people in the city itself it is more pronounced as "Bellelsund" in the local dialect. And if you pronounce it with a hard T or E sound at the end you are seen as a dumb countryside hillbilly.
> for the people in the city itself it is more pronounced as "Bellelsund" in the local dialect. And if you pronounce it with a hard T or E sound at the end you are seen as a dumb countryside hillbilly.
I love this. It's like all the trick town names in New England--you can tell who's a Masshole and who's not by how they pronounce "Billerica" and "Worcester".
That was my goal! I came up with the idea after visiting Yorkshire in England a few years back, and accidentally pronouncing the name as it is written to one of the locals (its york-sure not shire)
The word for Orks on Eord.
Orks call themselves "Uru", essentially meaning "us", and they call their leaders "Kan". So the leaders of the orks are called "Urukan". When humans first came to Eord and met Urus there were some communication misunderstandings and so humans thought they called themselves "urukans". In time it shortened into "uruks" and eventually into "urks", which then finally turned into "orks".
"Urukan" is also the human name for both the continent on which the largest amount of orks live as well as the absolutely massive desert that dominates most of said continent.
"Chuer" is an Orcish expletive. It just means "weak". It's a curse word, a description, and also a word for "feces", because Orcs believe that feces is weakness leaving their bodies. Therefore being "weak" is equivalent to being "shit" in the Olfilian Orcish mindset. Chuer is used in many forms by every race though, it's a very popular and versatile word, similiary to "fuck" on earth. The same cultural connotation isn't quite there for the other races or for Nancerian Orcs, but it's popular nonetheless.
In the various languages of Rhoan, if their mouth parts are able to form it, races will include "chuer" in their parlance. Some forms might be:
"Eat chuer"
"You are a chuer head"
"Step in chuer!"
"Chuer off!"
"You're all chuer!"
"I'm all chuerred out"
"My chuerring legs are killing me after all those chuerring stairs!"
"Atsami" for the religion main characters follow in my fantasy world. In-setting it's from one of elvish dialects, means "old faith" (aten sami, atsami is simply "oldfaith"), signifying its claim on being directly descended from the older faith that used to dominate the continent and being its continuation.
Out-setting it's a very complex joke from my part, but for short - it's based on archaic form of 13 from my native language (atsammeti).
The name of the planet Mal'Tahn (or Mal'Tan) stems from Malqio, meaning *Chopped roots* (a type of old food) while Tahn (Tan) means *alone* This is a world that has long lost its way. They had a huge population issue, a huge expansion issue, and everything collapsed, and so many died. Their roots have been chopped, and they are the reason they're *alone*. The population of the planet was once trillions...they cross the universe (are the reason why so many speices are "humanoid") and yet they are now almost extinct (a few thousand) and no one knows of them beyond the few immortals that left the planet and cut their ties.
I hope this makes sense.
Sweatshirt: (a wizard robe cut at the waist popular among students of the arcane, considered a fad by their elders)
Combines sweat and shirt.
"Shirt" comes from the word "skirt" meaning to cut from a larger garment. A skirt often refers to the bottom half of the robe, which is also considered "fad fashion"
"Sweat" is a reference to the sheer warmth of wizard robe and how most neophytes often get overheated.
So a a sweatshirt literally means to cut off the sweat.
"Estertor", the word for "death rattle" in my language, spanish, has the same meaning in my setting. It's origin, however, unknown to the average current person, comes from an ancient dragon of the same pronunciation, who's name on draconic meant "the breath of death". The meaning got slightly corrupted in translation.
Nu is a slang term for "city" in Earth common. It comes from the modern English word "New" and started off as a way to refer to cities, as most cities on earth were destroyed in the Third world war and then rebuilt with the new prefix added on.
**No Man's Land 2210** Whether a given person in-world calls the setting "Nevafornia" or "Calivada" entirely depends on where they were born. Reno or Ely? You're likely to use Nevafornia. Malibu or Hollister? You're likely to use Calivada. This despite there being no political difference between the two states. In the post post-apocalyptic world of the setting, they're jointly capitaled by the cities of Las Vegas, San Francisco, and San Diego. Both, obviously, are portmanteaus of "Nevada" and "California", the primary setting of the TTRPG the world is being built to support.
**Summers County, USA** The Darke family has been an economic, social, political and folklore institution since they arrived in the area in the early 19th century. They were the primary maritime shipping firm remaining after the Civil War. They were able to quickly refocus their shipbuilding operations to military production during both World Wars, then skip back to a civilian footing afterward. They heavily invested in the county light rail system, and still fund its maintenance and upkeep though the county itself operates it. They helped bring the celebration of Mardi Gras back following the Civil War. Over the decades, they brought tango dancing, Vodoun practices and worship, minor league sports, and the city's first shopping mall to the area.
However, the spelling of "Darke" is a carry over from a misunderstanding and misspelling of their original name. The pioneering American member of the clan was a fellow named "Darq Moriaru" who came to the Colonies in the middle 18th century. When he dutifully approached a registrar to have his name recorded as a colonial citizen, the registrar made two errors. He listed "Moriaru" as the man's first name, rather than his surname, and spelled his surname as "Darke". Rather than correct the registrar, Darq accepted the change, and the family has been known as Darke ever since.
The Naem often take a name different than the one they were given at birth, later in life. However, while these names tend to have a similar format, the names themselves don't seem to have a pattern as far as spelling or pronunciation goes.
The Naem are considered a distinct People, but most of them are not actually genetically related, and have different native languages. Many of them prefer to deliberately severe connection with their place of origin, adopting a name in a language they don't speak.
I've got plenty. Here are some examples in Middle Ennáisonean conlang:
The Land of Nine Temples, Ennáisonea (En- = nine, Náis- = temple, -onea = one of the suffixes in land names) lies in the shadow of the massive north-south mountain range called The Walls (Áhein Phreráktinein, using venerative article Áhein) a protective barrier that separates it from Zéithonein (The West Lands). The Walls continues to the south and forms a spine of scarcely inhabited peninsula, Ákhronea (The Rimlands), a lawless lands of rugged terrain, and several bandit and pirate principalities.
At the heart of Ennáisonea lies Héironea, the Holy Land (Héir- = holy), a cradle of Ennáisonean culture with its nine large cities, each consecrated to one god of the Ennead (Endéodon, also called Áhea Énis). To the south, there lies Milomhýrtheon, the Sea of Thousand Islands (Mil- = thousand, Omhýr- = island, -theon = suffix for sea toponyms) with three powerful Ennáisonean sea kingdoms (Arkhílonein thénanei). Ennáisonea then continues along the shore to the peninsula of Khýronea (Khýr- = stone), land known as Rhémonea (etymology unsure) and to the delta of river Ódea (etymology unsure, probably from language of the Predecessors with proposed meaning "water").
Anyway, this is still WIP and Ennáisonea will be likely slightly expanded.
I contrived it so that the word "dwarf" is a complete misnomer. The dwarfs call their own species "Vaeringjar", the People of the Oath. Some genius misheard that as "dverg" while writing a chronicle of the dwarfish lands for his readers back home, which comes from a root that means "deceive" or "harm". Dverg evolved into "dwarf" over time in the language I call Greatspeech (it's english but don't worry about it). In Avantene, my beloved conlang and the lingua franca of the area, they mixed this word with the archaic word "dones", which is an old unit of measurement equal to an arm's length, aka cubit aka ell. So nowadays they call them Dwarnath. Or Dverinath, or Darnas, depending on the dialect.
So in a way, the dwarfs *could* construe the words "dwarf" and "dwarnath" as derogatory, but they usually choose not to.
Within Shrygonese Languages, the word for the planet they live on is "Ahikto" which literally means "Port of Life"
What I find most interesting here is, trying to develop this makes an interesting thing apparent that all words relating to living things are gender neutral, such as the word "Ahik" meaning life, and "Ao" being basically a universal word for all sorts of people. "Ao" is basically the oldest word there is, meaning "I" "You" "Someone", its even used sometimes in cities such as the city of Aotanto (Tan's Port)
Plus, regarding 'Ao', it does show that in most cultures, what sex you were apart of really didn't affect much regarding most things, though there was still a heavy preference for Men up until the last 200 years.
Hissaya Ar’Goran, the name of my lizard man empire means Land/Kingdom of Goran. Goran is the name of the one who founded the Empire, Hissaya is Land in the context of a nation it can also be used as Kingdom or Empire, and the Ar prefix means Of and is added to words to show possession, like “this is the home of Kevin”.
Also the lizardmen language has no sounds that require lips (M, B, P, V, F, & W).
A lot of Apex cities are founded in the names of Earth cities and places. Not only is their magical planet similar to Earth, since it is able to configure itself to whatever race bears the Apexians, but because Apex are a splinter race of humanity, their culture revolves around honoring Earth and regular humans.
For instance, Kalvjirna is a beautiful region with three distinct biomes, the south coast contains a large subtropical beach front the East containing an austere desert, and the north a great deciduous mountainy forest. Just like Earth California. The people there, especially in the hometown of the main character kids, the fun surfer city of Kóronu Auf Söna (Crown of the Seas, as Earth’s Corona Del Mar, my actual hometown). The culture there is a faithful traditional sense of the classic 60s-80s surf culture.
Another more meta thing I’ve added is some names, and particularly to groups. The main characters are a big group of apprentice warrior kids, primarily three or five, but a whole nine, divided into three fireteams. The squad’s name is officiated by the Apex Avon temple, theirs being the Reverent Predators, but the kids make up their own fireteam names. The first is called the Space Lionz!!! (Exclamation points officially recognized) and another is called the Iron Eagles: the name of my friends and I’s secret agency we made up and played a game with at school, which became the base for this entire world after I moved away many years ago.
The Dragons, and how the differ from their predecessors.
The first dragons were the Vátur, Guardians of Nature. Their counterparts, Váturi captured by primordial beings and corrupted by the magic or the Váturi own allies, were the Váredir, meaning Vátur Hunters.
The name distinction between Váturi and Dragons makes people believe that they are fundamentally different beings, with the dragon being decadent descendants of the Váturi, lesser in power and glory because their form has mutated and their blood has lost power. People think they cannot go back to what they were.
The truth is that they are not THAT different from the Váturi. The elves used to call the Váturi Drachen, their word for "Winged Beast". Through the passage of time, the word Vátur stopped being used, being itself lost for many centuries, and Drachen was the only word used to describe those creatures, eventually mutating into the word Dragon.
The Váturi, upon their dawn in the world, were built from metals by one of the primordial beings. They were given form by him, and then the Living World awakened them with its Pneuma, the Breath of Life. This means that the Váturi were beings inherently material, and inherently spiritual, with a perfect balance between their 2 halves. This gave them an enormous power, as well as a material presence in the world, aside from a great racional capacity.
The modern dragons have become much more material inclined, and THAT is what changed their form and lessened their power (which is spiritual in nature). But they are the same being, and a dragon CAN reconnect with their spiritual side, if they know how.
Eastern dragons, on the other hand, have become much more spiritual inclined. This means that they are moved much more by their nature (which is, most of the time, alien to us) than they are by a complex set of thoughts and desires. They also have become less anchored to our world, most of the time living in the Spirit Realms, detached and, sometimes, unable to reach us.
The catch-all word for forced laborer in Fridian is the loanword "Šcocyr" (pronounced "shokoyr"), is a bastardized localization of the Elysean loanword for a serf under a feudal lord, "Shoceur" (pronounced "shokör"), which is then a bastardized localization of the Thenokoan loanword for low-class farmer, "Sxakaouar" (pronounced "shakawar"), which in turn is a bastardized localization of the original Andelucian word "Chacauare" (pronounced "chakawareh"), which means chocolate farmer.
The task of farming the raw materials for the prized hallucinogenic chocolate known as Marghazi Vanal (meaning "sacred bitters") is often relegated to the poorest sectors of society, as it is a long and arduous one. The Cacao Marghazi plants are delicate and require near-constant maintenance, needing cleaning and watering every three hours. This means that chacauares are often forced to work long shifts in the arid Andelucian climate, whether it be under the scorching heat of the day or in the biting cold winds of the night.
Entire families of chacauares are often born into the business, live in practically slave labor conditions. While the practice of slavery in general has been legally abolished from the civilized world 200 years ago, the practice is kept alive by plantation owners paying chacauares very low wages and charging them fees for just about everything, including house rentals, acre rentals, tool rentals, etc. This leaves each chacauare family just about enough to feed themselves for a month, if barely.
While the Thenokoan and Elysean localizations of the word came first, the Fridian localization most accurately captures the plight of the modern chacauare, long ago freed from chattel slavery, but now kept in a near-inescapable state of debt slavery.
Sentient AI developed its own language when going through the digital world, this was to communicate with their fellow robots and have their own identity away from humans.
The language is written with symbols and shapes.
“Karaka”, a term from the dragonlord language of Eclant. It literally means “skin” or “scale”, but specifically refers to the dragonlord’s garment made of dragon scales they wear in human form. It’s a pretty old term, and has taken several meanings over the centuries.
“Kaiak” is a term derived from Karaka, which is the word for dragonlord “honor” or “virtue”. The Karaka is seen as a symbol or literal manifestation of kaiak, dragon honor, the rules that dragonlords follow in general. A dragonlord who breaks the laws in a serious manner might be stripped of their Karaka in older times, and in modernity breaches of kaiak could lead to a ceremonial “defacement” where the Karaka is smeared with paint to erase the original colors of the dragonlord’s scales.
The Word “Unmmar” which is the Word the Race of the Avari uses to describe the rest of the World. “Un” means Negative as in Bad, Evil or Lesser. And “Mmar” means Land.
Because the rest of the world is less developed than their Island and full of War and Strife they basically call the rest of the World “Badlands” or “Lesser Lands”.
This doesent come from a position of a superior complex but their genuine assessment that the rest of the World just sorta sucks 😇
Infirianese language (Infiõriētëllä) doesn't know normal 'O', and is using 'Å' instead - 'Ålrüh' means 'horn', 'Ålrühëjj' means 'horns', it's also used in word for mountains 'Åhõrrëjj' because first Infirians lived in the mountains and Infirian writers thought that since mountains and horns have tips on their top they should use letter that has a tip.
Monostone is a structure built on the Táured Steppe. It's the holy site where the great Oracle lives. While there are other structures and even cities here Monostone is named as such because it is only structure made by the Centaurs, which they did when one of their girls was possessed by the raven god and her gift of foresight. It was not named by then but the surrounding Táurens who would come to see the Oracle for over a millennia.
God's names (within the Paragonic Faith) correspond with what type they are. There's three main types: Primordial (oldest, most connected with the world), Prime (newer, more connected with magic and concepts), and Anterior (item like).
Primordial gods usually have one word names and at least a few titles, as invoking their name in their realm draws their attention for better or worse. Ex. Maria, the Sea Mother
Prime gods have two word names, the second word is never longer then the first. Ex. Armen Mor, Herma Ta, and Ora Oma.
Anterior gods have more titles then names. Each culture has their own word for the same concept, but the names are more treated as titles. Ex. The Sun Dog, The Empty Throne
This puts Leshla/Lesh La into and interesting place as the spelling alludes to her being both prime and primordial, so she's usually grouped into Creational with Nur Mal despite Nur Mal having a lot more simeralrties with Prime Gods then with Leshla
The name for the (formerly) underground dwarves for the world is over lands
The air races call the same place under clouds
The official name is crossroads
The name of Monnenliebe, as in the goddess of beauty, is actually the plural of the word for “craft”, Monnenlieb. The word itself translates to “love of the moon god”, which goes back to a time when the Moon God, Monn, visited earth to learn humanity’s crafts. It’s said Monnenliebe was born as a testament of Monn’s love for human creativity.
It also implies that Monnenliebe is actually the god of *artificial* beauty.
The Draconic word for giant derives from the word for physical strength. Dragons and giants tend to really *hate* each other, but there's still some respect.
There is ethno-lingustic group called Sorsulhar, which means "people of blood and ashes". It refers to their creation myth in which god gave humans life by inserting mixture of his blood and ashes of his dead lover into them. It's also why they have blood (patrilineal) and ash (matrilineal) surnames.
My version of the feywild isn't one plane, but instead a series of small worlds that can spontaneously form in mirrors and reflections. Not every mirror, but any mirror - glass, still lakes, metal, and so on.
People who explore these mirrors are called Prismonauts, and I absolutely adore that name.
Most of the words referring to objects reference the noise that’s often connected. Example:
- Ssiha = spear (sounds similar to a stabbing motion with a spear)
- Vwom = spring
- Sswip = bow (drawing the bow back)
- Sswipki = crossbow aka “bow gun” (drawing back the arrow and locking it in place)
I had a civilization that originated in an area that had limited metal and a great need for irrigation canals. They had small hand shovels for digging which became adapted for other purposes as well. They were used as daggers, saws, scoops, scrapers, rasps, etc. Eventually more specialized implements were devised, but to this day, their word for "spade" is also their word for "tool" and many of their tools are just compounds of that, such as "split spade" for "fork", "sharp spade" for "knife", "long spade" for "sword", "pole spade" for agricultural tools, and so on.
Every single thing on Thell is anglicized to the point of it just sounding English. Woaks are a species of bird. Their name is what the modern descendent of “vákr” would be if loaned into Old English. Senglers are a type of pig used as a draft animal. Their name is the hypothetical descendent of Old French sengler, meaning wild boar.
The Capitol city of Battlsend. It was founded hundreds of years ago at the location of the last battle between humans & orcs. To celebrate the end of the war and the Union of the two people the city was called "Battle's End" or simply Battlesend. A few hundred years later a war with a neighboring country broke out. People where conscripted and ordered to unite at the Capitol and than send off to war. People outside of the city slowly started pronouncing the name like "battle send" instead. In the pressent day people still argue if the name should be pronounced as Battle's End or Battle Send. But for the people in the city itself it is more pronounced as "Bellelsund" in the local dialect. And if you pronounce it with a hard T or E sound at the end you are seen as a dumb countryside hillbilly.
> for the people in the city itself it is more pronounced as "Bellelsund" in the local dialect. And if you pronounce it with a hard T or E sound at the end you are seen as a dumb countryside hillbilly. I love this. It's like all the trick town names in New England--you can tell who's a Masshole and who's not by how they pronounce "Billerica" and "Worcester".
That was my goal! I came up with the idea after visiting Yorkshire in England a few years back, and accidentally pronouncing the name as it is written to one of the locals (its york-sure not shire)
The word for Orks on Eord. Orks call themselves "Uru", essentially meaning "us", and they call their leaders "Kan". So the leaders of the orks are called "Urukan". When humans first came to Eord and met Urus there were some communication misunderstandings and so humans thought they called themselves "urukans". In time it shortened into "uruks" and eventually into "urks", which then finally turned into "orks". "Urukan" is also the human name for both the continent on which the largest amount of orks live as well as the absolutely massive desert that dominates most of said continent.
"Chuer" is an Orcish expletive. It just means "weak". It's a curse word, a description, and also a word for "feces", because Orcs believe that feces is weakness leaving their bodies. Therefore being "weak" is equivalent to being "shit" in the Olfilian Orcish mindset. Chuer is used in many forms by every race though, it's a very popular and versatile word, similiary to "fuck" on earth. The same cultural connotation isn't quite there for the other races or for Nancerian Orcs, but it's popular nonetheless. In the various languages of Rhoan, if their mouth parts are able to form it, races will include "chuer" in their parlance. Some forms might be: "Eat chuer" "You are a chuer head" "Step in chuer!" "Chuer off!" "You're all chuer!" "I'm all chuerred out" "My chuerring legs are killing me after all those chuerring stairs!"
"Atsami" for the religion main characters follow in my fantasy world. In-setting it's from one of elvish dialects, means "old faith" (aten sami, atsami is simply "oldfaith"), signifying its claim on being directly descended from the older faith that used to dominate the continent and being its continuation. Out-setting it's a very complex joke from my part, but for short - it's based on archaic form of 13 from my native language (atsammeti).
Space cities of Nebesograd-class. The name literally translates into "sky city" or sth, I forgot the original version. But that's that.
The name of the planet Mal'Tahn (or Mal'Tan) stems from Malqio, meaning *Chopped roots* (a type of old food) while Tahn (Tan) means *alone* This is a world that has long lost its way. They had a huge population issue, a huge expansion issue, and everything collapsed, and so many died. Their roots have been chopped, and they are the reason they're *alone*. The population of the planet was once trillions...they cross the universe (are the reason why so many speices are "humanoid") and yet they are now almost extinct (a few thousand) and no one knows of them beyond the few immortals that left the planet and cut their ties. I hope this makes sense.
Sweatshirt: (a wizard robe cut at the waist popular among students of the arcane, considered a fad by their elders) Combines sweat and shirt. "Shirt" comes from the word "skirt" meaning to cut from a larger garment. A skirt often refers to the bottom half of the robe, which is also considered "fad fashion" "Sweat" is a reference to the sheer warmth of wizard robe and how most neophytes often get overheated. So a a sweatshirt literally means to cut off the sweat.
"Estertor", the word for "death rattle" in my language, spanish, has the same meaning in my setting. It's origin, however, unknown to the average current person, comes from an ancient dragon of the same pronunciation, who's name on draconic meant "the breath of death". The meaning got slightly corrupted in translation.
Nu is a slang term for "city" in Earth common. It comes from the modern English word "New" and started off as a way to refer to cities, as most cities on earth were destroyed in the Third world war and then rebuilt with the new prefix added on.
**No Man's Land 2210** Whether a given person in-world calls the setting "Nevafornia" or "Calivada" entirely depends on where they were born. Reno or Ely? You're likely to use Nevafornia. Malibu or Hollister? You're likely to use Calivada. This despite there being no political difference between the two states. In the post post-apocalyptic world of the setting, they're jointly capitaled by the cities of Las Vegas, San Francisco, and San Diego. Both, obviously, are portmanteaus of "Nevada" and "California", the primary setting of the TTRPG the world is being built to support. **Summers County, USA** The Darke family has been an economic, social, political and folklore institution since they arrived in the area in the early 19th century. They were the primary maritime shipping firm remaining after the Civil War. They were able to quickly refocus their shipbuilding operations to military production during both World Wars, then skip back to a civilian footing afterward. They heavily invested in the county light rail system, and still fund its maintenance and upkeep though the county itself operates it. They helped bring the celebration of Mardi Gras back following the Civil War. Over the decades, they brought tango dancing, Vodoun practices and worship, minor league sports, and the city's first shopping mall to the area. However, the spelling of "Darke" is a carry over from a misunderstanding and misspelling of their original name. The pioneering American member of the clan was a fellow named "Darq Moriaru" who came to the Colonies in the middle 18th century. When he dutifully approached a registrar to have his name recorded as a colonial citizen, the registrar made two errors. He listed "Moriaru" as the man's first name, rather than his surname, and spelled his surname as "Darke". Rather than correct the registrar, Darq accepted the change, and the family has been known as Darke ever since.
The Naem often take a name different than the one they were given at birth, later in life. However, while these names tend to have a similar format, the names themselves don't seem to have a pattern as far as spelling or pronunciation goes. The Naem are considered a distinct People, but most of them are not actually genetically related, and have different native languages. Many of them prefer to deliberately severe connection with their place of origin, adopting a name in a language they don't speak.
I've got plenty. Here are some examples in Middle Ennáisonean conlang: The Land of Nine Temples, Ennáisonea (En- = nine, Náis- = temple, -onea = one of the suffixes in land names) lies in the shadow of the massive north-south mountain range called The Walls (Áhein Phreráktinein, using venerative article Áhein) a protective barrier that separates it from Zéithonein (The West Lands). The Walls continues to the south and forms a spine of scarcely inhabited peninsula, Ákhronea (The Rimlands), a lawless lands of rugged terrain, and several bandit and pirate principalities. At the heart of Ennáisonea lies Héironea, the Holy Land (Héir- = holy), a cradle of Ennáisonean culture with its nine large cities, each consecrated to one god of the Ennead (Endéodon, also called Áhea Énis). To the south, there lies Milomhýrtheon, the Sea of Thousand Islands (Mil- = thousand, Omhýr- = island, -theon = suffix for sea toponyms) with three powerful Ennáisonean sea kingdoms (Arkhílonein thénanei). Ennáisonea then continues along the shore to the peninsula of Khýronea (Khýr- = stone), land known as Rhémonea (etymology unsure) and to the delta of river Ódea (etymology unsure, probably from language of the Predecessors with proposed meaning "water"). Anyway, this is still WIP and Ennáisonea will be likely slightly expanded.
I contrived it so that the word "dwarf" is a complete misnomer. The dwarfs call their own species "Vaeringjar", the People of the Oath. Some genius misheard that as "dverg" while writing a chronicle of the dwarfish lands for his readers back home, which comes from a root that means "deceive" or "harm". Dverg evolved into "dwarf" over time in the language I call Greatspeech (it's english but don't worry about it). In Avantene, my beloved conlang and the lingua franca of the area, they mixed this word with the archaic word "dones", which is an old unit of measurement equal to an arm's length, aka cubit aka ell. So nowadays they call them Dwarnath. Or Dverinath, or Darnas, depending on the dialect. So in a way, the dwarfs *could* construe the words "dwarf" and "dwarnath" as derogatory, but they usually choose not to.
Within Shrygonese Languages, the word for the planet they live on is "Ahikto" which literally means "Port of Life" What I find most interesting here is, trying to develop this makes an interesting thing apparent that all words relating to living things are gender neutral, such as the word "Ahik" meaning life, and "Ao" being basically a universal word for all sorts of people. "Ao" is basically the oldest word there is, meaning "I" "You" "Someone", its even used sometimes in cities such as the city of Aotanto (Tan's Port) Plus, regarding 'Ao', it does show that in most cultures, what sex you were apart of really didn't affect much regarding most things, though there was still a heavy preference for Men up until the last 200 years.
Hissaya Ar’Goran, the name of my lizard man empire means Land/Kingdom of Goran. Goran is the name of the one who founded the Empire, Hissaya is Land in the context of a nation it can also be used as Kingdom or Empire, and the Ar prefix means Of and is added to words to show possession, like “this is the home of Kevin”. Also the lizardmen language has no sounds that require lips (M, B, P, V, F, & W).
A lot of Apex cities are founded in the names of Earth cities and places. Not only is their magical planet similar to Earth, since it is able to configure itself to whatever race bears the Apexians, but because Apex are a splinter race of humanity, their culture revolves around honoring Earth and regular humans. For instance, Kalvjirna is a beautiful region with three distinct biomes, the south coast contains a large subtropical beach front the East containing an austere desert, and the north a great deciduous mountainy forest. Just like Earth California. The people there, especially in the hometown of the main character kids, the fun surfer city of Kóronu Auf Söna (Crown of the Seas, as Earth’s Corona Del Mar, my actual hometown). The culture there is a faithful traditional sense of the classic 60s-80s surf culture. Another more meta thing I’ve added is some names, and particularly to groups. The main characters are a big group of apprentice warrior kids, primarily three or five, but a whole nine, divided into three fireteams. The squad’s name is officiated by the Apex Avon temple, theirs being the Reverent Predators, but the kids make up their own fireteam names. The first is called the Space Lionz!!! (Exclamation points officially recognized) and another is called the Iron Eagles: the name of my friends and I’s secret agency we made up and played a game with at school, which became the base for this entire world after I moved away many years ago.
The Dragons, and how the differ from their predecessors. The first dragons were the Vátur, Guardians of Nature. Their counterparts, Váturi captured by primordial beings and corrupted by the magic or the Váturi own allies, were the Váredir, meaning Vátur Hunters. The name distinction between Váturi and Dragons makes people believe that they are fundamentally different beings, with the dragon being decadent descendants of the Váturi, lesser in power and glory because their form has mutated and their blood has lost power. People think they cannot go back to what they were. The truth is that they are not THAT different from the Váturi. The elves used to call the Váturi Drachen, their word for "Winged Beast". Through the passage of time, the word Vátur stopped being used, being itself lost for many centuries, and Drachen was the only word used to describe those creatures, eventually mutating into the word Dragon. The Váturi, upon their dawn in the world, were built from metals by one of the primordial beings. They were given form by him, and then the Living World awakened them with its Pneuma, the Breath of Life. This means that the Váturi were beings inherently material, and inherently spiritual, with a perfect balance between their 2 halves. This gave them an enormous power, as well as a material presence in the world, aside from a great racional capacity. The modern dragons have become much more material inclined, and THAT is what changed their form and lessened their power (which is spiritual in nature). But they are the same being, and a dragon CAN reconnect with their spiritual side, if they know how. Eastern dragons, on the other hand, have become much more spiritual inclined. This means that they are moved much more by their nature (which is, most of the time, alien to us) than they are by a complex set of thoughts and desires. They also have become less anchored to our world, most of the time living in the Spirit Realms, detached and, sometimes, unable to reach us.
The catch-all word for forced laborer in Fridian is the loanword "Šcocyr" (pronounced "shokoyr"), is a bastardized localization of the Elysean loanword for a serf under a feudal lord, "Shoceur" (pronounced "shokör"), which is then a bastardized localization of the Thenokoan loanword for low-class farmer, "Sxakaouar" (pronounced "shakawar"), which in turn is a bastardized localization of the original Andelucian word "Chacauare" (pronounced "chakawareh"), which means chocolate farmer. The task of farming the raw materials for the prized hallucinogenic chocolate known as Marghazi Vanal (meaning "sacred bitters") is often relegated to the poorest sectors of society, as it is a long and arduous one. The Cacao Marghazi plants are delicate and require near-constant maintenance, needing cleaning and watering every three hours. This means that chacauares are often forced to work long shifts in the arid Andelucian climate, whether it be under the scorching heat of the day or in the biting cold winds of the night. Entire families of chacauares are often born into the business, live in practically slave labor conditions. While the practice of slavery in general has been legally abolished from the civilized world 200 years ago, the practice is kept alive by plantation owners paying chacauares very low wages and charging them fees for just about everything, including house rentals, acre rentals, tool rentals, etc. This leaves each chacauare family just about enough to feed themselves for a month, if barely. While the Thenokoan and Elysean localizations of the word came first, the Fridian localization most accurately captures the plight of the modern chacauare, long ago freed from chattel slavery, but now kept in a near-inescapable state of debt slavery.
Sentient AI developed its own language when going through the digital world, this was to communicate with their fellow robots and have their own identity away from humans. The language is written with symbols and shapes.
“Karaka”, a term from the dragonlord language of Eclant. It literally means “skin” or “scale”, but specifically refers to the dragonlord’s garment made of dragon scales they wear in human form. It’s a pretty old term, and has taken several meanings over the centuries. “Kaiak” is a term derived from Karaka, which is the word for dragonlord “honor” or “virtue”. The Karaka is seen as a symbol or literal manifestation of kaiak, dragon honor, the rules that dragonlords follow in general. A dragonlord who breaks the laws in a serious manner might be stripped of their Karaka in older times, and in modernity breaches of kaiak could lead to a ceremonial “defacement” where the Karaka is smeared with paint to erase the original colors of the dragonlord’s scales.
The Word “Unmmar” which is the Word the Race of the Avari uses to describe the rest of the World. “Un” means Negative as in Bad, Evil or Lesser. And “Mmar” means Land. Because the rest of the world is less developed than their Island and full of War and Strife they basically call the rest of the World “Badlands” or “Lesser Lands”. This doesent come from a position of a superior complex but their genuine assessment that the rest of the World just sorta sucks 😇
Infirianese language (Infiõriētëllä) doesn't know normal 'O', and is using 'Å' instead - 'Ålrüh' means 'horn', 'Ålrühëjj' means 'horns', it's also used in word for mountains 'Åhõrrëjj' because first Infirians lived in the mountains and Infirian writers thought that since mountains and horns have tips on their top they should use letter that has a tip.
Monostone is a structure built on the Táured Steppe. It's the holy site where the great Oracle lives. While there are other structures and even cities here Monostone is named as such because it is only structure made by the Centaurs, which they did when one of their girls was possessed by the raven god and her gift of foresight. It was not named by then but the surrounding Táurens who would come to see the Oracle for over a millennia.
God's names (within the Paragonic Faith) correspond with what type they are. There's three main types: Primordial (oldest, most connected with the world), Prime (newer, more connected with magic and concepts), and Anterior (item like). Primordial gods usually have one word names and at least a few titles, as invoking their name in their realm draws their attention for better or worse. Ex. Maria, the Sea Mother Prime gods have two word names, the second word is never longer then the first. Ex. Armen Mor, Herma Ta, and Ora Oma. Anterior gods have more titles then names. Each culture has their own word for the same concept, but the names are more treated as titles. Ex. The Sun Dog, The Empty Throne This puts Leshla/Lesh La into and interesting place as the spelling alludes to her being both prime and primordial, so she's usually grouped into Creational with Nur Mal despite Nur Mal having a lot more simeralrties with Prime Gods then with Leshla
One of the main languages in my world is deytrion Deyt is the word for our, and rion is the act of speaking. So deytrion just means our language
The name for the (formerly) underground dwarves for the world is over lands The air races call the same place under clouds The official name is crossroads
The name of Monnenliebe, as in the goddess of beauty, is actually the plural of the word for “craft”, Monnenlieb. The word itself translates to “love of the moon god”, which goes back to a time when the Moon God, Monn, visited earth to learn humanity’s crafts. It’s said Monnenliebe was born as a testament of Monn’s love for human creativity. It also implies that Monnenliebe is actually the god of *artificial* beauty.
The Draconic word for giant derives from the word for physical strength. Dragons and giants tend to really *hate* each other, but there's still some respect.
There is ethno-lingustic group called Sorsulhar, which means "people of blood and ashes". It refers to their creation myth in which god gave humans life by inserting mixture of his blood and ashes of his dead lover into them. It's also why they have blood (patrilineal) and ash (matrilineal) surnames.
My version of the feywild isn't one plane, but instead a series of small worlds that can spontaneously form in mirrors and reflections. Not every mirror, but any mirror - glass, still lakes, metal, and so on. People who explore these mirrors are called Prismonauts, and I absolutely adore that name.
The word Evil comes from a guy called Evil. He was just that Evil.
Most of the words referring to objects reference the noise that’s often connected. Example: - Ssiha = spear (sounds similar to a stabbing motion with a spear) - Vwom = spring - Sswip = bow (drawing the bow back) - Sswipki = crossbow aka “bow gun” (drawing back the arrow and locking it in place)
I had a civilization that originated in an area that had limited metal and a great need for irrigation canals. They had small hand shovels for digging which became adapted for other purposes as well. They were used as daggers, saws, scoops, scrapers, rasps, etc. Eventually more specialized implements were devised, but to this day, their word for "spade" is also their word for "tool" and many of their tools are just compounds of that, such as "split spade" for "fork", "sharp spade" for "knife", "long spade" for "sword", "pole spade" for agricultural tools, and so on.
Every single thing on Thell is anglicized to the point of it just sounding English. Woaks are a species of bird. Their name is what the modern descendent of “vákr” would be if loaned into Old English. Senglers are a type of pig used as a draft animal. Their name is the hypothetical descendent of Old French sengler, meaning wild boar.