blogs_blog_494

Actually, I think Malum was named after the apple meaning.

 

 

Actually, I think Malum was named after the apple meaning.

He's red and yellow, after all!

 

Meh, I preferred the Maori-like names, with i's, a's, u's and o's at the end of the names. That's how I'm doing my Epic's character's name anyway.

 

Sure Valcanus isn't from "Valcano"?

 

-CF

Actually, I think Malum was named after the apple meaning.

He's red and yellow, after all!

 

Meh, I preferred the Maori-like names, with i's, a's, u's and o's at the end of the names. That's how I'm doing my Epic's character's name anyway.

 

Sure Valcanus isn't from "Valcano"?

 

-CF

And where did "Volcano" come from?

 

Good to know, thanks ToM.

 

-Nuju Metru

Perditus can also mean "destroyer", or, as an adjective, "infamous" or "lost". Only time will tell which meaning was intended. And Gelu has all sorts of delightful icy names that jumped to mind when I first saw the name (think Gelato and you'll see why its Latin root sticks in my head).

 

Pity the naming system isn't as simple as, say, the naming system used in the MNOLGII or in 2001 BIONICLE names. If they were all element-based, sure, I could dig through Wiktionary or a broad span of other sources. But since some merely deal with warfare and fighting and challenge and several related concepts I'm not too confident in my ability to decipher the names. Many are almost bound to have origins somewhere, perhaps in a Latin-derived language, but since it's not Latin and I don't know what I can expect the roots to mean I really lack the patience to look this time around.

 

On that note, did anyone ever figure out where Takadox's name came from? The other Barraki were easy; he puzzles me to this day. I've looked through several mantis shrimp scientific names (and some species have eerie similarities to the blue Barraki), but come up with nuth'n.

 

I'm liking this year of names, anyway. We still get the delightful vowelfulness of Polynesian names without the need to make them sound so exotic. And that (at least for me) is a nice way of bringing BIONICLE to its new home for at least this year.

Sahmad is awesome.

BtB

Also, I hereby proclaim Sahmad to have come from the Arabian Nights. An impression which cannot be avoided, since "Samad" actually is an Arabic name. If I ever draw him, he will be weilding a scimitar and will probably end up looking like Jafar.

 

And then he would get shot with a Thornax in the face by a Glatorian named Indianus.

Sure Valcanus isn't from "Valcano"?

And where did "Volcano" come from?

And why are there extra a's in there? At any rate, the fact that its spelling is identical to the name of the god (rather than being Volcanus, which would suggest a volcanic origin), seems to point to its being taken from Latin rather than modified from English.

 

Perditus can also mean "destroyer", or, as an adjective, "infamous" or "lost". Only time will tell which meaning was intended.

Technically it would have to be perditor to mean "destroyer", since perditus is strictly passive. But yes, those other two meanings are also possible, transferred from the most literal meaning.

 

On that note, did anyone ever figure out where Takadox's name came from? The other Barraki were easy; he puzzles me to this day. I've looked through several mantis shrimp scientific names (and some species have eerie similarities to the blue Barraki), but come up with nuth'n.

We've been over this before. I'm pretty sure it's related to Takanuva, since both of them have to do with light. Takanuva is Toa of Light, so "taka" becomes associated with light, and Takadox's set glows in the dark. That's certainly the simplest explanation...

I think Takanuva translates literally (from Matoran) to mean "new spirit of fire".

Because "nuva" means new, Ta- is the fire prefix, and -ka is in both mistika and phantoka, which both mean "spirit of the ---" (This implies misti- means "mist" and phanto- means sky)

Wait, whar does Pridak come from?

Aaanyway...

Good to know.

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I though Sahmad sounded Arabian.

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Wait, could Perditus be a bandit Glatorian perchance?

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What does fear have to do with Metus? Is he cowardly or fearsome?

Were are Perditus and Telluris from?

I think GregF said something about "Taka" not relating to light, when talking about a similar theory tied in with Brutaka.

 

-CF

I think GregF said something about "Taka" not relating to light, when talking about a similar theory tied in with Brutaka.

 

-CF

 

Takadox also has the Taka.

And he's evil so it could mean light.

Also, I hereby proclaim Sahmad to have come from the Arabian Nights. An impression which cannot be avoided, since "Samad" actually is an Arabic name. If I ever draw him, he will be weilding a scimitar and will probably end up looking like Jafar.

Also because "Ahmad" is a common arab name.

The rest are interesting to know though, good work.

All of a sudden I want to take Latin...

-M-

I think GregF said something about "Taka" not relating to light, when talking about a similar theory tied in with Brutaka.

 

-CF

Yes, but there's no reason there should necessarily be a connection there. Brutaka was, after all, pretty clearly taken from the word "brute," so the taka in his name could quite easily be a coincidence. After all, it's not like the word "risky" is related to "sky" or "defeat" to "eat."

 

Now, Takadox could of course also be a coincidence, and his name could have just been made up like so many other Bionicle names, with no root anywhere at all. But the fact that he and Takanuva have a connection by both being associated with light makes it more -likely- that Takadox's name was based on "Takanuva."

Perditus can also mean "destroyer", or, as an adjective, "infamous" or "lost". Only time will tell which meaning was intended.

Technically it would have to be perditor to mean "destroyer", since perditus is strictly passive. But yes, those other two meanings are also possible, transferred from the most literal meaning.

Not according to my Latin dictionary (which lists "perditus" as a noun meaning "destroyer", possibly derived from the meaning of "destruction" which "perditus" could easily adopt as a passive perfect participle).

 

On that note, did anyone ever figure out where Takadox's name came from? The other Barraki were easy; he puzzles me to this day. I've looked through several mantis shrimp scientific names (and some species have eerie similarities to the blue Barraki), but come up with nuth'n.

We've been over this before. I'm pretty sure it's related to Takanuva, since both of them have to do with light. Takanuva is Toa of Light, so "taka" becomes associated with light, and Takadox's set glows in the dark. That's certainly the simplest explanation...

In the context of fandom such ties are possible. In the context of official BIONICLE, however, there are several reasons that would not be the true origin of the name:

• All the Barraki names seem to tie in with the creature the character represents, except arguably Ehlek, and even electricity ties in more with his traits in story than light does with Takadox (his glowing was never even mentioned in story).
• BIONICLE never used the same BIONICLE language system as we have in the Official Language Topic. After all, "Kapura" means fire and yet has no semblance of the prefix "Ta-" in its spelling or its pronunciation, whereas Lerahk has nothing at all to do with air despite the "Le-" prefix. The language system assumed in most cases is little more than a fan creation to explain.
• Takanuva's name is derived from his former name, Takua, and not from any word for light which I know. If you want to assign any story-based meaning to it, translate it as the "new Takua", which would make the most sense in this case.

I'm pretty certain that the name origin is either from a type of mantis shrimp (as was the case in Mantax's name), a trait of mantis shrimps (as was the case in Carapar's and Ehlek's names), another language's well-known term for mantis shrimp (as was the case with Kalmah's name). So far, besides a family of Mantis Shrimp called "Takuidae" (a real stretch, especially as the shrimps of that family do not all that greatly resemble Takadox), I've come up with nothing.

Well, all I'm saying is that taka has an -association- with light because of Takanuva. It doesn't have to hold up to a canon explanation for Takadox to have been given the name because his set glows in the dark.

 

There's also the possibility that the name "Takadox" was made up the same way Helryx and Mazeka and Sarda and so many others were, and was just assigned to him arbitrarily.

 

I'd say that if you've searched for so long and still haven't come up with any obvious real-world derivation, then it's probably one of the above. Though I wouldn't call "Takuidae" a terrible stretch; after all, Antroz does not look very much like the bat Family he's named after...

Well, all I'm saying is that taka has an -association- with light because of Takanuva. It doesn't have to hold up to a canon explanation for Takadox to have been given the name because his set glows in the dark.

 

There's also the possibility that the name "Takadox" was made up the same way Helryx and Mazeka and Sarda and so many others were, and was just assigned to him arbitrarily.

 

I'd say that if you've searched for so long and still haven't come up with any obvious real-world derivation, then it's probably one of the above. Though I wouldn't call "Takuidae" a terrible stretch; after all, Antroz does not look very much like the bat Family he's named after...

Actually, Sarda probably comes from Sardine. From what I've seen the names of Mahri Nui Matoran come from fish (hence, Gar). Of course, it's just a hunch, but seemingly a hunch with some potential.

 

I'm very skeptical of his name coming from Taka- as in Takanuva because the story team almost never constructs names like that. The only exceptions that jump to mind are Avohkah (where Av-, light, is used in Avohkah, sentient lightning) and of course the Bohrok names (which followed a rigid naming system, unlike the Barraki). Otherwise, the story team almost invariably seems to draw names from real-world language origins, and has since BIONICLE began (getting them into trouble once or twice along the way).

 

I suppose Takuidae could be it, but I'll keep looking if I ever find the time. I cringe at the thought that it may have been arbitrary, since that wasn't the case for any of the other Barraki. Arbitrary names might work for characters who don't appear as prescheduled sets, but I haven't seen much implying that LEGO draws names from their legal team's hat in such foreknown cases.

There are some more:

 

Gresh means "to walk, pace"

 

Tarduk means "slow pace"

 

Strakk means "bloodbath, debris, pain."

 

Metus means "fear, cowardess."

 

Certavus means "Contest, competition, rivalry, etc."

 

Perditus also means "failure, loss."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... I was thinking "wha?" to those, but then I realized that you were doing (possible) derivations rather than words taken directly from Latin, which is what I did.

 

Gresh could indeed come from gressus, "step," but that's much less certain, though Tarduk from tardus, "slow," seems probable. And I knew I had forgotten something; Certavus is not actually a Latin word, but it probably is related to certatio, "contest" or "competition."

 

But where are you getting Strakk from?

... I was thinking "wha?" to those, but then I realized that you were doing (possible) derivations rather than words taken directly from Latin, which is what I did.

 

Gresh could indeed come from gressus, "step," but that's much less certain, though Tarduk from tardus, "slow," seems probable. And I knew I had forgotten something; Certavus is not actually a Latin word, but it probably is related to certatio, "contest" or "competition."

 

But where are you getting Strakk from?

 

Or, as I heard in another blog once (forgive me for not remembering which), Gresh could be derived from aggression, which while not Latin itself nevertheless has a Latin word of origin. Certainly Gresh doesn't embody aggression in story (not yet anyway *BUMBUMBUMforeshadowingnoises*), but it would fit with the competition-related roots we've already seen.

 

And while we're discussing non-Latin roots and you're still on your The Golden Compass buzz, how about Skrall/Skraelings? Skraelings seem to fit the percieved barbarism which also applies to the Skrall. And they're even from the north! +500 Eerie Coincidence Bonus! *cha-ching!*

 

I had previously dismissed the idea that Tarduk's name could come from tardus, but looking at it together with Metus's name (meaning fear), perhaps several Agori might take their names from traits that would inhibit them in battle. Of course, that wouldn't apply to the possibility of Atakus's name being merely from attack, but it's worth considering if I come across any other possible Agori naming origins that would seem contrary to the typical '09 fashion of naming.

 

And to segue once again from the competition-based naming system and non-Latin roots, don't forget "Skirmix", which undoubtedly comes from skirmish, and Tuma, which I presume to be derived from tumult.

 

I wonder where Raanu's name comes from. With its double-vowel in the middle it strikes me as more similar to the traditional Polynesian roots than the Latin roots, but I won't ignore the likely possibility that its root, whatever language it might be, is phonetically similar in the same vein as Kalmah's name origin. Of course this makes the true origin harder to hunt down, but at least broadens the range of possibilities beyond the obscure languages which are poorly represented on Wiktionary and other multilingual compendiums of knowledge.