Guest Article: Latin Runewords

Hmm, to do shael, you'll need another language (clearly isn't Greek or Latin)... may I suggest Hebrew? I don't know much about it as a language (only took 5 years of Latin, no Hebrew) but it is a classic and definitely has the "sh" character/sound. Maybe someone could kick in some ideas about Hebrew "shaels"

On a somewhat more serious note, my guess is that Latin/Greek/other classics had a lot to do with the rune names. When the writers were coming up with names, they most likely tried to come up with things that sounded like they could be ancient letters or syllables, so the first (subconcious) ideas they had would have been Latin-based sounds I would think...
 
Pompeii's wrath - this could have two meanings. Pompeii was, as most people know, a city that was buried under the ashes of a nearby volcano. However, as a city buried underashes is not particularily threatening, I think the weapon was named after the city's founder, Pompeii, one of Julius Caesar's rivals in his acquisition of power.
Click to expand...

Well, the meaning could be much simpler. The wrath of the volcano. The eruption that buried Pompeii was from Mt. Vesuvius, but maybe the game creators thought that was too much of a creative stretch.
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=38037

Pompeii's Wrath
Crowbill
One-Hand Damage: (33-37) To (81-91) (57-64 Avg)
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 94
Required Dexterity: 70
Range: 2
Durability: 26
Base Weapon Speed: [-10]
+140-170% Enhanced Damage(varies)
Adds 35-150 Fire Damage
Slows Target By 50%
4% Chance To Cast Level 8 Volcano On Striking
Knockback
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)

Another classically named item (and one of my favorite shields)
According to Babylonian belief, Tiamat and Apsu are the parents of all the Great Gods and Goddesses of Babylon.
http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/gods/ladies/ladytiamat.html
Tiamat's Rebuke
Dragon Shield
Defense: 163-204 (varies)(Base Defense: 59-67)
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 91
Chance to Block: Pal: 48%, Ama/Asn/Bar: 43%, Dru/Nec/Sor: 38%
Durability: 116
Paladin Smite Damage: 15 To 24
+140-200% Enhanced Defense (varies)
Adds 27-53 Cold Damage - 6 Second Duration
Adds 35-95 Fire Damage
Adds 1-120 Lightning Damage
3% Chance To Cast Level 6 Hydra When Struck
5% Chance To Cast Level 7 Nova When Struck
5% Chance To Cast Level 9 Frost Nova When Struck
All Resistances +25-35% (varies)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)
 
In relation to this, there's a little known hidden feature in Blizzard's runewords. The first letter in each rune of the runeword have a relation to what the runeword does. This doesn't apply to *all* runewords, but some of them:
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They also went in for synonyms.

Passion
4 Socket Weapons
Dol + Ort + Eld + Lem
+25% Increased Attack Speed
+160-210% Enhanced Damage
50-80% Bonus To Attack Rating (varies)
+75% Damage To Undead
+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
+1 To Berserk
+1 To Zeal
Hit Blinds Target +10
Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
Level 3 Heart of Wolverine (12 Charges)

synonyms PASSION, FERVOR, ARDOR, ENTHUSIASM, ZEAL


As for the Sanctuary runeword, Ko+Ko+Mal, all I can think of is the soundtrack for "Cocktail" starring Tom Cruise, featuring the song "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.
 
Checked up on shael and hebrew. Closest thing I could find was Mishael that breaksdown to mesha which means "freedom".

Maybe "freedom" from attacking really slowly since shael adds to ias.

Note: I've never taken Hebrew course, just ran a quick Hebrew dictionary search. In fact, I'm Roman Catholic and have never been molested by a priest as far as I can remember.

Oh yeah, mal could just be spanish for bad.
 
Ferrous said:
"...Umbral disk - Umbra is Latin for Shadow. For those of you Pokemon dorks, think of your favorite dark pokemon, Umbreon... (there is some other latin in Pokemon, but this is DII, not pokemon)..."
QUOTE]

another pokemon thing is : the latin word 'vulpes' means 'fox' and the Vulpix looks like a fox :D

interesting posts...i also saw most of the connexions noted. anyone up for a 'translate dii into latin' project ? lmao. jk
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psuedoenviro said:
Checked up on shael and hebrew. Closest thing I could find was Mishael that breaksdown to mesha which means "freedom".

Maybe "freedom" from attacking really slowly since shael adds to ias.

Note: I've never taken Hebrew course, just ran a quick Hebrew dictionary search. In fact, I'm Roman Catholic and have never been molested by a priest as far as I can remember.

Oh yeah, mal could just be spanish for bad.
Click to expand...


I lived in Israel for a year and I know the language there fairly decently. I don't think that shael has any basis in hebrew, though there still the possibility. Typically speaking, the suffix "el" in hebrew means "of God" - that's where names like Michael and Tyriel come from....it's possible, but not probable that Shael has some root in this direction.
 
Asmod3Us said:
Ferrous said:
"...Umbral disk - Umbra is Latin for Shadow. For those of you Pokemon dorks, think of your favorite dark pokemon, Umbreon... (there is some other latin in Pokemon, but this is DII, not pokemon)..."
QUOTE]

another pokemon thing is : the latin word 'vulpes' means 'fox' and the Vulpix looks like a fox :D

interesting posts...i also saw most of the connexions noted. anyone up for a 'translate dii into latin' project ? lmao. jk
Click to expand...


huh, didn't know that one about Vulpix...Ursus is Latin for bear...rather appropriate choice of name if you ask me. And you probably already know this one
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres

a 1,2,3 for the three legendary birds...
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The only Ohm I know is the unit for electrial resistance... but it has nothing to do with lightning/electricity.
Interesting thread... maybe someone should write another guest article on these. And no I don't know any/enough Latin to write one.
 
[G.Knightz]K.nG said:
The only Ohm I know is the unit for electrial resistance... but it has nothing to do with lightning/electricity.
Interesting thread... maybe someone should write another guest article on these. And no I don't know any/enough Latin to write one.
Click to expand...


Well, like a lot of figures in physics, greek letters (like Ohm) pop up...so the classical reference is there as a greek letter, but as you said, nothing more than that.
 
Most interesting post i read in a while! :) Too bad i'm just a ****** when it comes to latin or i'd help you guys out! :lol:
 
Ferrous said:
huh, didn't know that one about Vulpix...Ursus is Latin for bear...rather appropriate choice of name if you ask me. And you probably already know this one
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres

a 1,2,3 for the three legendary birds...
Click to expand...
cool thing about the 3 birds...Does anyone remember 'Ursa the Bear' from Baldurs Gate I ?? And what about the latin poem in Diablo : Hellfire ??
It read :
In spiritu sanctum
praedictum otium
efficio obitus ut inimicus,
lol but i cannot seem to translate it...can any1 help plz ?? cos it doesnt really make sense...sorta.
 
Just a little on the rune "Ohm" - there is a similar-sounding word in Sanskrit , which was used in olden india and later in thailand. It's supposedly a holy sound that is able to ward of evil. Can't see how that relates to the 50% ed (5% cold resist is obviously used to fill up the elemental damage section), but the symbol does resemble a dragon's claw - kinda oriental eh? =D
 
well im from brazil, so this one was easy to figure out
Alma = Soul
Negra = Dark (also black or ******)
Negra is the female form of Negro, since in portuguese, alma is a female noun, and thats how it works in portuguese, and im not inclined to explain this in details now =D
so, Alma Negra = Dark Soul
 
Asmod3Us said:
cool thing about the 3 birds...Does anyone remember 'Ursa the Bear' from Baldurs Gate I ?? And what about the latin poem in Diablo : Hellfire ??
It read :
In spiritu sanctum
praedictum otium
efficio obitus ut inimicus,
lol but i cannot seem to translate it...can any1 help plz ?? cos it doesnt really make sense...sorta.
Click to expand...

spiritu sanctum = holy ghost
obitus = obito(in portuguese) = death
inimicus = inimigo(in portuguese) = enemy
praedictum maybe means something like predict?
 
Lord of the rings is full of similar kinds of references....if you remember from The Hobbit , Bjorn, the guy who turned into a bear, then you may also want to know that Bjorn is norse for a bear...things like that.
 
Ferrous said:
should've mentioned that my own username is latin...Ferrous means Iron (long story as to why I chose that...)
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That's why the elemental symbol for Iron is Fe, not In or something. It has to do with the latin root of the word.
From the Latin, plumbium = lead, therefore the symbol is Pb, not Ld.

http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookup.pl?stem=ferr&ending=ous
ferreus -a -um [of iron; made of iron or like iron; hard , unfeeling, cruel; immovable, firm].
 
Bloodshrike said:
That's why the elemental symbol for Iron is Fe, not In or something. It has to do with the latin root of the word.
From the Latin, plumbium = lead, therefore the symbol is Pb, not Ld.

http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookup.pl?stem=ferr&ending=ous
ferreus -a -um [of iron; made of iron or like iron; hard , unfeeling, cruel; immovable, firm].
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm aware. My full (real) name is Ephraim. Obviously people in America don't get that the first time, it can be a mouthful for some. So my nickname is Efi - pronounced "F - E". From there comes the Fe...and hence Iron...and iron man etc....
 
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