Some Names and their Meanings in Thronebreaker

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And now, as a continuation of a little project I started over here, I thought it might be interesting to examine a few of the names we've seen so far for Thronebreaker.

As stated in my previous disclaimer, the following proposed meanings neither reflect nor presume any personal insights into the creative processes or intentions of the original authors. This is merely an academic exercise in onomastics, for my own -- and hopefully others' -- amusement.

As we meet new characters with interesting names, I hope to update this list.

Meve, Queen of Rivia and Lyria: Likely derived from Mebd (or Meadhbh), the semi-divine queen of Connacht, who figures prominently in the mediaeval Irish epic, The Táin ('The Cattle Raid of Cooley'). Her name appears to mean 'intoxicator', or 'the one who makes drunk', similar to English mead. In The Táin, Mebd is a powerful, if rather ruthless, queen, and war-leader. There, her figure is possibly a remnant of a pre-Christian, Celtic sovereign goddess. The name also survives -- in a far less impressive form -- in folklore, as Queen Mab, a fairy, who affects the dreams of mortals. (Shakespeare refers to this character in Romeo and Juliet.) Variants include Maeve, and Mave.

Reynard Odo, advisor to Meve: Reynard, of Norman origin, from Germanic, composed of the elements ragin, 'advice', 'council' + hard, 'hardy', 'strong'. (Renard, the French form, is famously associated with a certain sly fox, popular in mediaeval literature.) Odo, possibly a variant of the German Otto, containing the element od or ot, 'prosperity', 'wealth', or 'fortune'.

Count Caldwell, another of the queen's advisors: Usually a place-, or surname, Old English, cald + well, 'cold stream'.

Gascon, Duke of Dogs, Prince of Pariahs, Thane of Thieves, Baron of Brigands, Marquess of Mendacity: From French Gascoigne, a person from Gascogne (or Gascony), the lower south-west region of France, bordering the Basque Country. Gascony takes its name from the Spanish word for Basque, Vasco, the Basques being once called Vascones. (Ultimately, the Basques' own name, euskara, or eskuara, may mean a sea-dwelling people.)

Demavend, King of Aedirn: Demavend is the name of a volcanic mountain in northern Iran. The name is of Sanskrit origin, from himavant, 'snowy mountain'.
Villem, Meve's son: Similar to Dutch form (Willem) of Germanic Wilhelm (English William), wil, 'will', 'desire' + helm, 'helmet', 'protection'.

Lippy Gudmund, a Skelligan pirate: Contains Germanic elements gud, 'god' + mund, 'protector'.
 
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Wow, you must be bored.
Boredom is a subjective state of mind. Personally, I am very rarely bored, so long as my mind is engaged in pursuit of an interest. I happen to enjoy onomastics, language, and etymology; however, I also know the above information mayn't be of interest to some people. Luckily for them, they are under no obligation to read or care about any of it (unless they one day find themselves 'bored', that is).
 
Nice essay on the etymology behind. In Danish ‘Gudmund’ literally transcribed is ‘Godmouth’. Being from Skellige, I would presume they are inspired by Old Norse :)
Thanks! You're quite right about the link between Skellige and Old Norse. Gudmund's name is the only one I wasn't entirely sure about, so I decided to err on the side of a generic Old Germanic definition. I did consider the potential Old Norse meaning, though, where it might also be 'god-hand'.
 
Of mild interest, the name Reginald the Mighty, mentioned as Meve's late husband, shares a similar meaning to that of his advisor, Reynard. In this case, it is from a Latinised form of Reynold, of Norman origin: Ragin, 'advice', 'council' + wald, 'ruler'.

(Incidentally, the Latin version Reginaldus may have been influenced by regina, the Latin word for 'queen' . . . )
 
A few more:

Ardal aep Dahy, Commander of Army Group 'East': Ardal, Irish, from Gaelic Ardghal, most likely from the elements ard 'high' + gal, 'valour'. (Rather ironic.)

Arnjolf the Patricide, a Skelligan with a death-wish: Old Norse, from Germanic elements arn, 'eagle', and, probably, (w)ulf, 'wolf'. (The presence of the j is rather unusual.)

Barnabas Beckenbauer, a Gnomish inventor: Barnabas, ultimately from Aramaic, 'son of consolation'. Beckenbauer, German, 'basin-builder/farmer'.

Brouver Hoog, Elder in Chief of Mahakam: Unfortunately, another very difficult name. Pending further investigation, Brouver could be an unusual form of 'brother' (Old and Middle High German bruoder, but this is highly speculative, as it requires an inversion, and a consonant shift). Hoog, potentially from Germanic hug, 'heart', 'mind', 'thought', or 'spirit'.

Eyck of Denesle, a knight errant: Eyck, Middle Dutch for 'oak'.

Gabor Zigrin, distant cousin of Yarpen Zigrin: Gabor, Hungarian form of Gabriel, itself meaning 'man of God' in Hebrew. Although I have tried to trace the name Zigrin, I have found no satisfactory meaning yet. I hazard the guess that the first element could possibly be a form of the Old Norse sigr, 'victory', however, this is far from certain.

Ivo of Belhaven, a witcher of the Bear School: Ivo, German form of Yves, related to name Ivor, both derived from Germanic iv-, 'yew', 'bow'.

Black Rayla, officer of King Demavend's special forces: Rayla, probable feminine form of Ray, from Old French, rei, roi, 'king'. (Less likely, the name could also be a from of Rachel, Herbrew, 'ewe'.)

Captain Tobias, a Lyrian guard: Greek form of Hebrew Tobiah, 'God is good'.

Xavier Lemmens, an engineer of sorts: Xavier, possible Spanish form of Basque Etcheberria, 'the new house'.
 
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One more I've been meaning to add:

Eudora Breckenrigg, beloved of Zoltan Chivay - Eudora: Greek composite (possibly modern) from the elements eu, 'good' + doron, 'gift'. Breckenrigg: uncertain, but could be derived from a Germanic verb 'to break', either Old English, brecan, Old Saxon brekan, or Dutch breken + something akin to either Old English hrycg, Old Frankish hregg, or Old Norse hryggr, all meaning 'back' (modern English 'ridge'). Thus the name could be translated as 'back-breaker'. Considering the industrious habits of the Breckenriggs (as Zoltan mentioned in Assassins of Kings), and their obvious sternness, this seems fitting.
 
Greetings sir,

I know I'm quite late- what an euphemism! - on your topic but to be fair I only very recently bought and began to play Thronebreaker thanks to GoG and as I was especially curious about the different protagonists inspiration and possible origins, I googled if anyone had done some research on the matter. And what an awesome discovery!
I guess being from Gascony- Bayonne to be precise, think of the "nice" pointy things people used to put at the very end of their gun's barrel!-, I ought to have some kind of attraction for the subject, but still I was intrigued then pleased beyond my expectations.
thank you for sharing and take care!
 
Do you happen to have an idea as to the origins of the name "Aedirn". I know that it's a place, not a person, but...?
 
Do you happen to have an idea as to the origins of the name "Aedirn". I know that it's a place, not a person, but...?
An interesting question. Thanks! I haven't come across a possible origin for that particular one yet. Some the region names still puzzle me, but I'll see what I can dig up.
 
An interesting question. Thanks! I haven't come across a possible origin for that particular one yet. Some the region names still puzzle me, but I'll see what I can dig up.

Maybe it's related to Edirne? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edirne
Edirne was also called Adrianople in olden times and there's a battle mentioned here in 378 AD - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople - fought between some Eastern Roman emperor and a bunch of Gothic rebels which resulted in the death of said emperor. It kind of reminds me of how Henselt died fighting against Saskia's forces in The Witcher 2.
 
Maybe it's related to Edirne?
That is a very credible possibility. Given Sapkowski's interest in history and unusual names, I could see that as the source. Well spotted!

(Incidentally, Adrian, or Hadrian, itself derives from a place-name: Latin Hadrianus, 'man from Hadria', a town of Northern Italy, which lent its name also to the Adriatic Sea. The derivation of Hadria is, however, ultimately unclear.)

In other news, I think I've found a few possible origins for some other place-names, such as Temeria, Rivia, Lyria, Ellander, and Brokilon, though satisfactory explanations for others still elude me. I'll probably post these in my other thread, as they are not specifically related to Thronebreaker.
 
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