#moonrithyll

[bonedwoo]

[the17thmuse]

(more) etymologies on our zealots of pyromania and punishment

I actually covered Messmer, Andreas and Huw here but this is everyone in Messmer's army.

Messmer

From German messner, a custodian, a gravedigger, verger, and churchwarden (by oldest definition a housekeeper).

From German messer "knife", meaning "one who makes knives" or knifemaker.

From French mesmer, animal charm/magnetism.

*The first definition is most applicable though Messmer made a poor one by letting his men behead all those Marika statues (where did those heads go, by the way?), and the third will explain the sheer number of animals in Shadow Keep. I wonder if he made or designed those Fire Knight weapons himself, which will account for the second.

Andreas

Derived from the Greek anēr, with genitive andros, Andreas means “man” or “manly.” The moniker refers to the courageous traits of the patriarch in Ancient Greece, so Andreas is sometimes translated as "warrior.”

*Andreas is the name of several physicians in ancient Greece, and it is difficult to distinguish each from the other. The earliest Andreas wrote a treatise on rabies and was falsely accounted to have left his native country for having set fire to the library at Cnidos. He was also accused of plagiarism, and was called "the Aegisthius (or Adulterer) of Books".

Maybe Commander Andreas was the one who killed Hilde?

Huw

Of Welsh origin, derived from the name Hugh, which has Old French and Old German origins; understanding, heart, intellect, soul, bright mind, bright spirit; or from Hugo, derived from the old Germanic hugu, meaning 'sense, mind, thought', and huggen, meaning 'to think'.

From hew, to obey or behave according to (rules, principles, or expectations).

*Both define Huw's situation. Poor guy's stuck in a lose-lose situation; either he loses his lord and comrade or his father. He chose to be the filial son in the end, but we don't know the specifics of how far their rebellion got, if Huw had a tell that let Messmer figure it out (too late).

Edredd

From Eadred or Edred, an Anglo-Saxon name, from ēad "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and ræd "counsel".

*Mr. Prosperous Counselor is stationed in the Fort of Reprimand area so either his form of counselling is very violent, or he is the final attempt at getting these people to receive a lighter sentence.

Garrew

From Scottish name Garrow, descriptive nickname from the Gaelic epithet garbh 'rough, stout, of powerful build'.

From Cornish nickname garow 'rough'.

Kood

Estonian, borrowed from Middle English code and Old French code “system of law”.

From Latin cōdex, later form of caudex “the stock or stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a writing.”. 

*Also means a particular lect/variety of language, a cryptographic system using a codebook, and unwritten rules.

Insert a joke on Andreas the religion and Huw the principle/rule vs Kood the law/unwritten rule, anyone?

Salza

Salza, Austrian noble surname, taken from saltz. Saltz is associated with German Salz "salt" and the Latin salarium (root of the word salary), which referred to the payment made to Roman soldiers to buy salt. This could suggest that members of the Salza noble family could have been part of an elite military organization at one point.

Salza is the name of three towns (one French, two Italian) and three river tributaries: the Salza (Saale), in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; the Salza (Unstrut), in Thuringia, Germany (Saale -> Unstrut -> Elbe -> North Sea); and the Salza (Enns), in Austria. 

*Maybe Salza is descended from rich salt merchants who became warriors then nobility, or something. But his name is more likely pertaining to "tributary of a river" due to his position guarding the pathway to Rauh.

Wego

From Spanish huego, obsolete and rare form of fuego "fire", from Late Latin focus “fire”, which came from Latin focus “hearth”.

From Tagalog huego, obsolete form of huwego, borrowed from Spanish juego, from Latin jocus, iocus. Synonym of sugal "gambling". Can mean gambling; a game/play; a set or series of things; or looseness or movement of a mechanical attachment within its own clearance (such as in a steering wheel).

Hilde

Derived from the name Hild formed from Old Norse hildr, meaning "battle". Inspired by a name borne by the legendary Valkyrie Hildr, a female warrior who had the power to revive the dead on the battlefield so that each day, they can continue fighting for what they believed in.

Queelign

Possibly from Irish name Quinlan meaning “fair form,” “handsome image,” or “strong". 

Quellen in Dutch means "to torment, to hurt, to torture" and in Middle English "to kill or slay; to inflict death upon someone", "to quell or suppress; to end afflictions or threats", "to verbally insult or demean", "to ruin, to lay waste to".

*Curiously, both Danish lign and Norweigian ligne mean "to look like, resemble, be similar to", "to take after", "to compare".

Gaius

Roman given name, of uncertain meaning. Possibly derived from Latin gaudere "to rejoice".

Gaius was generally the second-most common personal name, following only Lucius, throughout Roman history. Although many prominent families did not use it at all, it was so widely distributed amongst all social classes that Gaius became a generic name for any man, and Gaia for any woman.

A familiar Roman wedding ceremony included the words, spoken by the bride, ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia ("as you are Gaius, I am Gaia"), to which the bridegroom replied, ubi tu Gaia, ego Gaius.

*Gaius emphasizes his personhood by having the name of a normal ordinary man. And that mention of Gaea and Gaius in Gaius' helm...

Rellana

Re- is a Latin loanword prefix used with the meaning “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition, or with the meaning “back” or “backward” to indicate withdrawal or backward motion.

Possibly derived from Elana or Elena, from the French name Alienor, which could either be a form of Helen, from the Greek helene "light" or selene "moon".

From Lana, taken from English Alana or Alan, meaning "little rock" or "handsome". Lana in in Hawaiian means "calm/still waters" or "afloat".

*Everything about Rellana's name can describe her not only her unique sorcery but also her arena.

Moonrithyll

Based on this Reddit post, Moonrithyll's name is either a meme or a pun, possibly having the meaning of "moon-moon", "moon squared", "moon-night" or "moon-time of moon".

Moongrum got off very lightly with grum meaning "surly, sour, glum, morose".

[the17thmuse]

this is why historical context matters

介添人 - in general terms: a second (in a duel), helper, backup, groomsman, bridesmaid

Breakdown:

介添 - second, attendant, assistant

介 - through, be situated between two (somethings)

添 - to add, increase, replenish (i.e. to increase numbers, add a body, birth a baby, etc.)

人 - man, person, human

Full specific term for bridesmaid is 花嫁介添人, literally translated as "assistant of the bride" aka bridesmaid.

花嫁 - bride

花 - flower

嫁 - wedding/marry/wife

In Chinese, you can shorten sentences by dropping characters; it's a bit like slang. Unfortunately, this can remove subtleties and specific details for complete comprehension, especially if you lack the context of the original.

An extreme example are long proverbs cut down to four or five character idioms called chengyu. They're difficult to understand without knowledge of the context or source (and really annoying to memorise and explain).

花嫁介添人 was shortened for modern use by dropping 花嫁 because people weren't dueling anymore (there is a specific term in use for duelist 决斗者), and there are other better and more specific terms for the word helper like 幫手, 幫忙者, 助手.

Between this and the Duelling Shields, I think that the idea Fromsoft is actually trying to convey is Moonrithyll's role as Rellana's duelling second/backup/avenger and her second-in-command instead of a bridesmaid.