View Single Post
  #9  
Old August 27th, 2008, 02:16 AM
HoneyBadger's Avatar

HoneyBadger HoneyBadger is offline
General
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,445
Thanks: 85
Thanked 79 Times in 51 Posts
HoneyBadger is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Sons of Kaleva, a Kalevala mod

I'm not Finnish-not very anyway, although there's certainly some old Norse blood in me.

The only thing I can really add, if you're looking for names, is that I often take words from ancient languages, or languages that I don't speak, and name units after words that *might* refer/apply/invoke them. It's hard, without years of devoted study (more than really is necessary just to make a decent mod) to convert any historical society into a Dominions nation, without losing some...reality(for lack of a better word) in the translation. But, as long as you respect your source, to the best of your ability, you can give it a proper homage, without having a degree in the language.

If a Romanian/Dacian/Kurgan linguistics professor ever plays my Cimmeria mod, they'll probably laugh at me, but atleast they'll maybe get the joke.
And I like to think that in some small part, I'm paying tribute to people, their culture and their language, that I'm to helping keep from being forgotten, which is important to me.

For example: 'Rautiainen' in Finnish-as far as I can find out-means "Blacksmith" or "from the family of a blacksmith". So if I were making a Finnish nation, and I had a spot for a commander with forging-or a big strapping soldier unit-I might name them "Rautianen". To further connect the non-commander unit to the meaning of the word, I might give them a small 5% forging bonus, if they were GORed. It's a minor advantage, but it still stays true-on some level, however shallow-to my desire to respect my source.

Fortunately, we've got Endoperez on the job, and I'm sure you can do a much better overall job than I ever could, because you have the motivation of your heritage. But it's always nice to "fill the gaps" with as close as you can get, linguistically, and if you can do that without pulling out all your hair, what's the harm?
__________________
You've sailed off the edge of the map--here there be badgers!
Reply With Quote