In the mountain, the mighty mountain, the Liontaur sleeps tonight ....

[Richards]

The wemic actually dates back to Monster Manual II from the AD&D first edition days.

Johnathan

 

[kieran_of_the_dark_peaks]

The wemic actually dates back to Monster Manual II from the AD&D first edition days.

Johnathan

AD&D is what, the early 80's? That is some old school lore right there. It's a great drawing though. What do you think of the Liontaur artwork?

 

[Richards]

The original AD&D Monster Manual II has a printing date of 1983, although the image I used was from the Monstrous Manual, a 2nd edition book from 1993.

As for your liontaur, Laura did a fine job on her. I like the fact that she has scars on her face, arm, and hands; I just hope she didn't get them while practicing with her Chakram throwing disk!

Johnathan

 

[Horacio]

On the other hand, the actual Centaur isn't remotely bull related. Linking the etymology to tauros for bull is complicated, as the actual etymology is a little misty. I believe "unknown origin" is the common descriptor there. People will get the drift though, yes.

Well, I have looked both at Wikipedia (I know, I know) and Merrian-Webster dictionary, both are formal, as my old History teacher at school:

Minotaur

(Ancient Greek: Μινώταυρος [miːnɔ̌ːtau̯ros]; in Latin as Minotaurus [miːnoːˈtau̯rʊs]). The word Minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek Μῑνώταυρος, a compound of the name Μίνως (Minos) and the noun ταύρος "bull", translated as "(the) Bull of Minos".

For Centaur, etymology is more obscure:

The Greek word kentauros is generally regarded as being of obscure origin.[13] The etymology from ken + tauros, "piercing bull," was a euhemerist suggestion in Palaephatus' rationalizing text on Greek mythology, On Incredible Tales (Περὶ ἀπίστων), which included mounted archers from a village called Nephele eliminating a herd of bulls that were the scourge of Ixion's kingdom.[14] Another possible related etymology can be "bull-slayer".[15]

But in any case, the Taurus particle is definitively Bull, Taureau in French et Toro en Spanish.

I love this kind of semantic discussions, BTW

 

[Horacio]

I'm not remotely offended, thanks for the comment - good to get some engagement! You are, of course, correct. The use of Taurus is also there to represent the bull too.

However, I'd argue that in common usage if you said minotaur to someone they'd think 'half bull, half man' (whether linguistically correct or otherwise) and then you say 'wolftaur' and the association is immediate (half wolf, half man). So what I'm playing off is not linguistically accurate for sure - especially because it's a Greek word at root.

But I'd say that it's conceptually correct - if I say it to you, you know exactly and immediately what I mean. Do you see what I mean?

In fact, I agree with you, I knew immediately what you meant by Liontaur, or Wolftaur. And the Centaur example goes on your side, yep

In any case, the Liontaur art is GREAT!

 

[Blackrat]

I have to say, as another linguistics geek, I too do not like the names. First for the above mentioned taur etymology, and secondly ’cause lion, wolf, goat and rat are not greek words... But, I admit, I too got the gist of the creature (half lion, half man) from the title immediately. Although my imagination went to the Wemic style too. If you are committed to the naming, it does evoke the ideas, but us linguaphiles might get a bit rattled

As for the idea of anthropomorphic animal hybrids, that is a trope in itself. I kinda like the idea, and other than cat-people they are not used that much in rpgs. The art is cool, and I like the greekish vibe her clothes have.

 

[kieran_of_the_dark_peaks]

I love that the theme of this thread has very much been "I get it, but my linguistics brain goes urgh."

I totally understand that. It's not a perfect solution, but I was riffing off a concept and honestly, it was hard to think of something original. Given how fantasy gaming has already invented almost everything under the sun, I was happy with it. Even though I will very much admit that it's not perfectly linguistically accurate.

On the bright side, I can't imagine the name 'Duskling' is going to cause many problems? Here's a WIP of the latest of these sneaky monsters. This one is a guardian, it's the last line of defense for a Duskling Kin-Group (like a clan, but Duskling society is a little more atomised than that). This one is from our amazing artist Gemma Dass. It's still awaiting lighting and texture, so it's very WIP.