Luxon and kurzick names background

[kagie]

I posted this when i did latin(yes i do that language as a subject). and remebered the word lux that means (day)light coud that maybe be the origin of luxons?
/discuss

Ps.kurzick name origin is welcome to

[Aladar]

kur/kurz might mean night, which is exactly the reason I am joining the Luxons.

Actually, in German, Kurz means "short". And we all know that Kurzicks are Germanic peoples. However, I see no height difference between Kurzicks and Luxons...

[Quintus Antonius]

Kiokure, I don't care what you think of the various factions, keep such comments to yourself, they are not needed here, nor do they add anything to the conversation.

I deleted your post, and edited Aladar's to reflect that. Keep the snide remarks to yourself in the future.

***

If you break down the word Kurzick into "kur" and "zick", both words mean something in German. "Kur" means "cure" and "zick" means "notched". However, I seriously doubt this is what the name means.

I'm not really sure the names are inspired by anything other than imagination.

[Heath Laron]

In Sumerian mythology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_mythology) Kur was a monstrous demon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon) personifying the home of the dead, Hell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell), the "river of the dead" (see also Styx (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_%28mythology%29)), and the void space between the primeval sea (Abzu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abzu)) and the earth (Ma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_%28mythology%29)). Kur, as a word, can also refer to a variety of other things. While it can mean the personification of an evil entity, it can also be seen as a place or mountain of some kind. The gods Ninurta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninurta) and Ishtar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar) have both had run-ins with Kur as a location.
Heh...

A luxon is a particle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle) that always travels at the speed of light (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light). Currently, the only known luxons are the massless gauge bosons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauge_bosons), the photon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon) (carrier of electromagnetism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetism)) and the gluon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluon) (carrier of the strong force (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_force)). However, gluons are never observed as free particles, since they are confined (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confinement) within hadrons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadron). If gravity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity) is quantized (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_gravity), the graviton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graviton) would also be a luxon.
The neutrino (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrino) was originally thought to be a luxon, but because they change flavour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavour_%28particle_physics%29) as they travel, neutrinos must be massive. Regardless of the fact that they are very light and move close to the speed of light, neutrinos must be tardyons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardyon).
I think these were just names they made up, as Quintus said, but I would be also inclined to know where the inspiration for the names came from.

[kagie]

Hmmmmm, they coud resemble to much, so i also guess fantasy?

[Ashetaka]

hmm i'm real bad with lore and stuff and i dont know which came first but in the TV Series Farscape one of the races from that fictional world was the Luxons (a beast like race known for their comradness (sp?) and warrior race)... sorta reminds me of a Klingon wana be with less drinking ;)

[FrOstii]

lol tryin to figure out the meaning behind these names is like tryin to find reason why the greeks are called greeks

[Quintus Antonius]

lol tryin to figure out the meaning behind these names is like tryin to find reason why the greeks are called greeks

I'm guessing, and this is just a guess, that they are called the Greeks because they are from a country known as Greece.

[Aladar]

I'm guessing, and this is just a guess, that they are called the Greeks because they are from a country known as Greece.

I'm really trying to ignore the urge to shout a resounding "OWNED" right now, so I will instead post something relevant:

We all know the Kurzicks are Germanic, and we've established that Luxons are a mix of many nomadic peoples and some existing real-world cultures. What we know is that the Luxons are not particles moving at the speed of light. Perhaps if we can clearly define the Luxons as having a specific inspiration in the real world, it will be easier to identify the origin of their name.

[Quintus Antonius]

I'm really trying to ignore the urge to shout a resounding "OWNED" right now, so I will instead post something relevant:

We all know the Kurzicks are Germanic, and we've established that Luxons are a mix of many nomadic peoples and some existing real-world cultures. What we know is that the Luxons are not particles moving at the speed of light. Perhaps if we can clearly define the Luxons as having a specific inspiration in the real world, it will be easier to identify the origin of their name.

Perhaps it is as Ashetaka said, a Farscape reference. There are SO many "easter egg" type references in Factions, that this would not surprise me.

[Aladar]

Perhaps it is as Ashetaka said, a Farscape reference. There are SO many "easter egg" type references in Factions, that this would not surprise me.

That very well might be the case, but I'm not so sure. Sure, ANet put easter eggs in there in some small way or uses some "inside joke"-type of things, but to make an easter egg on such a grand scale as the name of one of the two warring factions? I don't think they'd go this far with an inside joke.

[kagie]

What if you were a game-maker, and you love farscape and you are out of fantasy.....then you coud do such thing, still i hope for a some more enlightmend ^^

[Quintus Antonius]

I agree with Alador though. While it is coincidental, I don't know if ANet would reuse a race from a seperate series. The legal implications are rather large, unless the parent company owns both.

[Ashetaka]

i'm just happy to know i'm not the only one with the farscape insight... http://pc.ign.com/articles/681/681120p1.html
" The Kurzicks are a very religious and reside in a petrified forest and even make their homes out of the trees there. The Luxans (which really just makes me think of Farscape) are a sea faring race that now uses walking machines to traverse the Jade Sea."

[Santax]

Heh...

I think these were just names they made up, as Quintus said, but I would be also inclined to know where the inspiration for the names came from.
Well, actually, since the Luxon is a particle that always travels at the speed of light, and the Luxon society is a nomadic one, always on the move, it seems plausible that ArenaNet turned to science for inspiration on the nations.

[Lihinel]

Sorry to interrupt you, but i think its a bit more simple.
Just read the names for 10-15 times, imho they sound a bit like:

Lux(on) = luck

and

Kurz(ick) = curse

I highly doubt that Kurzick has anything to do with german words, because even splitted it makes no real sense.

[Lyrius]

Actually, in German, Kurz means "short". And we all know that Kurzicks are Germanic peoples. However, I see no height difference between Kurzicks and Luxons...

Well, i'm no expert on languages but i remember reading somewhere (I think it was another GW fansite) that Kurzicks were naturally a little shorter than luxons as they lived in the dark but i cannot confirm how true this statmement actually is. I suspect that luxons come from the Latin work lux, lucis (spelling?)- light if it was made with any sort of research etc. beforehand. I suspect slightly owever, that the namess were created purely form the imagination, and what sounded good.

[lavenbb]

Sorry to interrupt you, but i think its a bit more simple.
Just read the names for 10-15 times, imho they sound a bit like:

Lux(on) = luck

and

Kurz(ick) = curse

I highly doubt that Kurzick has anything to do with german words, because even splitted it makes no real sense.

many oriental names used in kaineng city resembles Chinese and Japanese as well, but if you actually tries to reverse-trans-literate what actual names they are you'll notice that many of them have very weird names that are unseen in real world, so I think it does have some language/culture link in it.

I support the view that the Kurzicks are linked (at least linguistically) to the Germans, and the Luxons to ancient Greeks

[Quintus Antonius]

Can you explain your Luxon-Greek connection hypothesis?

[Gmr Leon]

Can you explain your Luxon-Greek connection hypothesis?

Last I checked it had something to deal with the name,like Archemorus. Though I'm not the one with the hypothesis..

[zweistein]

Argo, Rhea, Archemondus, Theodosus, Tateos ... theese are all Greek/Latin names, or they at least sound like that.

just like

Danika, Varsburg, Braurer, Viktor ... are all germanic/germanic sounding names

So, Id say even nation names have some connection there too ...

[Gnave]

And the greeks were expert mariners.

[Lihinel]

K, but you know, the Kurzicks name in the german mission viedeos the actors read Kurzick like an english word and iam glad thats how it is, the name as a german word would sound so dumb, that noone would join them.

Also what should it mean?
"kurz" can mean "short" or "small", but there ist no word for "ick". "zick" on the other hand also means nothing, if you would ad an "e" it would be "zicke" but that means "goat" or is a swearword for some kind woman.

I dont think something like "small*****" is a good name for a nation, do you?

[The Stiehl]

We already agreed that the names are not literal translations.

Though, Goths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goths) were Germanic... Perhaps ANet is combining history's Goths with today's Goths? Though, it says their language is not very related to German...

[lavenbb]

And the greeks were expert mariners.

and that they're conquestors :P
The might admiring war horde luxons can be one intepretation of that.

[Turquoise Rain]

Though, Goths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goths) were Germanic... Perhaps ANet is combining history's Goths with today's Goths?


One look at the Black Moa said that to me :)

Trivia: the Germanic Goths had a thing for amber. The so-called "amber trade route" existed in the first century A.D. Amber, the main object of trade, was found along the Baltic Sea coast ranging from the Sambian Peninsula, through Curonian and Vistula's spits to the Vistula river mouth.

[FourthVariety]

Kurzick:

(1) Kurz: German for "short in length". [A wooden stick can be long or short. A person can be tall or small. Notice how you do not use the phrase "he is a long person" in English? Same in German, people are "klein" not "kurz", just as in English people are small not short. However, when used in a more colloquial context, the other terms turn up, both in English and in German. "He is a shorty", is the reflected by "Er ist ein Kurzer".

(2) Origins of "kurz" come from latin "curtus" where it meant the same. All that was drooped was the second [u]. Being used as a verb it could also mean "to cut" in Latin. And what do you know, couteau means knife in French. All they did was drop the first [r] and replaced the ending. Did the Kurzicks used to live in wood or what?

(3) -ick. This is the hardest part, or the easiest, depends what meaning you want to attribute to it.
Easy Solution: It is just a typical ending appearing in all Germanic languages. Today you have St.Patricks day. During his lifetime however he was called Patrizius. The ending was simply subject to change. Although -ick is less common in English it is a prominent, yet meaningless part in German. It can be observed in many words, but it indicates no meaning of its own. I have no etymological data on it.


I highly doubt all of this was really "manufactured by Anet". I think they just went for something sounding Germanic and serendipity did the rest.

Just take the Name Heltzer:
Provided, even I as a German would immediately ID this as a valid German name. But the whole German phone register (www.telefonbuch.de) gives you 3 Hits on Heltzer and 1500 on Smith. So Smith is more of a German name than Heltzer? With the exception of Brauer all Houses sound German-like but are far from common Names in Germany. They can be traced as much in English etymology as they can be in German (remember, same language family?)

The family name Vasburg is exclusive to England/USA, nobody in Germany would have that name, why, because there is no /v/ sound in German, so it would undoubtedly be some other name by today. And guess what, there are some “Wasburgs” to be found. Just try to pronounce a /w/ without the /ou/-ish part at the beginning of the sound and you got the way Germans would pronounce their /v/ and /w/, which are basically identical in most regions.

Bottom Line: Kurzicks are NOT Germans. They have names of Germanic origin. Some of them are more prominent today in the English language, and some of them are more prominent in the German language. They seem to be supposed to be a mixture, the use of first names is testament to that.

And why? Simple, we have Japanese, Korean, English, German, French, Chinese communities. If they all find names native to their mother language in the game, they can all better identify with the world. I particularly remember a Jeff Strain interview stating that Factions was more Asian to better tap into the Asian market.

[Quintus Antonius]

Great information Fourth, I'm impressed, and I do agree with what you are saying.

[Gmr Leon]

Heh,well I just learned some stuff about the German language I never knew. Kurzick in my opinion never really sounded German,but I see where people could get the idea.