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Etymology of Mystaran names

by Travis Henry

In this thread, I'll examine the etymologies of Mystaran names. This research would serve as the foundation for two further goals: 1) To discern what RW flavors are present in each Mystaran culture and locality, so that these can serve as seeds for further fanon development based on RW cultures. 2) To provide an etymological framework for eventually crafting the languages of Mystara as complete "conlangs"...artistically crafted languages, like Quenya or Klingon. Of the hundreds of named Mystaran languages, the construction of Actual Thyatian is of paramount interest.

Thyatis

Official TSR English pronunciation: thī a′ tis. Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide."
International Phonetic Alphabet: [θaɪ.'ć.tɪs]

First appearance: Moldvay and Schick's Original Known World c.1976. Thyatis is a city-state (not a country) located near the center of the OKW map. A large area northwest of the city is labeled: "HERE OF OLD WAS THE THYATIC EMPIRE." Note the original adjectival form: "Thyatic." (Rather than "Thyatian.")

Lawrence Schick says that (to the best of his recollection) in the OKW, Thyatis was an "Ancient Mediterranean (Greece/Rome)" analogue. His recollection is that Thyatis was not a Byzantine (Medieval Greek) analogue--instead his recollection assigns Byzantine culture to Corunglain. (Though I have some doubts about that, given the similarity of "Corunglain" and "Carolingian"; but in the absence of further evidence, I gotta go with what Schick recollects.)

Whereas in the X1/Expert Map (1981 and 1983): "The Thyatic culture is similar to the culture of the medieval Byzantine empire." Note that "Thyatic" is still the adjectival form in 1981 and 1983.

Etymology: Likely the name is inspired by the RW city of Thyatira, one of the seven cities of the seven churches of the biblical Book of Revelation. The ending "-is" may likewise be influenced by another of the seven cities: Sardis.

Thyatira and Sardis were Hellenized cities within the land of Lydia, in Asia Minor.

RW etymology of Thyatira: "Thyatīra" is the Latin spelling, whereas Θυάτειρα (Thyateira) is the original Greek spelling. The name "Thyateira" was traditionally believed by Byzantine scholars to have come from the Greek word θυγάτηρ (thygátēr, “daughter”), in Medieval Greek: θυγατέρα (thygatéra).

The legend is that: "it was renamed to Thyateira (Θυάτειρα), during the Hellenistic era in 290 BC, by the King Seleucus I Nicator. He was at war with Lysimachus when he learned that his wife had given birth to a daughter. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, he called this city "Thyateira" from Greek θυγάτηρ, θυγατέρα (thygatēr, thygatera), meaning "daughter"."

Note: As far as I can tell (though I don't have Stephanus's text) the legend seems to refer to both Ancient Greek θυγάτηρ (thygátēr) and Byzantine Greek (and Archaic Modern Greek) θυγατέρα (thygatéra).

However, modern linguists view this to be a folk etymology, and suggest that the name is a Greek adaptation of a Lydian name meaning "fortress of Dya (a female given name).

RW etymology of Sardis: "Sardīs" is the Latin spelling of Greek Σάρδεις (Sardeis), from the Lydian 𐤳𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣 (sfard). Sardis was the capital of ancient Lydia.

In-World Implications:

Unless there's a canonical in-world explanation of the origin of the name "Thyatis", the name would be an M-Latin alteration of M-Greek name meaning "daughter," though with the M-Greek suffix -eis (adapted as M-Latin -īs). For the purposes of this thread, I'll posit three main registers or modes of Thyatian: "Classical" (M-Latin), "Demotic" (M-Greek), and "Common" (M-English). Note: in the Byzantine / Medieval era, spoken Greek was referred to as glōssa dēmōdēs 'vernacular language, common tongue,* and the English form of dēmōdēs is "Demotic."

*See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Greek#Diglossia
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/demotic

The name in various registers of Thyatian would be:

Classical Thyatian (M-Latin): Thyatīs
Demotic Thyatian (M-Byzantine Greek): Θυάτεις (Thyáteis)
Common Thyatian (M-English): Thyatis
And also: Hattian Thyatian (M-German): Thyates (based on German: Thyateira + Sardes)

And so we identify a Demotic Thyatian word in Mystara: θυγατέρα (thygatéra) = "daughter." This would be distinct from the Milenian (M-Ancient Greek) θυγάτηρ (thygátēr).

The posited Lydian origin of the name would be irrelevant to Mystara, unless fanon were to describe a pre-Thyatian M-Lydian culture.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyatira
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thyatira#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Θυάτειρα#Ancient_Greek
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/θυγατέρα
Colorized map of OKW: https://mystara.thorfmaps.com/moldvay-s ... own-world/
Schick's correlation of RW cultures with the OKW: http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com ... e%20Schick

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardis
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sardis
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Σάρδεις#Ancient_Greek

Karameikos

Official TSR American English pronunciation: kar a mī′ kōs. Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide."

International Phonetic Alphabet: Either [kɑɹ.ə.'maɪ.koʊs] or [kɛɹ.ə.'maɪ.koʊs]. Note however, that the RW Greek is /ker-/, and the reconstructed RW Byzantine Greek pronunciation is [ce.ɾa.miˈkos], stressed on the final syllable, like: "care"-"a"-"mee"-"KOHSS." (Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Κεραμεικός)

First appearance: Moldvay and Schick's Original Known World c.1976. Karameikos is city-state (not a country) located on a peninsula of the western landmass which juts out into the inner sea. (See Mishler's map of the OKW.)

The OKW language document (here), Karameikos is one of several polities that speaks the Thyatic (Greco-Latin) language.

Note: in Schick's recollections (in the interview with James Mishler), he doesn't assign any RW culture to Karameikos. Whether this was intentional or a misremembering is unknown.

Etymology: Karameikos is a slight modification of the RW placename Κεραμεικός (Kerameikόs). Note that Moldvay and Schick modified "Kera-" to "Kara-".

The Greek placename is from the word κεραμεικός (kerameikós) = "ceramic; related to pottery or potters." This adjective is formed from κεραμεῖς (kerameis) "potters" (or kappa;εραμεύς (kerameús), "(male) potter") + -ικός (-ikós) "adjectival suffix, equivalent to English -ic or -ish." The word for "potter" comes from κέραμος (kéramos) "pottery clay."

The English word "ceramic" itself comes from kerameikόs, via Latin ceramicus.

There are two famous RW places named Kerameikόs:

1) A neighborhood in Athens. This was where potters lived, since there are clay deposits there. They formed a political constituency within Athens called the Κεραμεῖς (Karameis) the "Potters."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerameis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerameikos

2) The Ceramic Gulf, in Greek Asia Minor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Gökova

Karameikos then appears in the 1981 and 1983 X1/Expert Set map, styled "(the) Grand Duchy of Karameikos." Note: In the body of the X1 paragraph (1981 and 1983 version), the name is styled "Duchy of Karameikos", even though the paragraph header is "Grand Duchy of Karameikos." Likewise, in X1 (1981/1983), and in the 1981 Expert Rulebook, his title is styled "Duke Stefan Karameikos the Third" (not "Grand Duke").

In the description, Karameikos is not equated to any RW culture. Though various names within the 1981 descriptions and map of Karameikos give us some clue as to RW cultural strands:

"Stefan Karameikos"
"Specularum"
"Black Eagle Barony"
"Gulf of Halag"
"the Black Peaks" / "the Cruth Mountains" / "The Steach"
"Baron Ludwig von Hendriks"
"Luln"
"the Haunted Keep" / "Koriszegy Keep"
"Fortdoom" [sic]
"The Estate of Marilenev"
"Krakatos"

I hope to examine these names later in the thread.

In-World Implications:

Demotic Thyatian is not identical to RW Byzantine Greek. RW Byzantine Greek is Kerameikós; but in Mystara, it's Karameikós.

The Demotic Thyatian word for "ceramic, 'made of pottery', pottery-related" would be karameikόs (not RW kerameikόs)

This also suggests that the source words related to pottery are likewise different: karameús "(male) potter", karameis "potters", káramos "pottery clay."

References:
OKW map: https://mystara.thorfmaps.com/moldvay-s ... own-world/
RW/OKW cultural correlations: http://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.com ... e%20Schick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerameikos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Gökova
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Κεραμεικός
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ceramic

Having examined a couple of the Original KW names, let's look at one of the most curious and flavorful, but oft-forgotten placenames from the 1981 Expert Set.

The Steach

First appearance: 1981 Cook/Marsh Expert Set, p.X60.

Note: Unlike its synonyms, "the Black Peaks" and "the Cruth Mountains", "The Steach" has a capitalized "The."

Etymology: After extensive websearching, there are two plausible sources. Moldvay or Cook probably got the name from either:

A) The Scottish Gaelic word a-steach "inside, inwards, into (referring to movement)." The "a-" prefix is aesthetically similar to "The", though it doesn't mean "the" in Gaelic. Note: this is approximately pronounced: /a-styakh/, with the /y/ as a consonant, and the /kh/ as as "loch" or "Bach".

The name is also meaningful, since it could mean something like "(Going) Into (the Mountains)"...the inner mountain range. However, in the pre-internet days, a Scottish Gaelic source would only be feasible if Cook or Moldvay had a Gaelic dictionary sitting around, which is possible, but unlikely.

OR

B) The surname Steach, which is found in the U.S., Canada, and U.K. Perhaps Cook or Moldvay had a friend with that last name. And just turned it into an evocative placename by adding "The." I feel that this is more slightly more likely than the Gaelic hypothesis.

The name Steach is thought to be an Anglicized version of German Strach, which is a Germanized version of Polish Strach and Slovene Strah, both meaning "fear, dread."

I suppose Steach would be pronounced however the English surname is pronounced...probably "steetch."

In-World Implications:

In the case of option "A", the name would be of M-Gaelic origin ("Dunael" in fanon terms), and would've been carried by Thyatian settlers.

In the case of option "B", the the name would be a native Traladaran name. Specifically from the M-Polish localism of the Traladaran language. The native form would be Ta Strach ("That Dread.") The M-Polish "localism" of Traladaran is predicted to be located north of the M-Hungarian localism which is centered around Koriszegy Keep, since RW Poland is directly north of Hungary. M-Poland would co-extensive with northwest Karameikos, abutting The Steach, and also uncomfortably near the M-German Black Eagle Barony. The Woszlany and Wutyla clans of Boldavia would be from N.W. Karameikos.

I would call this the Strach localism (or "Strachish" localism) of Traladaran.

"The Steach" would be how "Ta Strach" was adapted and borrowed into Common Thyatian (M-English). As a nonce borrowing, the word "Steach" would not mean anything in Thyatian; the "The" would be a folk adaptation of Strachish Traladaran "Ta" ("that").

The other M-Slavonic localisms of the Traladaran language (e.g. the M-Bulgarian of southeast Traladara and M-Russian of east-central Traladara) would have their own equivalent names for Ta Strach. See the Slavonic cognates: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstr ... vic/straxЪ

References:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a-steach
https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=steach
https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=STEACH
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/strah

Note: Google Books has many hits for "steach" and "the steach", yet on closer inspection these appear to all be OCR misreadings for "the stench." :)

the Cruth Mountains

First appearance: 1981 Cook/Marsh Expert Set, p.X60. A synonym for the Black Peaks.

"The mountain range running along the north edge of the map is known by different names by the peoples of the territory including the Black Peaks, the Cruth Mountains, or The Steach."

The Steach (native spelling: Ta Strach) appears to be the Traladaran (Strachish / M-Polish) name for the mountains, though in Thyaticized spelling.
The Black Peaks is clearly Common Thyatian (M-English) in form.

So what of the Cruth Mountains?

Etymology: Cruth is the Irish word for "shape, form."

(Incidentally, it is also the source of the Irish word for the Picts: Old Irish Cruthin; Modern Irish: Cruithne.)

In-World Implications:

I don't know quite what to make of this, since I don't know of any other Official M-Irish elements in or near Karameikos. But here are three slender proposals:

A) In fanon terms, it'd be a "Dunael" word, referring to the "Shape Mountains." I'm not fluent in James Mishler's and other Darokin history, but IIRC there was a fanon Dunael element in Darokin history, which could account for the name. In that case, it'd be a Darokinian name for the range.

B) Another option is related to my wider quest to design a full-blown Thyatian language. Clearly some words seen in Mystaran products are Actual Common Thyatian words which have not been translated into RW TSR English; namely the weekday names and month names. For example, dain is the Actual Common Thyatian word for "day"; elsewhere in Mystaran products when we see the word "day", it's a translation of dain into RW TSR English.

In this case, cruth might be the Actual Common Thyatian word for "shape"; and no M-Gaelic would necessarily have to enter into it. (Except as the out-of-game key for unlocking the meaning of the word.)

C) The Cruth Mountains could be home to an M-Cruthin (Irish Pictish) culture. There were also Picts in Ireland. See the "Cruthin."

That question is open. Pending further research into the etymology of Common Thyatian and Darokinian names...and pending the artistic process of designing a Thyatian "conlang."

References:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cruth#Irish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruthin

Gulf of Halag

First appearance: 1981 Cook/Marsh Expert Set, p.X60.

Etymology: Halag is Old Saxon for "holy" = hālag, hēlag.

Note: The New High German and Dutch cognates are heilig, so it's clearly not Modern German or Dutch. Also, see all the other West Germanic cognates: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstr ... nic/hailag

So, only Old Saxon matches.

In-World Implications:

Though the naming of the Gulf of Halag is possibly connected with the Germanic element of the Black Eagle Barony barony somehow, it's not clear exactly how the Old Saxon cultural element fits in there specifically.

I see three options:

A) Hattian Thyatian is not only M-German, it also has M-Old Saxon localisms. And von Hendriks brought this M-German/Old Saxon culture to southwestern Karameikos.

OR

B) The Gulf of Halag is somehow associated with "pre-Rakastan" humans of Bellayne (from whom the later-arriving Rakastas gained their language and culture). These humans would've been M-Anglo-Saxons.

These are also closely related to the Eusdrians (M-Franks), and there may be an M-Saxon element in Eusdria, since Saxony was a part of the RW Frankish Realm. We already know there are M-Frisian elements in Eusdria since one of the dominions is named "Frisonia," and in the RW, Frisia lies between Francia and Saxony.

For an Official indication on these M-West Germanic peoples, see SC Campaign Book p.11:

"One exception [who were not assimilated by the arriving Traldar] was the group of humans who, with the elves and a few dwarves, founded the nation of Bellayne. [These would be M-Anglo-Saxons.] About 60 years later, other light-skinned humans moved into the area. These were barbarians from the north, driven to the Savage Coast by Hule. They founded settlements that eventually joined to become the states of Robrenn [M-Gaul] and Eusdria [M-Franconia]. [...] At roughly this same time, most of the people of Bellayne were wiped out by a mysterious plague. [...] The rakastas moved into the ruins of Bellayne, allying with the remaining elves and humans [M-Anglo-Saxons]. The lupins also established a homeland between Bellayne and Eusdria. Bellayne, Renardy, Eusdria, and Robrenn began evolving to varying degrees of feudalism, aided later by another influx of colonists."

Perhaps one stream of those northern barbarians (M-West Germanics) migrated from central Brun over to what is now southwest Karameikos, and founded an M-Old Saxon realm. And gave the gulf its name: Halag...holy.

If so, this M-Old Saxon realm may've been totally absorbed by the Traladarans...or perhaps it lingered as a dominion of Traladara, heavily "Traladarized" both culturally and politically, but with a local noble house which retained some memory and tradition of their northern origin. And then when Thyatis and Karameikos charged in, Baron Hendriks seized on this slim tradition to justify his own power grab. Probably locking the old Halag nobles in the dungeon. Yet perhaps the boundaries of the Black Eagle Barony were a continuation of the M-Old Saxon realm of Halag.

These Halag Northmen may've played an ancient role in "Anglicizing" the Five Shires as well. But I'd need to do further research, as the Darokinian influence may be enough.

C) Though a connection with GAZ1's King Halav would be anachronous, from a retrospective view it could be fitting to tie together Halag and Halav. In that case, the word "halag" might be interpreted as a Traladaran word meaning "of Halav; related to Halav", and "-ag" would be a Traladaran adjectival suffix meaning "related to, belonging to."

References:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/halag#Old_Saxon
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/helag#Old_Saxon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Saxony
Thorf's map of central SC, showing Bellayne and Eusdria: https://mystara.thorfmaps.com/wp-conten ... l-8-sm.jpg

Krakatos

First appearance: 1981, "The Grand Duchy of Karameikos" map, Cook/Marsh Expert Set, p.X61. Krakatos is marked with the "castle" symbol. Krakatos castle is not mentioned in the preceding text on page X60.

On the 1983 Mentzer Expert Set map (p.32), the symbols for "castle" and "ruin" symbols were switched in the map legend (on p.31), so Krakatos is now a "ruin"! This appears to be a mistake, since all the other 1981 "castles" also become 1983 "ruins": the Estate of Marilenev and Fort Doom are apparently "ruins" in 1983 too! And the 1983 Haunted Keep is now a "castle" instead of "ruin." So the switch of symbols is a mistake.

However, in 1987's GAZ1, Krakatos is not described as a castle, but as a "ruined stone-walled village of antiquity", with "no inhabitants." Because of the volcanic associations of the name (see below), and its destruction in "antiquity", I've always vaguely associated this with RW Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius; so I likewise pictured Krakatos being destroyed by a volcano in ancient times. Though I don't know of any reference to a volcano in Official texts.

Etymology: Possibly a blend of Krakatoa, a famous volcano in Indonesia, plus the Greek ending -ος (-os), a very common ending for nouns, or for turning a verb into a noun.

But also note that in a much later product, K:KoA, -os is made to be an ending in the Actual Traladaran language, as seen in mirros "hope":

"A.C. 1012: Current year. At the start of this year, King Stefan changes the name of Specularum to Mirros, a Traladaran word for “hope.”" --K:KoA p.59

(Note: "mirros" appears to be an invented word which is not found in RW Eastern European languages. Jeff Grubb said he based the name on English "mirror" (which comes Old French , from Latin). The suffix appears to be inspired by the Greek noun ending "-os." I suggest that the choice of the meaning "hope" might be slightly influenced by Jeff's awareness of the the Russian word mir "peace." )

The RW placename Krakatoa is an Anglicization of Indonesian Krakatau, of uncertain meaning. Websearching reveals five published hypotheses:

A) The name was taken from the imitating voice made by “cockatoos”. The word cockatoo is from Malay/Indonesian kakaktua. But this theory is said to be unlikely because cockatoos live far away in eastern Indonesia.

B) Krakatau was taken from Sanskrit name for lobster, karkata.

C) Krakatau is from Old Javanese rakata "crab." This may be the most likely hypothesis, since Krakatau is located off the coast of Java.

D) Krakatau is from Malay/Indonesian kelakatu, meaning “white-winged ant”. Furneaux points out that in pre-1883 maps, Krakatau does somewhat resemble an ant seen from above, with Lang and Verlaten islands lying to the sides like wings.

E) Van den Berg (1884) recites a story that Krakatau was the result of a linguistic error. According to the legend, a visiting ship’s captain asked a local inhabitant the island’s name, and the latter replied, “Kaga tau” (short for "Aku nggak tau")—a Jakartan/Betawinese slang phrase meaning “I don’t know”. Jakartan (aka Betawinese) is the dialect of Indonesian spoken around the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

In-World Implications:

A) The word-element krakat- could be from an M-Asian language, with the -os ending added by Demotic Thyatian (M-Byzantine Greek). Fanon could suggest that the language comes from:

•An M-Malay/Indonesian word meaning "cockatoo", "white-winged ant", or "I don't know." BTW, M-Indonesian is the language seen in the personal names of Princess Arelina's kingdom from the two DRAGON TILES modules.
•M-Old Javanese "crab". Geologically, on the Master Set map, M-Java is the island of Xyzl.
•M-Sanskrit "lobster", via Sind.

B) Like "Mirros" (hope), "Krakatos" could be a fantastic Actual Traladaran word that has no correlation with RW Eastern European languages. It might be the Traladaran word for "crab." (Since cockatoos, lobsters, and white-winged ants aren't typically found in central Karameikos. But there very well could be freshwater crabs, both normal and giant, living in the river near Krakatos.)

C) Or, it could be a parallel of the name Pompeii, which is from the pre-Latin Oscan language: pompe "five." Which would mean that krakatos means "five" in some ancient language: Old Thyatian? Old Traladar? Nithian?

D) The word-element krakat- could be a word in Actual Common Thyatian. A word element that was not translated into RW TSR English. Perhaps the word krakata or krakatos is "crab" in Actual Common Thyatian. Or maybe the word for "volcano"?

In conclusion, that Zeb Cook (and/or Tom Moldvay if he had any say in the Expert Set names) was inspired by the wordshape "Krakatoa" for Krakatos is pretty likely. Yet given the RW Indonesian origin of the name, the in-world implications of that linguistic correlation are very much up in the air.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa
Etymologies of Krakatoa: https://yoancosmos.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... -krakatau/
Rakata "Crab" Etymology: https://www.gunungbagging.com/rakata/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatoo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betawi_people
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ος
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii#Name

Akesoli • Akoros • Plirok • Sclavak

Official TSR American English pronunciations: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")
ak e sō′ lē
a kōr′ rōs

International Phonetic Alphabet:
[ć.kɪ.'soʊ.li]
[ć.'koɹ.oʊs] or [ə.'koɹ.oʊs]

These four placenames are grouped together, because they all come from a single RW source: The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage.

First appearance: Moldvay & Schick's OKW, c.1976. In the OKW these four places are cities, not countries.

From the photocopied OKW campaign notes (here), we know that:

•Akesoli is one of the twin capitals of the Kingdom of Alasiya, along with the city of Selenica.
•Sclavak is the capital of the Empire of Cezavy.
•The key to the OKW map says that Plirok is located in the Kovan Tepe Mountains.

And, from the languages chart (here):

•Akesoli (as a capital of Alasiya) speaks the Ethesti language which is endemic to Alasiya. (~Ottoman Turkish)
•Akoros speaks Thyatic. As do several other polities. (~Greco-Latin)
•Plirok speaks Plirok. As do two other polities. (~Lovecraftian+Tekumelian Nahuatl)
•Sclavak (as capital of Cezavy) speaks the Cezavy language. (~Old Russian)

In regard to RW cultural analogues, Schick's best recollections are:

•"Mughal India = Akoros"
•"Aztec Mexico = Plirok (with Lovecraftian and Tekumel overtones)"
•"Kievan Rus = Cezavy and Sclavak"
• Akesoli: "Ottoman Empire = Ethesti"

Etymology: I've discovered that these four names are definitely taken from The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, as translated by S.L. MacGregor Mathers (1900). Mathers, the translator, was head of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organization in the Western Esoteric Tradition which revived ceremonial magic in the late 19th century. The original book was reputedly authored by Abraham of Worms, and dated to 1458 CE, who is stated to have received the teachings from legendary Egyptian author named Abramelin.

These four placenames are basically the names of four demons, who are among the many spirits who serve the eight Sub-Princes, who in turn serve four Princes...of EEEVIl! mwahaha (Source: https://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/abr038.htm)

•Akesoli is a Spirit who serves Sub-Prince Amaimon / Amaymon, who serves Prince Belial.
•Akoros is likewise. Note: These two names (Akesoli and Akoros) are listed adjacent to each other in the book.
•Plirok is a Spirit who serves all four Sub-Princes.
•Sclavak is a Spirit who serves Sub-Prince Asmodee / Asmodeus, who serves Prince Satan.

Mathers (the translator) goes on to suggest etymologies for the names (here):

•"AKESOLI.--Greek--? the distressful, or pain-bringing ones."
•"AKOROS.--Greek. Overthrowers of authority."
•"PLIROK.--Perhaps Coptic. Burning up."
•"SCLAVAK.--Perhaps from Coptic, SzLAK, Torture, Pain.".

Note: the Coptic language was the medieval descendent of ancient Egyptian.

Even if later scholars might have debunked these as folk etymologies, these etymologies are part of the source material, and thus may be relevant to Mystara.

From the OKW to the KW:

In a TSR context, the name Akorros first makes its appearance in Tom Moldvay's "Black Lotus Moon" short story, within the Dragontales anthology of 10 short stories published by TSR in 1980. Yet in this story, "Akorros" is the name of a man--a merchant--not a city. The merchant Akorros is active in the city of Biazzan (which is a city-state ruled by a king; whereas in 1000 AC Mystara, the city is the seat of the Barony of Biazzan in Thyatis). So, this story appears to take place in a different continuity (or earlier time) than 1000 AC Mystara.

In the following year, the 1981 X1 map of "The Continent", Akesoli and Akor(r)os became cities in Darokin, and Akorros gained an "r."

Plirok and Sclavak did not make the leap to Mystara. Note: these two names of purportedly Coptic origin don't make it into the KW, but the two names of purportedly Greek origin do (Akesoli and Akoros).

It's fitting that even in GAZ11 (1988), Akesoli and Akorros are described as "sister cities." They've been together since circa 1976!

In-World Implications:

It's curious how the OKW Akesoli was an Ottoman Turkish analog.
And if Schick's recollections are correct, OKW Akoros was a Mughal India analog which spoke the Thyatic (Greco-Latin) language!
These OKW facets might be adapted to fill out the cultural background of their Mystaran namesakes.

Since Akor(r)os has a RW origin, and originally referred to a Spirit, it feels less forced to consider that, in Mystara, Akorros could be the name of both a city and a personal name. And so Moldvay's 1980 short story could be placed in an earlier time of Mystara, prior to Thyatis's absorption of the city-state of Biazzan.

If/when I design my Archetypal Mystara (which will describe KW-sized subsettings throughout the globe, and restore forgotten Moldvayian and Mentzerian facets, and meld them with Heardian Mystara): all of the hundreds of demon names from this sourcebook have a place in one Mystaran subsetting or another.

Just as Akesoli and Akoros were listed next to each other in the RW sourcebook, other subsettings would typically tap a pair of names.

Plirok and Sclavak would be located in the same subsetting.

***
The 1981 X1/Expert Map re-uses

References:
OKW campaign notes: https://i1.wp.com/mystara.thorfmaps.com ... 695%2C1695
Lawrence Schick on RW-OKW cultural analogues: https://adventuresingaming2.blogspot.co ... e%20Schick
The spirits catalog: https://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/abr038.htm
Mather's suggested etymologies: https://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/abr039.htm
Akorros (merchant) in Black Lotus Moon: viewtopic.php?t=3104

Canolbarth • Corunglain • Dwyrain • Gorllewin • Gwynish

Official TSR American English pronunciations: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")
can′ ōl barth
cōr′ un glan

International Phonetic Alphabet:
['kćn.oʊl.bɑɹθ], which in flowing American speech would be worn down to ['kćn.əl.bɑɹθ].
['koɹ.ən.glćn]

First appearance: These names are all from Moldvay & Schick's Original Known World, c.1976.

Only Canolbarth (a "forest and forested mountains" in the OKW, and likewise retained as the name of Alfheim's forest) and Corunglain (as a city in Darokin) made the transition to Mystara.

Etymology: These names are all straight Welsh.

• canolbarth = "midlands, central area; also: Mid-Wales." From canol (“centre, middle") + parth (“area, zone”). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canolbarth

• dwyrain = "east." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dwyrain

• gorllewin = "west; also: West Wales." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gorllewin

• corunglain = corun "crown (male)" + glain "jewel, gem, bead". Basically "bead crown" or "jewel crown."

• Gwynish (the name of the OKW-Welsh language) = inspired by the Welsh kingdom Gwynedd (Venedotia) + English "-ish". (The Welsh equilvalent of "-ish" is "-eg", which would make "Gwyneg" as the language's own name for itself.) The Welsh kingdom is itself the source of the popular woman's name Gwyneth. The choice of "Gwyn-" may also be influenced by another popular Welsh name Gwen "white, holy." There is a word gwyn "ache, pain" but that seems an unlikely source.

Schick's recollections confirm a RW cultural analogue: "Celtic Wales = Gwynish" (Source)

The OKW language chart shows that Gwynish is spoken in Gorllewin and Dwyrain, such as we'd suspect.

But Corunglain speaks its own language "Glaini." The city-state of Corunglain appears to be an independent colony of the Kingdom of Gorllewin, since Corunglain's "ceremonial capital" is the city of Glantri, which is also the actual capital of the Kingdom of Gorllewin.

And Canolbarth Forest is home of the Quastog Tribe, who speak Heldann (OKW-Norse).

There's something weird: Moldvay and/or Schick clearly looked these words up in a Welsh dictionary, and so they knew what the words meant. But then in the process of placing them on the map, the directions seem to have gotten flipped!

• Dwyrain "east" is located on the far northwest corner of the OKW.
• Gorllewin "west" is located in the eastern section of the OKW.
• Canolbarth "midlands" is located slightly northeast of Gorllewin.

In-World Implications:

The fact that the name for Alfheim's forest is pure Welsh is one of many things to consider when crafting the Elvish language, or at least its Alfheim dialect. Tolkien's Sindarin language was based on Welsh aesthetics.

The forgotten names Dwyrain and Gorllewin would be featured in another subsetting of my Archetypal Mystara.

The word "Gwynish" might be tapped to refer to existing M-Welsh elements in Mystara (e.g. Caerdwicca), and/or a proper M-Welsh language and culture in another Mystaran subsetting.

References:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canolbarth
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dwyrain
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gorllewin

Heldann

Official TSR American English pronunciation: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")
hel′ dan

International Phonetic Alphabet: ['hɛl.dćn]

First appearance: Moldvay & Schick's Original Known World, c.1976. The OKW documents say:

• That the Heldann language is spoken by both the Heldann and the Quastog: "Heldann = Heldann "kingdoms" & clans, Quastog." (Source)

• Under "TRIBES": "Heldann...eastern fjords, coasts, islands." (Source)

• Schick's best recollection of RW cultural analogues is that "Norse = Heldann" (Source)

Etymology: Likely from German Held "hero." Note: the Old Norse equivalent is halr, hǫldr, which doesn't match "Heldann" as well.
For cognates of Held, see: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstr ... ic/haliţaz

The -ann suffix is possibly either:

A) A fantastic alteration of the Old Norse ending "-inn", which has various uses, such as to mark the definite article "the". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-inn#Old_Norse
OR
B) Inspired by the heroic wordshape of the Tuatha Dé Danann of Irish legend: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tuatha_Dé_Danann#Irish

If "A", then Heldann could mean "The Hero."
If "B", then the -ann could be reinterpreted (despite its Irish grammatical function) to be fantastic word meaning "people, folk"...the "Hero Folk." Basically, like the Germanic suffing "-ings", the "Beornings" and "Wulfings". The Heldann = "Heldings, hero folk."

In-World Implications:

Option "B" is my best intuition of the inspiration behind "Heldann"...namely, German+Irish. But these RW sources (German, Irish) don't have to carry over into the in-world origins of the Mystaran Northlands language. In that language, Heldann can simply be the name, without having to posit that it was borrowed from Hattias and the Redstone "Dunaels." It can simply be interpreted to mean "Hero folk." And just be a single-word addition to the more straightforward Old Norse which makes up the rest of the language.

In a similar way that "mirros" (hope) is an invented word which will be added to what is otherwise basically an M-Bulgarian Traladaran language.

Selenica

Official TSR American English pronunciation: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")
se len′ i ka

International Phonetic Alphabet: [sɛ.'lɛn.ɪ.kə], which in flowing American speech becomes: [sɪ.'lɛn.ɪ.kə].

First appearance: Moldvay & Schick's Original Known World, c.1976. OKW documents on Selenica:

• OKW map: Selenica is a city in the Kingdom of Alasiya, on the east coast of the western section. (Source)
• "Kingdom of Alasiya (twin capitals Akesoli & Selenica)" (Source)
• "LANGUAGES: Ethesti...Alasiya" (Source)
• Schick's best recollections of RW cultural analog: "Ottoman Empire = Ethesti" (Source)..

Etymology: The RW Greek city of Salonica (aka Thessaloniki).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessalon ... _etymology

With some likely influence by "Selene", a Greek name for the moon and moon goddess. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Σελήνη#Ancient_Greek

The original name of the city was Θεσσαλονίκη Thessaloníkē. It was named after the princess Thessalonike of Macedon, the half sister of Alexander the Great, whose name means "Thessalian victory", from Θεσσαλός Thessalos, and Νίκη 'victory' (Nike), honoring the Macedonian victory at the Battle of Crocus Field (353/352 BC).

The Ottoman Turkish culture which Schick assigns to Alasiya fits with how RW Salonica (Turkish: Selânik) was a part of the Ottoman Empire from 1430 to 1913.

Note however, Alasiya, the country of which Selenica serves a capital, is the ancient name for the island of Cyprus. Though in later times, Cyprus was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Selenica in Mystara:

On the 1981 and 1983 Expert Map, Selenica was placed in eastern Darokin.

GAZ11 (1989) describes Selenica in detail. Like RW Salonica (prior to the World Wars), Selenica is a cosmopolitan city. Frankly the GAZ11 author almost certainly tried to bring in the ethnic components of RW Salonica: Muslims (=Ylari), Orthodox Greeks and Bulgarians (=Karameikan), and Dwarves (Jews).

[Content warning: TSR's lightly implied analogy of Jewish culture with Dwarvish culture is a delicate subject. I'm simply pointing out that Scott Haring and the GAZ11 editorial team did apparently imply this analogy.]

See pp.43-44:

"Daily life in Selenica bas a different feel to it than anywhere else in Darokin. There are many strong foreign cultural influences on the city, none stronger than Ylaruam. In certain parts of the city, Selenica looks more like a city of Ylaruam than a city of Darokin. This is almost entirely attributable to the influence of the Al-Azrad merchant house." [...] (BTW, Al-Azrad is the name of the Lovecraft character who wrote the Necronomicon.)

"There are other cultural influences that set Selenica apart; a large Karameikan population adds their spice to the local population, for one. And second to the Ylaruam influence is that of many of the dwarves that live and work in the city. There as [sic] nearly as many dwarves in Selenica as there are in the rest of the entire Republic. Most of them live in their own "Dwarftown" district in the northeast corner of the city." [...]

"Currently, three of the six City Council members are Hallonicas, two are AI-Azrads, and the sixth is a dwarf."

Note, prior to WWII, Salonica was over 50% Jewish, and was the only city in Europe where Jews were a majority. A fantasy Jewish analog presents difficulties in presentation; yet if done well, this could be a design element to consider for Selenica in Darokin.

In-World Implications:

As for the implications of an M-Jewish/Dwarvish culture in Selenica.

JRR Tolkien spoke of the Jewish-Dwarvish analogue during a 1971 BBC interview: “I didn’t intend it, but when you’ve got these people on your hands, you’ve got to make them different, haven’t you?” “The dwarves of course are quite obviously, wouldn’t you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed to be Semitic. The hobbits are just rustic English people.”

And Peter Jackson drew upon these motifs in his Hobbit films, in how he portrayed the return to the Dwarvish homeland of Erebor.

The Jews of Salonica were and are Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) speaking. I wonder if an archetypal Mystara would lean toward or away from this? To lean toward the analogy could mean highlighting the Dwarves of Selenica as a distinct M-Ladino culture, like the M-Spanish "flamenco elves" of Glantri.

If done very well, it might work. Or the analogue might be inherently problematic and unworkable. I don't know.

As for the Ottoman Turkish aspect. The OKW Ethesti-speaking version of Selenica is Ottoman Turkish. Likewise, the Mystaran version of Selenica could have more Ottoman Turkish flavor.

The Al-Azrad family from Ylaruam is the M-Muslim connection in Selenica. The default assumption is that they family is simply M-Arab, especially considering the Arabic name "Al-Azrad". I usually think of Ylaruam as just M-Arabia, but it also has M-Egyptian (the Nithian pyramids), M-Mesopotamian (Uruk, Kirkuk), M-Persian (Ctesiphon, Parsa), Central Asian Turkic (Uzbek "Samarkand" mentioned in X1 paragraph), and M-Buryat Mongolian (Ust-Urt) localisms as well. See the statement from X1:

"The culture is similar to that of the Arabic desert states or the Central Asian city-states of Palmyra, Damascus, and Samarkand."

Palmyra and Damascus ware in Syria. Much of the Middle East (including Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia) was part of the Ottoman Empire until recently.

To highlight the Ottoman Turkish aspect of Selenica, in my Archetypal Mystara, I might respell the Al-Azrad family name with Turkish spelling: El Hazrad.

Altan Tepe • Kovan Tepe • Radan Tepe

Official TSR American English pronunciation: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")

al′ tan te′ pē

International Phonetic Alphabet: The intended pronunciation of the "a"s in Altan is ambiguous. It could be ['ćl.tćn], ['ɑl.tɑn], ['ɑl.tćn], ['ćl.tɑn], ['ćl.tən], or ['ɑl.tən]. Though ['tɛ.pi] is clear.

First Appearance: All three "Tepe" mountain ranges first appear in the Original Known World materials of c.1976. Altan Tepe is in the east. Kovan Tepe is in the west. Radan Tepe in the north. (See the OKW map.)

•Tepe is Turkish for "hill." Note: In RW Turkish, "tepe" is not used for mountains or mountain ranges; only for hills and hilltops. But in a Moldvayian context it does mean mountain ranges.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tepe#Turkish

•Altân is the Romanian adaptation of Turkish altın "golden." Altân Tepe "golden hill" is a mine in Romania which received its Turkish name during the period of Ottoman rule. The Altan Tepe Mountains are the "Golden Hill Mountains." Note: the Romanian letter "â", and the Turkish letter "ı" (dotless i) both represent the same sound: an unusual sound which is in-between English schwa (as in "ton") and English "short i" (as in "tin").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altân_Tepe_mine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altıntepe ... biguation)

•Kovan is Turkish for "hive, beehive." The Kovan Tepe are the "Hive Hill" mountains.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kovan#Turkish

•Radan doesn't appear to have a RW Turkish etymology. Instead it may be Moldvay/Schick's adaptation of the the Romanian name Radu, the well-known brother of Vlad Țepeș, the original Count Dracula. If so, this is a curious blend of Romanian țepeș "Impaler" and Turkish tepe "hill."

The name Radu is a pet name for the Slavic names which start with "Rad-" which were borrowed into Romanian, such as Radoslav and Radomir. The "Rad-" rootword means "glad, dear" in Proto-Slavic. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Radu

Websearches for Kovan Tepe turns up a region in Turkey with that name (link to new article). Radan Tepe brings up nothing. Which suggests that Moldvay &/or Schick found the name Altan Tepe in an atlas or dictionary of geographic names, and noted the Romanian location and Turkish etymology. And that "Kovan Tepe" was also in that book; either that or they just picked another Turkish word (kovan - beehive) to add to "Tepe." And then picked a Romanian name Radu (probably in association with Vlad Țepeș), in order to create two other names for mountain ranges, turning it into a quasi-adjectival form "Radan."

From the OKW to the KW of Mystara:

The Altan Tepe Mountains are the only one of the three to make it onto Moldvay's 1981 X1 continental map

In-World Implications:

Since the "Altan Tepe Mountains" are Romanian in form, the name would be Traladaran in origin. Specifically from the Romanian elements of south-central Karameikos (Marilinev/Sulescu area). Since the Traladaran capital, the city of Marilinev, was primarily M-Romanian in culture, this name was influential.

As for the underlying Ottoman Turkish origin, this would be from the Turkish elements in western Ylaruam.

So: The Ottoman Turkish elements in western Ylaruam named the mountain range the Altın Tepe "Golden Hill" Mountains. Then the Romanian elements in Traladara adapted that as Altân Tepe. Then the Thyatians adopted the name as Altan Tepe Mountains.

In my Archetypal Mystara, Kovan Tepe and Radan Tepe would appear in two other subsettings, elsewhere on the planet.

Jorund river

Only Appearance: OKW c.1976.

"Jorund river (east of Darokin)" (Source)
OKW Map

Note: Despite its name, the Jorund river isn't located in the "Norse" regions of the OKW (Heldann and Quastog). It's near a halfling territory east of Darokin.

Jorund didn't find its way onto the map of Mystara.

Etymology:

The Old Norse name "Jörundr", typically anglicized as "Jorund." The name of a Swedish king from the Icelandic sagas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorund

The name means "battle" + "winner." See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f ... end,_I–O#J

In-World Implication:

In my Archetypal Mystara, the Jorund River would be added to the map, in a new subsetting.

Empire of Cezavy

Only Appearance: OKW c.1976. Sources:

•"Empire of Cezavy (capital at Sclavak)" (Source text)
•Schick's best recollection of RW cultural analogue: "Kievan Rus = Cezavy and Sclavak" (Source)
•Map showing Cezavy.
•"Cezavy" is also the name of the language. And the language is spoken in two realms: Cezavy and Hagith/Hagath. (Source). So Hagith must be an OKW-Slavonic culture as well.

Cezavy didn't make it onto the map of Mystara.

Etymology: Cezavy = a blend of Russian Цéзарь (Cézarʹ) "Caesar" + Moscovy (the Anglicized name for the Moscow principality before it merged to form Russia).

In English, since both source words are stressed on the first syllable, and since the "a" is a schwa (ə) in Russian, the name might be pronounced: "SĔZ.ə.vee". Or "TSĔZ.ə.vee" if you can pronounce the "ts" sound (which is not natural to English-speakers at the start of the word).

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Цезарь#Russian
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Muscovy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow

Since "Muscovy" is anglicized from French Moscovie, from Modern Latin Moscovia, from Russian Москóвия (Moskóvija / Moskóviya), the actual Cezavy autonym might be Цезáвия (Cezávija / Tsezáviya). The native pronunciation would be stressed on the "a", while the anglicized pronunciation would be stressed on the "e." Like "Muscovy" vs. Moskóvija."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Московия

The city of Sclavak is the capital of the empire. Moldvay & Schick definitely got "Sclavak" from the name of a demon in The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. Yet the name does sound Slavonic. "Sclavak" is reminiscent of the archaic term "Sclavonic", and also the "Slovak" nationality. So I'm guessing that the creators built the Slavonic "Cezavy" identity around Sclavak, based on its Slavonic-looking wordshape.

In-World Implication:

In my Archetypal Mystara, the Empire of Cezavy would find its place in another subsetting on the planet, as the main Russian analogue.

The Streel

First Appearance: The OKW c.1976. "The Streel (major river, East section)". The Streel is by far the longest river in the OKW. Its headwaters are in the northeastern mountains, and it flows across the whole north of the East section; through several lands, and eventually ending in Darokin and the Malpheggi swamp. The last part (Darokin-Malpheggi) is similar to how The Streel is placed in Mystara.

Unlike the other rivers in the river list, "The Streel" has its own capitalized "The." (Source)

Note: I believe Mishler's map mistakenly styles it the "River Streel." I couldn't find any evidence for that in the photocopied documents. Only "The Streel."

Etymology: Probably from the Hiberno-English (Irish English dialect) word "streel", which is even in Merriam-Webster's dictionary (and so may've been in a hardcopy dictionary which Moldvay/Schick owned or borrowed from the library):

1 chiefly Irish : to saunter idly and aimlessly
2 chiefly Irish : to trail or float in the manner of a streamer

There's also a noun, derived from the verb:

chiefly Irish : an untidy slovenly person (i.e. a person who saunters idly and aimlessly)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/streel

See also Wiktionary: "To trail along; to saunter or be drawn along, carelessly, swaying in a kind of zigzag motion."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/streel

The river does saunter, float, and zigzag through many lands, so the name is fitting.

Another dictionary adds a related noun:

A disreputable woman, a slut. (i.e. a female person who saunters idly and aimlessly)
https://www.wordsense.eu/streel/

Note: I'd never heard of this word. Moldvay/Schick may've come across the word in their readings, or found the word in a dictionary or thesaurus.

The Hiberno-English word "streel" comes from Irish (Gaelic) straoill-, sraoill- to tear apart, trail, trudge, from Old Irish sroiglid he scourges, from sroigell scourge, from Latin flagellum.

Update: Thorf shared a Scots dialect word:

STRULE, v., n. Also strool; streel.
[strřl, ne.Sc. stril]

I. v. 1. To pass urine in a forcible stream (Sc. 1808 Jam., strule, Fif. Ib., streel).

2. In gen.: to squirt, spout liquid, to pour water from one vessel to another (Fif. 1808 Jam., streel).

II. n. A stream or steady trickle of water or other liquid

Those meanings fit which fits quite (unpleasantly) well with the possibly "execratory" meaning of "Malpheggi." However, it's less likely that Moldvay/Schick were aware of this word, as "streel" is a secondary spelling, with "strule" as the headword. Did they have a Scots dictionary on hand?

This Scottish "streel" came from Middle Dutch struylen, Dutch dial. †struilen, streylen, to urinate.

https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/strule

In Mystara: Both Streels have their wellsprings in Rockhome. Both pass through a grassy steppe (Cezavy vs. Ethengar). Both pass through Darokin and end in the Malpheggi.

Overall, the general arcing course of the M-Streel River is pretty similar to the arcing course of the original Streel. Its almost as if Moldvay took the OKW Streel as the central feature, and then built the 1981 Known World around it. As if the East Section were the basis for the Known World.

In-World Implications:

Streel is another M-Gaelic element in Darokin, along with the Cruth Mountains. Which fanon could attribute to Dunael culture.

Though another possibility--in relation to my aim to craft an Actual Thyatian Language--is that "streel" could be the Actual Common Thyatian word for "stroll, saunter." With RW Irish only serving as an out-of-game key to unlock to its meaning.

Malpheggi

Official TSR American English pronunciation: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")

mal feg′ gē

International Phonetic Alphabet: Whether the "g" is sort or hard is ambiguous: [mćl.'fɛ.ʤi] or [mćl.'fɛ.gi]. A "g" before "i" is usually soft; and if the name were meant to be Italianate, the "g" would be soft. But see the proposed source for Malpheggi: the surname Malpighi. If Moldvay/Schick were trying to just alter the spelling of "Malpighi", they might have meant for the hard "g" to be retained.

First Appearance: OKW c.1976 as the "Malpheggi Tribe." Sources:

•"TRIBES (Humanoid): Malpheggi*...fresh water swamp. *Marginally human." (Source)

•The language spoken in Malpheggi: "HUMAN: LANGUAGES: Xoph - Nanq-Rubbob, Malpheggi" (Source). So the Xoph language is spoken in Malpheggi and Nanq-Rubbob.

• Schick's best recollections on RW cultural analogues: "Pharaonic Egypt = Xoph." So, the Malpheggi Tribe speaks OKW-Egyptian.

•OKW map

• James Mishler's question: (Source) "Were the Malpheggi half-orcs?

Schick: "The Malpheggi are piscine/human hybrids with the “Innsmouth Look” – there are subsurface colonies of Deep Ones (later brought into D&D as Kuo-Toa) in the Sea of Dread offshore from the Malpheggi Fens."

Etymology: After a good deal of web research, I still had no hits for "Malpheggi." I then tried variations on the spelling. And I eventually stumbled upon a series of terms related to the execratory system of humans and animals:

•Malpighian bodies of the spleen
•Malpighian corpuscles
•Malpighian pyramids
•Malpighian tubule system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malpighian_tubule_system

These were all named after Marcello Malpighi (1628 – 1694), an Italian biologist and physician, who is referred to as the "Founder of microscopical anatomy, histology & Father of physiology". He was the first person to see capillaries in animals. Malpighi's name is borne by several physiological features related to the biological excretory system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcello_Malpighi

And I'm making a wild guess that Moldvay/Schick perhaps knew of the name from biology class, and punningly used the name for a sort of continental "execratory system"...the delta of the largest river in the Original Known World. The largest swamp in the world...Malpheggi.

That's my best hypothesis.

In Mystara: Malpheggi Swamp appeared in Moldvay's 1981 X1 map. The shapes of the OKW-Malpheggi and the M-Malpheggi are quite similar: an elongated triangle.

In-World Implications: There's no good reason why the "marginally human", M-Egyptian (Nithian?)-speaking Malpheggi Tribe of Human/Kuo-Toa hybrids couldn't be a main theme in Mystara's own Malpheggi Swamp.

Keraptis

First appearance: OKW c.1976, as the city of Keraptis.

We know that Keraptis is one of the several city-states which speak Thyatic (Greco-Latin). (Source)

Etymology: Uncertain. After extensive web research, only three slim leads:

A) Mount Seraptis (aka Mount Seracte), about 25 miles north of Rome. This place figured in the tale of St. Silvester, who converted Emperor Constatine to the Christian faith. (Source)

B) Serapis. The Greco-Egyptian god. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serapis

C) Charbydis. A sea monster who teamed up with another sea monster (Scylla) to serve as the proverbial "rock and the hard place" when crossing the strait between Sicily and the toe of the Italian boot. Note: the city-state of Keraptis is situated on a headland on the far southeast shore of the OKW (see OKW map), similar to how Charbydis dwelled on the far eastern headland of Sicily.

None of these are totally satisfying by themselves. But these are three plausible inspirations.

Next appearance...Oerth!: Keraptis is the evil boss wizard in Schick's 1979 AD&D adventure S2: White Stone Mountain.

James Mishler asked Schick: "Was there a White Plume Mountain near the city-state of Keraptis?"

Schick: "No, White Plume Mountain didn't exist until I decided to write a sample scenario to persuade TSR to hire me."

https://ghwiki.greyparticle.com/index.php/Keraptis

In-World Implications: The city of Keraptis didn't make it to Mystara. In my Archetypal Mystara, the city of Keraptis would be located in another subsetting, somewhere else on the planet. With possibly some tie-in with the wizard Keraptis of White Stone Mountain and Return to White Stone Mountain.

Alasiya

Official TSR American English pronunciation: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")

Alasiyan: al as ē′ an

International Phonetic Alphabet: [ćl.əs.'i.ən]

First Appearance: c.1976 OKW. Sources:

•"Kingdom of Alasiya (twin capitals Akesoli & Selenica)" (Source)
•"LANGUAGES: Human: Ethesti - Alasiya" (Source) So Alasiya is the only country which speaks Ethesti (M-Ottoman Turkish)
•Schick's best recollection of RW cultural analogue: "Ottoman Empire = Ethesti" (Source) Which fits with Selenica being a capital city of Alasiya, since RW Salonica was an Ottoman city until 1913. (Akesoli has no RW cultural connection, since it's the name of a Spirit/demon from RW esoteric tradition, so it fits with an Ottoman analogue as well as any.)

Etymology: Alasiya is the name of a RW Bronze Age kingdom in the Eastern Mediterranean which has traditionally been identified with Cyprus. There's some connection with Ottoman history, since Cyprus was a part of the Ottoman Empire from 1571-1878. But of course Bronze Age Cyprus has no Ottoman connection, so Moldvay/Schick assigned the Ottoman culture to Alasiya somewhat arbitrarily.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alashiya
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/𐤀𐤋𐤔𐤉

In Mystara: In Moldvay's 1981 X1 map, he repurposed the name for the "Alasiyan Desert" in Ylaruam.

In Ken Rolston's GAZ2 (1987), the word "Alasiyan" is then used as the name of the predominant culture and language in Ylaruam: the M-Arabs and M-Arabic language. As distinguished between other ethnonational cultures within Ylaruam, such as the M-Mongolians of Makistan, the descendants of Thyatians and Alphatians who assimilated into Ylari culture, etc.

"Alasiyani" with an "-i" is used specifically for the citizens of the Emirate of Alasiya within Ylaruam.

Note: though the city-state of Ylaruam in the OKW is surrounded by a similar desert, the inhabitants of that desert are called the Dulesmir Tribe, not Alasiyani.

In-World Implications:

The Kingdom of Alasiya (OKW-Ottoman Turkey) was so divvied up in the transition to Mystara!...

...The kingdom's name became a desert, an ethnicity, a language, and emirate, but subsumed within another country, Ylaruam--which, in the OKW, had been an Iasuli (Arabic) speaking, culturally Ancient Persian, independent city-state!

...And Alasiya's twin capitals, Akesoli and Selenica, became cities in Darokin!

...And its Ottoman culture was eventually assigned to Hule.

Nothing left!

In regard to the RW identity of the Kingdom of Alasiya as ancient Cyprus. Bronze Age Cyprus has not been covered in Mystara. That would be a good country to include in a new subsetting. But it couldn't be called "Alasiya," since that's already used. And its twin capitals couldn't be called Akesoli and Selenica, since those are already used too.

Ylaruam

Official TSR American English pronunciation: (Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide.")

il a rū′ am

International Phonetic Alphabet: [ɪl.ə.'ɹu.əm]

First Appearance: c.1976 OKW. Sources:

Like most of the OKW polities, Ylaruam is a city-state. (Source)

The desert where Ylaruam is located is home to the Dulesmir Tribe:

"TRIBES (Humanoid): Dulesmir - desert" (Source)

"LANGUAGES: Human: Iasuli - Ylaruam, Minrothad, Ierendi, Dulesmir, Atruaghin" (Source) So the city of Ylaruam is only one of five polities which speak OKW-Arabic.

According to Schick's best recollections, these are the RW cultural analogs:

"Ancient Persia = Ylaruam"
"Moorish Arabs = Iasuli"

Which (if correctly recalled) would mean that the city-state of Ylaruam has Ancient Persian (pre-Islamic) culture, but speaks OKW-Arabic.

In Mystara: Of course, the Emirate of Ylaruam and its capital city of Ylaruam appeared on Moldvay's 1981 X1 map.

Note: the shape of Ylaruam's OKW desert and KW desert is similar, with mountains on the N, W, and S borders, opening to the east.

Also note: The cultural analogy slightly shifted from pre-Islamic "Ancient Persian culture + Arabic language" (OKW) to "Arabic desert states or the Central Asian city-states + Arabic language" (Mystara):

"The culture is similar to that of the Arabic desert states or the Central Asian city-states of Palmyra, Damascus [both in Syria, not "Central Asia"], and Samarkand [Uzbekistan]." -X1 (1981)

However, we do see Ancient Persian elements restored in the GAZ2 map of 1987: the cities of Ctesiphon and Parsa (the native Persian name for Persepolis).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctesiphon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis

Etymology: Awhile back, I talked with Jeff Grubb and Lawrence Schick about this name:

June 2019:

Hi Jeff,
In your "Mystara Redux" post, you asked:
"Ylaruam (does anyone know where this name comes from?) "

You may've already read Lawrence Schick's article, but he reveals that the name originated in the c.1976 Kent State University home campaign of Schick and Moldvay. Their original map was different than the later TSR Known World, but "Ylaruam" was the name of a city. The name appears in both of the typewritten documents which have been preserved.

Travis

***
Travis,

Thanks for the note. More to the point, why Ylaruam? It is one of those words that doesn't seem to have much meaning - Karameikos and Daroken sound like nations or cities, but Ylaruam feels like an anagram of something else.

Lawrence left TSR right before I got there, so I've only had the chance to chat with him in later years, and to the best of my knowledge his original material was not passed on to the people writing the Gazetters. Zeb probably knew something about it because of X1/Isle of Dread, but it is an example of things getting dropped away. By the time I did the Mystara set, I was uses the Gazzes as my source material.

Jeff

***
April 2021:

Q: Hi Lawrence. I was talking with Jeff Grubb, and we were wondering if you remember where the name "Ylaruam" came from, on the original Kent State map of the Known World. Jeff asked (in his blog, and in an email convo with me):

Jeff: "Ylaruam (does anyone know where this name comes from?)"

BTW, here are my (Travis') long shot wild guesses: Did you base it on the Spanish personal name "Mauraly"? Or on the word "morally" ? Or anagram of "My Laura"??? Any recollections? I'd pass it on to Jeff and the Mystara community.

Answer:
It’s a name I made up out of nowhere, just wanting something that sounded exotic and non-Western. On names like “Ylaruam” I was consciously emulating person and place names from Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith.

This answer provides context for several of the other OKW names, which are otherwise impenetrable.

In-World Implications:

The OKW Ylaruam was fairly closely adapted to the KW. Two elements that didn't make the cut though, were the surrounding Dulesmir Tribe and the name of the Iasuli (OKW-Arabic) language. In my Archetypal Mystara, these two names would be repurposed for some other Mystaran subsetting, elsewhere on the planet.

Cynidicea

First Appearance: OKW c.1976. As a Thyatic (Greco-Latin)-speaking city-state, located on a peninsula (not a desert) which juts out into the sea. In Schick's recollected list of RW cultural analogues, he doesn't specifically mention Cynidicea; it is presumably included within his "Ancient Mediterranean (Greece/Rome) = Thyatis."

Etymology:
"Cyni-" might be inspired by "Cynic." The ancient Greek philosophy of Cynicism. Despite its modern meaning of "snarky negativity", Cynicism was originally a kind of "noble hobo" philosophy of homeless philosophers who lived on the street. From Latin cynicus, from Ancient Greek κυνικός (kynikós) "dog-like"; from κύων (kúōn) “dog.”. But probably reinterpreted from the name of the original meeting place of the Cynics: Kynósarges.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cynic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynicism_(philosophy)

The second half of the name (-dicea) is almost certainly based on Laodicea, one of the seven cities of the seven churches of the Book of Revelation. (See also Thyatis / Thyatira for another name taken from the seven churches.) In English, "Laodicean" allegorically means: "lukewarm or halfhearted, especially with respect to religion or politics."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laodicea_on_the_Lycus

The city is named after one of the various historical or mythical women named Laodice:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laodice

The "-dice" part of the name is from Δίκη (Díkē), the goddess of justice; literally “Justice, Order, Judgement."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Dike

The suffix "-ea" is the Latin spelling of Greek "-eia", which was added to various stems to form feminine nouns (such as placenames) of the person or thing concerned.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-εια#Ancient_Greek

Hypothetically, in RW Greek the name would be spelled Κυνιδίκεια (Kynidíkeia). It's stressed on a different syllable (ί) than in English. Though no such name appears on any search engines.

And the name would mean "Cynic justice/order", "cynical justice/order" or "dog-like justice/order."

Proposed Pronunciation: Based on the English pronunciation of Laodicea: [leɪ.ə.dɪ.ˈsi.ə].

So: "sin-ə-də-SEE-ə" [sɪn.ɪ.dɪ.'si.ə] or [sɪn.ə.də.'si.ə]
Adjective: Cynidicean "sin-ə-də-SEE-ən" [sɪn.ɪ.dɪ.ˈsi.ən] or [sɪn.ə.də.'si.ən]

In Mystara: Though Cynidicea did not appear on the 1981 X1 map, it was featured in 1982's B4: The Lost City. However, as far as I can tell, there are no indications in the 1982 version as to where the module is located on the map of the KW, except that the story takes place in a desert.

On the other hand, the Original Known World city of Cynidicea is located on a narrow peninsula with clear terrain, not a desert. And so 1982's B4 was not a depiction of the OKW Cynidicea as far as its surroundings go.

And then B4 was officially placed in western Ylaruam on the 1983 Expert Map.

In-World Implications: Cynidicea is one of the few locales (or only locale?) from the OKW which received a full published treatment by Moldvay or Schick. So in this case, there's nothing left to glean or adapt to Mystara. It's all there already.

"It’s a name I made up out of nowhere, just wanting something that sounded exotic and non-Western. On names like “Ylaruam” I was consciously emulating person and place names from Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith." --Lawrence Schick (from a personal conversation)

To round off the research into the placenames of Moldvay & Schick's Original Known World...here are the names which still stump me. I have a few slim leads for some of them, but nothing solid. Experts in Dunsany and C.A.S. (and possibly Tékumel, Lovecraft, and Melniboné) might recognize some motifs. If you have any clues, chime in.

Atruaghin tribe: ?
Axhonief river: ? (Note: on the Mishler map, this is misspelled as "Axonhief.")
Capheron tribe: Caph- is perhaps inspired by one or more RW placenames which start with Caph-:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capharnaüm
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Caphereus#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Caphtor#English
The second part of the name is similar to Oberon.
Cusort tribe: ? Wesort [sic] people of southern Maryland, who now identify as Native American. The name is considered derogatory by the younger generation.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wesort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We-Sorts
Dulesmir tribe: ? Surname "Dulles"? + İzmir (Ismir), a city in Turkey? Or Kashmir? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/İzmir#Names_and_etymology
Ethengar tribe: ? Inspired by Thongor the barbarian? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thongor
(Edit: SOLVED!Glantri city: Welsh glan "(river) bank, shore + Welsh tri "three")
Grilth tribe (orcs): ?
Gugonix city: ? There is an unlikely Armenian name "Gugo." The ending -ix is reminiscent of Gaulish -rix "king" and Latin -trix (female agent; as in "dominatrix.")
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Գուգո
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstr ... aulish/rix
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-trix#Latin
Hagath / Hagith Tribe: Note: The name is spelled differently in two different OKW documents. Hagith is listed in Tom's June 1980 DRAGON magazine article on the Seven Magical Planets, in the write-up on Magical Venus: "Spirits: Rachiel, Thamael, Tenariel, Arrogon, Penat, Thiel, Colzras, Penael, Rael, Teripel, Hagith, Kedemel, Hagiel." Given his stated in interest in "western magical tradition", Tom almost certainly got "Hagith" from "The Arbatel of Magic", a magickal grimoire contained within "The Book of Ceremonial Magic" by Arthur Edward Waite (1913).
"THE CHARACTER OF HAGITH: The government of Venereal [=Venus-related] concerns is entrusted to HAGITH, and the person possessing his character is adorned with all beauty. He converts copper into gold in a moment and gold instantaneously into copper; he also gives faithful serving spirits." (Thanks to Piazza-member Hyrieus for spotting that!)
As for the source of the magickal name, I'd guess the Hebrew Haggith biblical character.
https://sacred-texts.com/grim/bcm/bcm08.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggith
Iasuli: ? I can at least say that the adjectival suffix -i is found in Arabic, such as "Iraqi." Which fits since Schick says Iasuli is an Arabic analogue.
Ierendi city: ?
Kobblekem tribe (orcs): Cobble + kin?
Lake Amsorak: ?
Luxed river: ? Reminiscent of the city of Luxor, Egypt?
Minrothad city: ?
Mnokki tribe: There is a Maltese word which, in a certain conjugation, becomes "mnokki." It's the past participle of "to peel barley." :) https://www.google.com/books/edition/Re ... frontcover
Nanq-Rubbob city: ? This looks especially "exotic."
Qeda river: ? There is a Maltese word "qeda "to serve." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/qeda
Sxodan city: (Very exotic letter combo!) ? Japanese "shodan" martial arts rank? The Esperanto language spells the "sh" sound "sx": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shodan_(rank)
Tentrumtoom pyramid ruins: ? Toom = "tomb" (I got that much!)
Ubirgh Archipelago and tribe (orcs): ? German Ur- "original, proto-" + Berg "mountain"?
Vanog tribe: ? An obscure Croatian word, and a Welsh village. Welsh and Hungarian both have a suffix -og. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-og

I'm stumped. Looking forward to moving on to B/X and BECMI onomastics.

And lastly, there are two straightforwardly English names in the OKW: *whew*
Rockhome
Sea of Dread

Names from the 1981 Moldvay Basic Set

From a retroactive in-world perspective, when there's a human with a generic or eclectic "fantasy name" in a Karameikan context, these would be considered to be Thyatian characters (rather than Traladaran), based on GAZ1's statement: "Characters of Thyatian origin tend to have given names which are reminiscent of ancient and classical Roman and Byzantine names. [...] Other given names are appropriate fantasy names." --GAZ1, p.9

In other words: Thyatian names are either Roman, Byzantine, or (generic / eclectic) "fantasy names." So Morgan, Black Dougal, Gantry, and Huxley would be Thyatian. Borg and Bork (who may or may not be the same person) have Norse names, specifically M-Swedish, so these could be from the Kingdom of Vestland (M-Sweden).

Iconic characters:
•Black Dougal the Footpad. Dougal is the Anglicized version of Scottish Gaelic Dubhghall, or Důghal: dubh "black" + gall "stranger, foreigner." A byname said to have referred to Danes, in contrast to the fairer Norwegians. Moldvay was aware of the dubh "black" meaning since he named him "Black Dougal", and the illustration on p.B17 shows a black-haired Thief. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Dougal
•Borg the Fighter (see also Bork). Borg is a Scandinavian (especially Swedish) surname, from "dweller in, or near, or from a borg (fort, stronghold)". The Swedish tennis player Björn Borg was a huge phenomenon at the time, with his peak era from from 1978-1981. His name likely the key source for Moldvay. In my Archetypal Mystara, I'd have Borg be a "jeu de paulme"-playing Vestlandic athlete when he's not serving as a Fighter. https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/BORG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(surname)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Björn_Borg
•Bork the Swordmaster (see also Borg). Probably a comedic reference to the "Swedish Chef" from the Muppet Shows who says "bork, bork, bork!" Which Jim Henson probably based on the Swedish name Borg. In my Archetypal Mystara, I would consider making Bork a Vestlandic Chef with the Fighter class (and thus a different person than Borg). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Chef
•Fredrik the Dwarven Veteran. Fredrik is the Scandinavian (Danish-Norwegian-Swedish) form of the Proto-Germanic name meaning "peace king": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fredrik
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstr ... /FriÞurīks
•Gantry the Cleric. Gantry is an English surname, reportedly originally from the Netherlands; but I haven't found its etymology. It's also a word in English for various frames, scaffoldings, and crossbars that hold something up, such as a crane, large highway signage, or hangman's noose: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gantry
•Huxley the Fighter. An English surname, originally given to people from Huxley, Cheshire. The name of the settlement is from Old English Hucc's Lea (=Meadow): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huxley_(surname)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Huxley
•Morgan Ironwolf. p.B13: "Inspired by the name Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legends, the player decides that Morgan Ironwolf would be a good name for the fighter." RW etymology of "Morgan": A female given name from Old Welsh or Old Breton Morgen, from mor (“sea”) (Welsh môr) + *gen (“birth”) (Proto-Celtic *genos), meaning “sea-born.” https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Morgan
•Sarien the Elf. Casts a Sleep spell on p.B17. Inspired by Tolkienian Elvish. The suffix is clearly inspired by Quenya and Sindarin -ien "a feminine name suffix, feminine patronymic, daughter". So Sarien would be a female elf.
Quenya: https://www.elfdict.com/wt/501269
Sindarin: https://www.elfdict.com/wt/516475
The first part of the name "Sar-" is probably made up to sound vaguely Elvish. Though if you wanted to assign a Tolkien meaning, there is the Early Qenya: sar- "to write" and Sindarin saer "bitter": https://www.elfdict.com/wt/508402
https://www.elfdict.com/wt/135057
•Silverleaf the Elf. A rendering of his Elvish name into Common Thyatian, and then translated into TSR American English: "silver" + "leaf."
•Sister Rebecca the Adept. The Vulgate (Latin) form of biblical Rebekah, from Hebrew רבקה (Rivka, “enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rebecca#English
•Tars the Fighter. Probably from Edgar Rice Burrough's character Tars Tarkas, the main Thark character. We know that Moldvay and Schick included Tharks in the Original Known World. And in my Archetypal Mystara, the Tharks from Barsoom would have a colony on Mystara as part of a new subsetting somewhere on the planet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tars_Tarkas

Other names:
•The Haunted Keep
•"hamburger". Linguistic note: Mystara (or at least Mystaran goblin cuisine) has "hamburger" (aka hamburg steak, ground beef), which in the RW is name after the German city of Hamburg. Hear the goblin battle cry, p.B59: "Kill the dwarf! Chop them to hamburger!"
•the Rodemus family. Latin rōdēmus "first-person plural future active indicative of rōdō, 'I gnaw." Root of the word "rodent." The Rodemus family were/are almost certainly wererats. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rodemus

Did I overlook any?

So we have:
•M-Barsoomian: Tars
•M-English: Gantry, Ironwolf, Silverleaf, The Haunted Keep, Huxley. (My conception is that English names and words seen in Mystara, other than Bellaynian (which is actually Elizabethan English!) are "translations" of an actual in-world language which I call "(Actual) Common Thyatian", as actually seen in the Thyatian calendar words. TSR editors then "translated" Common Thyatian into RW English so that Earthly readers could understand.)
•M-German: hamburger (Though it could also just be the TSR American English translation of the Common Thyatian word for "ground beef.")
•M-Hebrew: Rebecca
•M-Latin: Rodemus (Latin names constitute what I call "Classical Thyatian", which is a prestigious "register" and "localism" of the wider Thyatian language.)
•M-Scandinavian/Norse: Fredrik, Borg, Bork
•M-Scottish Gaelic: Dougal
•M-Tolkienian Elvish: Sarien
•M-Welsh and M-Breton: Morgan

Names (and Goblin-Language) from B2: The Keep on the Borderlands

Though published in 1979 (and thus originally associated with Oerth), this module was included in the Moldvay boxed set, and thus notionally became associated with the Known World even in 1981. However, it didn't receive an official placement till the 1983 Expert Map, in northeastern Karameikos.
Mentzer placed B2 well, since its northeastern location fits the directional indication found on p.12: "The “Realm” is to the west, off the map." (p.12) (When I refer to page numbers here, I'm using a PDF OCR pink-covered version which has a 1981 copyright date.)

Then in 1987, GAZ1 gave it a name in Mystara: "Castellan Keep." And the 1987 B1-9 compilation super-module affirmed its placement. The later sequel, novel, and HackMaster version are beyond the scope of this article, at this time.

I looked through the entire book, and found not one "fantastic" or foreign name. If I missed any, let me know. But as far as I can tell, all NPCs in the Keep are referred to by their title (the Castellan, the Curate, the Trader, etc.). All monsters in the Wilderness are referred to by their species. All are essentially nameless templates. Even the most salient, iconic monikers are straightforward, generic English. Which is one factor in the module's iconic, universal, archetypal quality.

To list only some of the most salient monikers:

•the Realm of mankind; the Realm. "The Realm of mankind is narrow and constricted. [...] If it were not for a stout few, many in the Realm would indeed fall prey to the evil which surrounds them. [...] Bold adventurers from the Realm set off for the Borderlands to seek their fortune. [...] True, some few who do survive the process will turn from Law and good and serve the masters of Chaos, but most will remain faithful and ready to fight chaos wherever it threatens to infect the Realm. [...] You have travelled for many days, leaving the Realm and entering into the wilder area of the Borderlands." (p.6) "The “Realm” is to the west, off the map." (p.12)
•the forces of Chaos
•the Keep on the Borderlands; the Keep
•the Traveler's Inn
•the Guild House
•Mound of the Lizard Men
•the Mad Hermit
•the north lands. An in-world term for northern portion of the Wilderness Map. Used in the true rumor on p.7: "Beware the mad hermit of the north lands."
•Tamarack Stand
•(the) Cave(s) of the Unknown. Plural "Caves" on p.12, p.21 and p.25. Singular "Cave" on p.21 and on the map p.15.
•(the) Caves of Chaos
•Temple of Evil Chaos
•the evil priest

goblin-language:
In B2, we learn two words in goblin-language. Gygax also gives a name for the goblin language, namely: goblin-language, styled with a hyphen.

These are the source quotes:
•Rumor #10: (False): “Bree-yark” is goblin-language for “we surrender” p.7
•"When an encounter occurs, the entire bunch of goblins will attack and cry out an alarm (Bree-Yark!) at the same time." p.16
•"If there is a cry of “BREE-YARK” (similar to “Hey Rube!“), 2 of these guards will rush to the secret door, toss a sack with 250 gold pieces in it to the ogre (E., 22., below) and ask him to help them." p.16

It may be noted:

"Hey Rube!" is a slang phrase used by U.S. traveling circus and carnival workers ("carnies"), dating back to the mid-1800s. It is a rallying call, a cry for help, used by carnies in a fight with outsiders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey%2C_Rube!

So, we have a three-word dictionary of goblin-language:
•bree = hey
•yark = rube, outsider, stranger
•bree-yark is hyphenated, so it's also a standalone compound word. As you might imagine, goblins often have to warn their cohorts of invading adventurers.

common runes
Also of note, a reference to the in-world writing system for the Common language:
•common runes. "Skulls are lined along the walls, and several are affixed to the oaken door to highlight a warning written in common runes: “Come in - we’d like to have you for dinner!" p.17, Hobgoblin Lair

Class/Profession
Lastly, I found it interesting from a terminological standpoint, that on the NPC list in the back of the book, "Class" and "Profession" are listed as synonymous terms:

"Use this sheet to list persons in the KEEP or in the CAVES OF CHAOS. Profession could be Fighter, Innkeeper, and so forth"

The list has a column header labeled: "Class/Profession"

Names from Mike Carr's B1: In Search of the Unknown (1978):

In Search of the Unknown came out before the Known World was published in 1981. Originally its context was Oerth.

The 1979 Wilderness Map of B2: The Keep on the Borderlands appears, in the context of 1979, to show an implicit (though not explicit) suggested placement: as the "Cave of the Unknown", located in a clearing in the woods only 400 yards southwest of the Caves of Chaos.

In the 1981 Moldvay Basic Set, B1 was advertised as part of the D&D line, and so had a notional relationship with the Known World from the start. It wasn't officially placed in the Known World till the 1983 Expert Map. However, this explicit placement in the foothills of northwestern Karameikos conflicts with the implicit placement next to the Caves of Chaos seen in the B2 Wilderness Map.

The Caverns of Quasqueton:

For the origin of "Quasqueton", see the 2018 interview with Mike Carr, conducted by Fred Love, a native of the RW town of Quasqueton, Iowa and D&D gamer: "In Search Of Quasqueton With Mike Carr."

Fred Love wrote:[T]he dungeon likely would have received a different name were it not for the Ground Round restaurant chain. Carr worked for the Ground Round in Roseville, Minnesota, during college. His job prospects upon graduation looked bleak, so he entered Ground Round's management training program, which sent him to the restaurant chain's Cedar Rapids, Iowa, location from 1974 to 1975. Carr first encountered the name Quasqueton during that fateful time in Cedar Rapids, which is located in an adjacent county from my hometown. The name stuck with him when he started work for TSR in March 1976.

"In developing the backstory and setting [for B1], I wanted to give this mythical place a distinctive and extraordinary name," Carr said. "During my two years of living in Cedar Rapids, I became aware of the town called Quasqueton and that place name qualified perfectly, so that's the name I chose."

Carr worked for TSR from 1976 to July of 1983, editing many of the best-loved D&D products during that stretch. When it was decided the basic set needed an introductory adventure module, he volunteered to write it. He said he designed the Cavern of Quasqueton as an example for beginning DMs to follow.

"I took special care to construct it in a manner that would illustrate how to create a backstory and a setting, as well as how to design a challenging dungeon and populate it with monsters and treasure," Carr said.

In real life, the name Quasqueton comes from a Native American word for "swift, running water," [Editor's note (Travis Henry): this it the local settler folklore, which is important to note; though it may or may not be the true meaning in the Native source language. Also of note: the sources I find online for the folklore don't use a comma: "swift running water."] owing to the town's location along the banks of the Wapsipinicon River. I've heard people pronounce the name many different ways. Even lifelong Quasquetonians, as the town's residents are referred, disagree over the pronunciation. Most refer to it by its shorter nickname, "Quasky." But I'm glad Carr didn't name his classic dungeon the "Cavern of Quasky." Somehow, that doesn't sound as impressive to me.

See also my further research into the Native American origin of the name, where I identify the Thâkiwâtowęweni (Sac and Fox) language as the likely origin. But I couldn't find an exact match for the meaning of the word. Here's my research from 2018:
Travis "Dungeonosophy" Henry wrote:First, I looked up where Quasqueton is located on the map of Iowa. I see it's in Buchanan County, along the Wapsipinicon River.

Next, I did a websearch for "Quasqueton etymology".

I found an archived snapshot of the a local history page which says: "Quasqueton, the oldest town in Buchanan County, was first settled in 1842. The name was originally Quasquetuk named by the Indians that lived on the west side of the river. It means "swift running water". "

This gives an important clue: Quasquetuk was named by the Indian Nation who was living on the west side of the Wapsipinicon River at the time the town was first settled by Euro-Americans in 1842.

Then I looked at the official set of treaty maps for Iowa. You see treaty #244 encompasses essentially the west side of the Wapsipinicon River. That treaty was made in 1837, only 5 years before the town of Quasqueton was settled.

So what nation signed that treaty? The Sac and Fox Nation. The Othâkîwaki (Sac, Sauk) Nation and Meshkwahkihaki (Fox) Nation (two nations which organizationally merged in historic times) traditionally speak variants of a single language, within the Algonkic family of languages.

It's likely that, if the local Anglo oral history is correct, the name "Quasquetuk" ("swift running water") is from the Sac-Fox language.

I then looked in A Concise Dictionary of the Sauk Language, but could find no exact match. There were some words for "run fast" and "water", but they didn't match "Quesquetuk" phonetically.

Phonetically, the closest I could find was:

kwâshkwithahęwa let out, drop off
kwâshkwithahowa get out, get off

So, that's as far as my research went. Someone who was more versed in the local history, and in the Fox language, could take it further.

In conclusion, it is likely that the Native Americans spoken of Quasqueton's naming are specifically the Sac and Fox Nation.

However, since RW Quasquetonians believe the name means "swift running water", and since I haven't found a clear source word in the Native language, in my Archetypal Mystara, I would go with that meaning for Quasqueton. I see two main options for its origin:

A) A word of Oltec origin, which was already applied to that locality when Rogahn and Zelligar arrived.
B) Quasqueton is a word of Actual Common Thyatian which means "swift running water", which was left untranslated by TSR.

Personal Names:

As for the personal names of the NPCs in the module: with a few exceptions (such as Melissa and Presto), almost all of Mike Carr's names appear to be "eclectic fantasy" blends of RW words and names, which give a phonoaesthetic impression, without having a clear RW etymology.

•Rogahn the Fearless (a fighter of renown). A certain subset of 20th-century American fantasy names often have a quasi-Hungarian or quasi-Germanic (German, Norse, Old English) feel to them. It's hard to put a finger on it. In this case, Rogahn vaguely reminds me of the Hungarian name Zoltán: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoltán

Yet the "ah" spelling to indicate a long vowel is from German usage.

There is Low German word "gahn" (meaning "to go, to walk"; High German gehen), though it's unlike that Carr had access to Low German.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gahn
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gehen#German

Yet furthermore, the word "roh" in German means "raw; (figuratively: crude, brutal)"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roh#German

Though I'm not saying that Carr sat down with a German dictionary (though there's a slim chance he did), I would say that "Raw Goer", "Raw Walker", "Brutal Walker" could be a fitting name for a fighter.

Another hypothesis (by Ripvanwormer) is "Ro(nald) (Rea)gan." Though he wasn't president till 1981, in the 1976 Republican party primary, Reagan had been the second-place candidate after incumbent Gerald Ford. So he would have been on the national scene not long before Mike Carr wrote B1 in 1978. Also of note: Reagan won Mike's home state of Minnesota.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Repu ... _primaries

•Zelligar the Unknown (a magic-user of mystery and power). The first element "Zelli" is similar to such German surnames as "Zellweger" (a Swiss German noble family also found in the U.S.), which come from the many villages named "Zell" in Switzerland and Germany. The second element is Old English gar "spear." Also seen in the NPC Cleric name "Mulgar" below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zellweger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zell
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gar#Old_English

And perhaps more likely the Yiddish and German name Zelig- / Selig- (pronounced "zelig", meaning: "blessed"). All it would take would be for Carr to have seen the name somewhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelig_(disambiguation)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selig_(name)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seligmann
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seligmann

I think this is hypothesis is better than the Zell- example I gave.
But if the first part is Zellig-, the ending might be "-ar" instead of "-gar". I think the "generic American fantasy" word-element "-ar" (seen for example in SNL's "Lothar of the Hill People", Saturday morning cartoons' "Thundar the Barbarian", etc.) was originally a semi-conscious borrowing from the German name "Lothar", the Hungarian word "Magyar", and Slavic forms such as the Croatian city of "Zadar", and then became part of the "American fantasy lexicon" so to speak.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyar_tribes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadar

Another hypothesis (from Ripvanwormer) is the (relatively) famous linguist: "Zellig Harris". Did Mike Carr shorten the name to "Zellig Har-" and then "Zelligar"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zellig_Harris

•Melissa; the Fair Melissa (Rogahn's mistress and lover). English name, from Anciet Greek μελισσα (mélissa), “bee, honey, or honeybee” https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Melissa#English
•Erig (captain of the guard at Quasqueton). Alteration of the English name Eric/Eirk, from Old Norse Eiríkr, from ei (“always, eternal”) + ríkr (“ruler”). Maybe modified with a German-like ending -ig.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Eric#English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ig#German
•Marevak (advisor to Zelligar and Rogahn). Perhaps a blend of the famous medieval troubador "Miraval" + the Slavonic name ending "-ak"? These Slavonic names are common in the U.S. Midwest. Marevak could be Traladaran or of mixed Thyatian-Traladaran ancestry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raimon_de_Miraval
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_name_suffixes
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ak#Polish

NPC Clerics:
From the list of pregen NPCs in the back of the module.

1. Farned of the Great Church. There is a Scottish surname Farned, but I haven't found its etymology. https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=farned
2. Dohram, Servant of Saint Carmichael. Perhaps a blend of something like Irish dobhar "water, moisture, sea" or Irish dobhrán / Scottish Gaelic dňbhran "otter" (figuratively: a dimwit) + Irish immram (the Irish word for "Voyage", such as St. Brendan's legendary voyage across the Atlantic Ocean). The word "immram" is often used even in English translations of these tales, so Mike Carr may've come across it. As for Saint Carmichael: there's no RW St. Carmichael. This name likely has three sources at the same time:
1) From the Scottish surname Carmichael, which is derived from the village of Carmichael, Lanarkshire, Scotland. This place name is composed of two word elements: the Cumric language (Scottish Brythonic) caer "fort", and the personal name Michael. Mike wouldn't have come to the form "Carmichael" if it didn't already exist as a name.
2) In punny homage to his own name Carr-Michael. In my Archetypal Mystara, St. Carmichael would be substantially based on Mike Carr's looks and persona and "Bishop Carr," Mike Carr's player character from Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign. This saint is also present in Oerth.
3) The name Michael (of both: Carmichael, Scotland, and of Mike Carr) comes from St. Michael the archangel. Mike wouldn't have come to "Saint (Car)michael" if there wasn't already a saint with a similar name.
This saint was totally forgotten in later Mystaran products.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dobhar#Irish
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dňbhran#Scottish_Gaelic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immram
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmichael_(surname)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_(archangel)
3. The Mystical One. This one is English. :)
4. Mulgar the Merciful. The first element "Mul-" is obscure. There is an English surname "Mulford", supposedly from "mud-ford." The second element is Old English gar "spear." (Also seen in the later Forgotten Realms barbarian of renown, Wulfgar.)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gar#Old_English
5. Seeful the Unforgiving. Appears to be English "see" + -"ful", implying a "seer."
6. Philgo. Phil- is Greek "love." The second element -go may be inspired by the German name "Ingo", which is short for Ingolf, from Old Norse Ingólfr, from the god Ing or Yngvi, and ulfr ("wolf"):
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phil-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo
7. Tassit, Servant of Saint Cuthbert. Tassit is similar to the Latin name Tacitus and English "tacit" (from Latin tacitus "silent"). Saint Cuthbert is a RW Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church. The name "Cuthbert" is from Old English CūÞbeorht (“brightly known, famous” = Modern English cognates: "couth-bright"). A key deity in Oerth, Saint Cuthbert's presence in Mystara was totally forgotten in later products.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tacitus#Latin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuthbert
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cuthbert
8. Wilberd the Silent. A blend of the English "Wilbur" + "halberd". The name Wilbur is from the Old English female given name Wilburh, from wil (“will”) + burh (“fortress”). "Halberd" is from Middle French hallebarde, from Italian alabarda, from Middle High German halmbarte (“broad-axe with handle”), from halm, from Proto-Germanic *helmô (“handle”) + barte (“hatchet”), from *bardaz (“broadax”), literally "beard."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wilbur
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/halberd
9. Kracky the Hooded One. From English "cracky" (crazy). There's no evidence that Carr had anything other than the English word in mind. But if you wanted to find a Traladaran somewhere in this NPC list, the name could be interpreted to be an alteration of the Czech surname Kratky, which means "short."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cracky
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kratky
10. Grampal of the Secret Church. The first part "Gram-" is an Old English name meaning "angry, wroth, hostile, fierce"; a name which appears in Tolkien's "Mount Gram" (a goblin stronghold) and (more relevantly) "King Gram", a historic king of the Rohirrim. Tolkien (mistakenly?) asserted the name means "warrior, king." The second element is obscure. Wild guesses: could be English "pal" (buddy, friend; from the Romani word phral "brother"). Or maybe some other South Asian (i.e. Sindi) word, as seen in Nepal, in the "opal" gemstone (which comes from a Sanskrit word), and the many Indian names which end in -pal.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gram#Old_English
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Mount_Gram
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Gram
Enter "pal" at: https://www.litscape.com/name_tools/nam ... g_with.php
11. Nupo, Servant of The Bringer. This name is so short, it's hard to analyze. I'm not sure Mike Carr had any other intention but to make a short fantasy name; other than to say the "-o" appears to be a masculine ending, as seen in Philgo and Eggo. But you could say it's inspired by the Latin root nup-/nubo "to wed", as seen in English "nuptial."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuptial
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nubo#Latin
12. Eggo of the Holy Brotherhood. Probably a pun inspired by the famous U.S. breakfast waffle. It also sounds similar to Viggo, which is a Latinized short form of various Germanic names beginning with Wig-, vig- "battle".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggo
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Viggo

So those are the Cleric NPC names from B1. Still have all the other classes to do. To be continued...

More NPCs from the back of B1:

FIGHTERS, DWARVES & HALFLINGS

1. Brandon (Human). A RW English given name, from Old English brōmdūn, from brōm (“broom shrub”) + dūn (“hill, dune”).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Brandon
2. Evro (Human). Maybe inspired by, or a blend of, one or more of these: Ephram (probably the closest example) and/or Ezra (in regard to the short wordshape) and/or Devon (in regard to the -ev-o). Plus masculine ending "-o." The English name Ephram appears to be an alteration of biblical Ephraim, from Hebrew ʾEfrayim "fruitful." Hebrew Ezra may be an abbreviation of Azaryahu, "Yah helps". The personal Devon is from the English county Devonshire, but also a modification of other pre-existing given name "Devin."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ephraim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Devon
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Devin
3. Glendor the Fourth (Human). Inspired by the Welsh name Glyndŵr, and the anglicized Shakespearean spelling: "Glendower." From Welsh glyn (“valley”) + dŵr (“water”).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Glendower
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dŵr
4. Zeffan (Dwarf). There is apparently an English name Zefan which is short for the biblical name Zephaniah, from Hebrew Ṣəfanya / Ṣep̄anyā, "Concealed of/is YHWH". The double "ff" spelling is also reminiscent of German "Steffen" ; and the "-an" ending is similar to "Stefan" (German, Scandinavian, and Eastern European form), both from Latin Stephanus, from Ancient Greek Στεφανοσ (Stéphanos) “crown”.
https://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Zefan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephaniah
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Steffen
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Stefan
5. Alho Rengate (Human). Not sure about Alho. Slim chance it could inspired by the Italian given name "Aldo"? Aldo is an Italianization of English "Aldous", a short form of various Old English names that begin with "Eald-" (old). Rengate appears to be a blend of the archaic English word "runagate" (="vagabond, fugitive, runaway") with its Modern English cognate "renegade", both of which are an alteration of archaic English renegate, from Medieval Latin renegātus ("denier"), perfect participle of renegō (“I deny”).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Aldo
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/runagate
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/renegade#English
6. Krago of the Mountains (Dwarf). From English "crag" plus masculine ending "-o." English borrowed the word from a Celtic language, possibly Welsh (craig): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crag
7. Pendor (Halfling). A name crafted on the same principles as Glendor: Welsh pen "head, top, chief" + + dŵr “water”.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pen#Welsh
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dŵr
8. Mohag the Wanderer (Human). Similar in wordshape and stress pattern to: "Mohawk". And phonetically (to a lesser degree): "Mohegan". And maybe to "mohair". The ending is similar to Tolkienian "Variag." "Mohawk" is an exonym from Dutch Mohawk, probably from a very unflattering Narragansett word meaning “they eat (animate things)”, “cannibals”, "man-eaters." The phoneme /m/ is not present in the Mohawk language; the Mohawk autonym is Kanien'kehá:ka. "Mohegan" is the autonym of the Mohegan nation, and means "People of the Wolf." The "-ag" ending is similar to Tolkien's "Variag", which is an Old Russian word for "Varangian" (Norsemen in Eastern Europe). This NPC Mohag could be retroactively assigned to the Elk Clan of the Atruaghin Clans, and he might have the Kanien'kehá:ka national hairstyle.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mohawk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohegan
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mohair
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Varyag#English
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Variags
9. Norrin the Barbarian (Human). Norrin Radd is the personal name of the Silver Surfer. It could be a joke to mix "Norrin" with "Conan the Barbarian"--both Marvel comics characters. (Credit to Piazza member "hyrieus" for that.) Norrin Radd is from the utopian planet Zenn-La, in the Deneb star system of the Milky Way galaxy. Jack Kirby may've been inspired by the English name "Norman", from Middle English Norman, from Old English Norman (a variant of NorÞman) and Old French Normant, both meaning "north-man, Norse-man, Norwegian/Dane."

The overall form is also similar to various other words for "northern, Norse, Norwegian" in various Germanic languages (Old Norse " norrśnn", Old English "Norren", Middle English "Norrene", Scots "Norn").

One my earlier hypotheses was: Nor- "north" + Perrin, an English surname, as seen in RPG author Steve Perrin (whose RuneQuest has just come out in 1978, before B1 was published in Nov. 1978, so the name may've been on Carr's mind). Perrin is from a Middle English pet-form of Peter, from Old French Perrine (diminutive of Pierre), with the "-in" adjectival suffix, from the Latin suffix īnus "of, or pertaining to".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Surfer
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Norman
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/norrśnn#Old_Norse
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Norrene
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Norn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perrin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Perrin
https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Perrine#fr
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-in#French
10. Lefto (Halfling). Appears to be a straightforward blend of English "lefty" (nickname for a left-handed person), plus Tolkienian anglicized Hobbit-speech male name ending "-o" (from Actual Hobbit-speech "-a", male personal name ending; e.g. Anglicized "Bilbo" < Actual Westron "Bilba").
11. Webberan of the Great North (Human). The English surname "Webber" + Scottish Gaelic suffix –an. Webber is an occupational surname referring to, "a maker of cloth". The ending "er" generally denotes some employment. "-er" was a masculine suffix; "-ster" was the female equivalent. The Scottish Gaelic "-an" suffix is used to make a "smaller" masculine version of nouns. So "Webberan" is a smaller/diminutive "Webber."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webber_(surname)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-an#Scottish_Gaelic
12. Sho-Rembo (Halfling). Based on the English word "ro-sham-bo" (rock-paper-scissors game), which entered through California English from Japanese "jan-ken-pon", and perhaps altered by folk etymology with the French officer Rochambeau with fought for the U.S. in the American Revolution. But also of note, our own Andrew (Cthulhudrew) reports that "Rochambeau" referred to a different kind of "game" on the playgrounds where he grew up in the Midwest...it was a hypothetical challenge (rarely enacted) by which a kid jestingly threatens to kick the other kid in the groin if they don't do what they say:

"I grew up primarily in Indiana, although I have lived in several states (Virginia for 4 years, AZ for 10; mostly here in California otherwise). We did know the game as "Rochambeau" (using the more accurate spelling relative to the French count with the Revolutionary ties), and it was indeed just in the context of a sort of silly one-upmanship. "That's mine!" "Wanna Rochambeau for it?" Not really something that I knew anyone to actually do, but at least a well-known reference to the "game"; presumably some kids actually did that deliberately."

Since Mike Carr grew up in the Midwest too (Minnesota), "ro-sham-bo" might have meant to "kick in the groin." Which is a trope which halflings often enact in D&D fiction (e.g. in the Boinger tales of J.E. Holmes, or Regis in the Drizzt series).

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/802 ... s-roshambo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_paper_scissors

MAGIC USERS & ELVES

1. Presto (Elf). In English, the word used by magicians when performing a trick: "presto!" Which is from Italian presto "quickly", a term used in musical scores.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presto#Etymology
2. Mezlo (Elf). Melf (Luke Gygax's elf PC in the Greyhawk home campaign) + László? Hungarian László is from the Slavic given name Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav. Melf is from "M(ale) Elf" as it was written on Luke's character sheet.
3. Nickar (Human). "Nicker" is an archaic English word for a water monster, a nixie. (It has other meanings to, such a "thief", but nixie is most fitting for a magic-user.) Also: the English name Nick/Nicholas, from Middle English Nicholas, from Old French Nicholas, from Latin Nīcolāus, from Ancient Greek Νικόλαοσ (Nikólaos), from νίκη (níkē, “victory”) + λαόσ (laós, “people”). The "-ar" ending could be the "generic fantasy" suffix (modeled on German and Eastern European forms, such as Lothar, Magyar, and Zadar).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nicker#Etymology_4
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nicholas
4. Shobaffum (Human). Looks like a name for a stage magician, or a magician's sound effect. Something like: "Sure-baffle-them!" "Show-poof!+bunkum." The -um is a typical Latin suffix, which could be used to make a fancy Latin-sounding stage name. English "show" is from Middle English schewen, from Old English scēawian (“to look, look at, exhibit, display”). English "baffle" (to trick, deceive, bewilder, confuse) is perhaps related to French bafouer (“to scorn”) or obsolete French befer (“to mock”). Note the similarity of French baf- to Sho-baff-um. English "poof" is onomatopeic. "Them" is English. The name also is reminiscent of "bunkum", which means "senseless talk; nonsense; a piece of nonsense, bombastic oratorical display designed only for show or public applause", from Buncombe County, North Carolina (whose legislator made a nonsensical oratory); the county was named for plantation owner Edward Buncombe, whose surname comes from Butcombe, Somerset; I couldn't find an etymology: I don't know about "but-", but the "-combe" is from the ancient Brythonic language.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baffle
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/baffle
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/poof
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bunkum
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-um#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/combe#English
5. Yor (Human). Altered spelling of of English "yore" (a long time past), from Old English ġeāra.
6. Ralt Gaither (Human). An alteration of the English surname "Rolt"? Rolt is from Old Norse Hróaldr, from hróðr (“honour”) + valdr (“chieftain”). Gaither is a from Middle English gaytere ‘goatherd’, an agent derivative of Middle English gayte ‘goat’ (a northern spelling of Old English gat, or from the related Old Norse word geit).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolt
https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/reco ... 24-271n8cl
7. Fencig (Elf). Alternation of the English word "fencing"? As a swashbuckling Elf. Or the Yiddish (Judeo-German) surname Feinzig + English "fence"? I couldn't find an etymology for Feinzig. Either way, the ending "-ig" is German or Yiddish in form. Fencing and fence are from Middle English fence, fens, short for defence, defens (“the act of defending”), from Old French defens, defense, from Latin dēfensa (“protection”).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fencing
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fence#English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ig#German
8. Glom the Mighty (Human). Old English glōm (gloom, twilight, darkness).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glom#Old_English
9. Trebbelos, Boy Magician (Human). From English "treble" (high pitched, shrill, the highest part in harmonized music: soprano) + Italianate gemination (doubling) of the consonant "bb" + the Greek noun ending "-os". Which is fitting for a boy's uncracked voice. Note: from a retroactive perspective, there is also a Traladaran ending "-os" (as seen in "mirros" hope).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/treble
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-οσ
10. Beska Miltar (Human). Swedish beska ("bitter") + Swedish miltär (military)? Did Mike Carr have a Swedish dictionary on hand?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beska#Swedish
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/militär
11. Lappoy the Unexpected (Elf). From Lapp + Savoy? Lapp is a (now derogatory) name for the Saami indigenous people of northern Fennoscandia; the word "Lapp" is of disputed origin. The Finnish form "Lappi" (meaning Lapland) is similar to "Lappoy." Savoy is a region on the French/Italian border; from French Savoy / Savoie, from Latin Sapaudia. The Norse considered the Saami to be wizards.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lapp
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lappi#Finnish
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Savoy
12. Surfal (Human). Alteration of English "serval" (a kind of African wild cat) + English "surf"? From French serval, from Portuguese (lobo) cerval (“Iberian lynx”), from Latin lupus cervārius (literally “stag wolf”), i.e. "wolf that hunts stags". Surf is an English word of unknown origin.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/serval#English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/surf#English

THIEVES

1. Luven Lightfinger. From Middle English "luven" (to love) and English "light-finger" (to steal). "Love to steal."
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luve#Middle_English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/light-finger
2. Treddo. English "tread" turned into an Italianate form? (Double consonants and -o ending are Italian-like.) "Tread" is from Middle English treden, from Old English tredan.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tread
3. Bozomus. English bozo "a fool, a clown" + Latin –mus. The English word "bozo" is of unknown origin.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bozo#English
4. Estra Zo. A blend of Latin aster (star) + Spanish estrella or Portuguese estrela (star). Latin aster is borrowed from Greek ᾰ̓στήρ (astḗr). Latin's native word for star was stēlla; and this is what evolved into the Romance forms. (Credit to Piazza member Ashtagon.)
Perhas some secondary similarity with the English male name "Esdras", from Latin Esdrās, from Ancient Greek Έσδρᾱσ (Ésdrās), from Hebrew עזרא (Ezra) “help, succor”.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aster#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stella#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/estrella#Spanish
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/estrela#Portuguese
The "Zo" name is hard to analyze. There are words which have that shape, such as Dutch "zo" (=English "so"), and an ethnic group Zo who live on the border of India and Myanmar; but those seem unlikely; in this case, "Zo" seems to be more of a fantastic name. But maybe Dutch is best for "Zo", since it's reminiscent of another short z-word: Zee "sea".
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Esdras
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/עזרא#Hebrew
5. Laggamundo. Gothic lagga "long" + Proto-Germanic mundō "hand, protection" (or a Spanish or Portuguese descendant of Germanic names which end in -mund, such as Edmundo and Raimundo; it's not Italian, because Italian is -mondo, not -mundo). Note: the Gothic word is spelled "lagga" but pronounced "langa" (because "double g" is how Greek spelled the "ng" sound, and the Goths based their alphabet on Greek). But in Common Thyatian, it'd probably be pronounced according to its spelling.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lagga
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstr ... anic/mundō
6. Feggener the Quick. From Fagin, the character from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. Though Fagin was written as a Jewish character, Dickens got the name from one of his childhood friends (of unknown ancestry). But the RW Fagin surname is said to be Irish in origin: "O Faodhagain," from the Latin word "paganus," which refers to a "villager" or "peasant." The second part of the name appears to be inspired by the German surname "Wagener" and its English spalling "Waggoner", meaning "wagon maker".
https://www.houseofnames.com/fagin-family-crest
https://www.houseofnames.com/waggoner-family-crest
7. Mezron. The clearest inspiration is Ezra from Hebrew עזרא (Ezra) “help, succor”. The M- is a fantastic addition, though it ends up looking like Italian mezzo "middle". The ending -on, in this wordshape, makes for a sort of sci-fi sound, which could be based on such words as "electron" and "proton", from Greek -on (neutral noun and adjective ending). The Hebrew name Aaron is another possible influence.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mezzo#Italian
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/עזרא#Hebrew
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-on#English
8. Drebb. A phonoaesthetic blend of words such as "dribble" (drip, such as saliva) + "dreg" ("sediment left at the bottom of a container of liquid") + ebb. Dribble is from drib + -le (early modern English frequentative suffix), from dialectal English drib, a variant from Middle English drepen (“to hit, strike, slay”), from Old English drepan (“to strike, kill, overcome”). English "dreg" is from Old Norse dregg (“sediment”). "Ebb" is from Middle English ebbe, from Old English ebba (“ebb, tide”).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dribble
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dreg
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ebb
9. Postue. Something to do with English "post"? The ending "-ue" looks to be quasi-French, but I don't know. There is a French surname Postou, and an Italian surname Postů. Any ideas? There's a Romani word postiu that means "fasting", which is a prominent cultural term. There's a Moldovan/Romanian surname Postu, and a Polish surname Postuj, either of which be retroactively Traladaran. These all seem unclear or uncertain.
https://forebears.io/surnames/postu
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gy ... frontcover
10. Harg of the City Afar. Alteration of Old English herg-ian / harian "to harry, to harrow, to plunder, disturb"?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hergian#Old_English
11. Afton Borr. Maybe an alteration of "Aaron Burr"? With Aaron blended with Aston? Aaron Burr was vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Unlike most vice-presidents, who are forgotten, Burr's story is taught to U.S. schoolkids, due to his famous personal conflict with Alexander Hamilton that culminated in Burr killing Hamilton in a duel in 1804, while he was vice president. The name Aaron is from Hebrew. The surname Aston is from Old English ēast (“east”) + ton (“town, village”). I assume the surname Burr is from "burr", from Middle English burre, related to Old English byrst (“bristle”).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Burr
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Aston
12. Sporragha. Looks Italian-ish. Perhaps from Italian asparago "asparagus"? Influence from English "sporadic"? Sporadic is from Medieval Latin sporadicus, from Ancient Greek σποραδικόσ (sporadikós), from σποράσ (sporás, “scattered, dispersed”).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/asparago#Italian
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sporadic

The B1 personal names reveal which facets which have been forgotten by Mystara:

the Great Church
Saint Carmichael
Saint Cuthbert
The Bringer
the Holy Brotherhood
the Secret Church
the Great North
the City Afar

What 5E calls the "Elvish" language is styled in these ways in B1:

the language of elves p.10
the elfish language p.19
the elfin language p.19
elfin p.19 ("various notes written in elfin.")

Names for the Common language in B1:

the "common" language p.9
the common tongue p.10
the common language p.15

References to the English alphabet in B1:

"a blood-stained carving. The carved letters form the word "QUASQUETON" in the "common" language." p.9

"In the very center of the room within the floor surface are blocks of white granite within the red stone, and these form the letters R and Z with an ampersand between." p.13

"The door to the room is a large wooden construction just like the others in the stronghold, but its exterior surface is embellished with an irregular-shaped leather skin covering, which is studded with circular bits of brass which form the word "ERIG" prominently." p.16

"It is signed with an embellished "R."" p.16

"The barrel is marked with a letter code of "SD" and is full and untapped." p.17 (I'm not sure what "SD" is supposed to stand for.)

"RECREATION ROOM. This room is designed for recreation and training, and was designed specially for Rogahn's use. The carved door, heavy and thick, bears a fancy "R" on its outer face." p.20

"Now, just recently, came the most promising bit of information—a crude map purporting to show the way to the hideaway of the two men, a place apparently called "Q."" p.31

Dutch translation of B1:

Lastly, there's one translation of B1 into a foreign language: Dutch. (A reported German translation seems to have been vaporware.)

https://acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/f ... b1for.html

The art of analyzing fantasy names is a subtle and shifting task. I hope this table can provide some bearings, as inspiration for creating more names in the B1 style, and as as resource for untangling the ethnic diversity of the adventuring classes in Karameikos. Except for the few Eastern European names (who could be retroactively designated to be Traladaran), and except for some adventurers who may have come to the Caverns of Quasqueton from a foreign land (such as characters with Old Norse names being from the Northern Reaches), and except for characters with Latin or Greek names who have a classical Thyatian background, the rest of the names...the eclectic fantasy names...would typically be of Common Thyatian origin.

•Cumbric (Northern Brythonic): Carmichael (>Scottish Gaelic)
•Czech: Kracky (or English)
•Dutch: Zo
•English: Afton Borr, Bozomus (+Latin), Brandon, Drebb, Eggo, Feggener (+Irish+German), Fencig (+Yiddish), Gaither (<Old English or Old Norse), the Holy Brotherhood, the Hooded One, Kracky (or Czech), Krago, Lefto, Luven Lightfinger, Mezlo (+Hungarian), Mulgar the Merciful (+Old English), the Mystical One, Nicker (or Greek), Rengate, Rolt (<Old Norse), the Secret Church, Seeful, Servant of The Bringer, Sho-Rembo (<Japanese), Shobaffum, Surfal (+Portuguese), Tassit (<Latin), Treddo (+Italian), Webberan (+Scottish Gaelic), Wilberd, Yor
•Finnish: Lappoy (+French)
•French: Lappoy (+Finnish), Norrin (+Old English), Postue (or Romani or Romanian or Polish)
•German: Erig (+Old Norse), Feggener (+Irish+English), Philgo (+Greek), Zeffan (+Hebrew), Zelligar (or Yiddish)
•Gothic: Laggamundo (+Proto-Germanic or Spanish or Portuguese)
•Greek: Melissa, Mezron (+Italian+Hebrew), Nicker (or English), Philgo (+German), Trebbelos (+Italian)
•Hebrew: Afton (>English), Evro (+other influences), Mezron (+Italian+Greek), Zeffan (+German)
•Hungarian: Mezlo (+English)
•Irish: Dohram (or Scottish Gaelic), Feggener (+English/German)
•Italian: Alho, Mezron (+Hebrew+Greek), Presto, Sporragha, Trebbelos (+Greek), Treddo (+English)
•Japanese: Sho-Rembo (>English)
•Latin: Bozomus (+English), Estra (+Spanish or Portuguese), Nupo, Tassit (>English)
•Mohegan: Mohag (or Narragansett;+Russian)
•Narragansett: Mohag (or Mohegan; +Russian)
•Occitan: Marevak (+Slovak)
•Old English: Gaither (or Old Norse), Glom, Grampal (+Romani), Harg, Mulgar (+Modern English), Norrin (+French)
•Old Norse: Erig (+German), Gaither (or Old English), Norrin (or Zenn-Lavian<English/French<Old English/Old Norse), Rolt (>English)
•Polish: Postue (or French or Romani or Romanian)
•Portuguese: Estra (or Spanish;+Latin), Laggamundo (or Spanish;+Gothic; or Proto-Germanic), Surfal (+English)
•Proto-Germanic: Laggamundo (+Gothic; or Spanish or Portuguese)
•Romani: Grampal (+Old English), Postue (or French, Romanian, or Polish)
•Romanian: Mohag (+Mohegan or Narragansett), Postue (or French, Romani, or Polish)
•Russian: Mohag (Narragansett or Mohegan)
•Sac-Fox: Quasqueton
•Scottish Gaelic: Carmichael (<Cumbric), Dohram (or Irish), Webberan (+English)
•Slovak: Marevak (+Occitan)
•Spanish: Estra (or Portuguese;+Latin), Laggamundo (or Portuguese;+Gothic; or Proto-Germanic)
•Swedish: Beska Militar
•Welsh: Glendor (>English), Pendor
•Yiddish: Fencig (+English), Zelligar (or German)
•Zenn-Lavian: Norrin (Marvel Universe<English/French<Old English/Old Norse)

Dave "Zeb" Cook: creator of the new names in the 1981 Expert Rulebook?

In the 1981 Expert Rulebook, simultaneous with X1's continental map and overview paragraph, Moldvay and Cook's "Grand Duchy of Karameikos" and "Duke Stefan Karameikos the Third" appear for the first time. I wrote about the RW etymology of Karameikos earlier in the thread.

Moldvay was keen on recycling names. Once he invented a name, he tended to put it to use somehow. (As seen, for example, in his twice repurposing of "Imirrhos", the name of the Original Known World continent: once for the name of the planet in his Revolt on Antares TSR mini-game, and again for the leader of the Puppet Masters in his post-TSR Lords of Creation game). He was basically hired by TSR in 1980 to "upcycle" the names of the OKW into the KW.

Yet here's the thing: none of the new names in the Expert Rulebook are from Moldvay's Original Known World. Even though not all the names from Moldvay's Original Known World had been used up yet. Which suggests that Dave "Zeb" Cook had a free reign in inventing the new placenames and personal names that appear in Karameikos in the Expert Rulebook per se.

Marsh's role was primarily editorial. So though Moldvay would've been around to bounce ideas off of (as author of the simultaneously released Basic Rulebook, and co-writer of X1), it's likely that Cook was responsible for inventing the new name seen in the Expert Rulebook as such. (With possibly one exception: the Lost Valley, see below.)

These are the new names which could be attributed to Dave Cook:

Baron Ludwig "Black Eagle" von Hendriks
(the) Black Eagle Barony (in the p.60 text, "the Black Eagle Barony" appears first; And then with no "the" in a later paragraph: "persons who have fled Black Eagle Barony"; there's also no "the" in the map label)
the Black Peaks
the Cruth Mountains
The Estate of Marilenev (the map label includes "the")
Fort Doom (on the map: labeled FORTDOOM with no spaces)
(the) Gulf of Halag
(the) Haunted Keep (the map label doesn't include "the", but the text on p.X60 does)
Koriszegy Keep
Krakatos
The Lost Valley (the map label includes "the"; also, there may or may not have been a Moldvay inspiration based on the Original Known World's "Valley of the Thunder Lizards" whose dinosaur theme (but not the "valley" location) was repurposed for the Isle of Dread.)
Luln
Specularum
The Steach (the text on p.X60 gives it a capital "The" even in the middle of a sentence)

Besides Karameikos, I already covered the Gulf of Halag, Kratakos, the Cruth Mountains, and The Steach in earlier posts.

Luln

Luln is a hard name to pronounce. /L/+/N/ is not a natural sound combo for the English tongue, except in the word "kiln." Luln could be a blend of "lull" + "kiln." (!)

As for its origin, I searched and searched. About the only "hits" I got turned about to be OCR-errors for "Lulu" in old Google Books. I believe Luln may be completely made up by Zeb Cook.

The only connotation I can see is the English word "lull" (to coo and rock a baby to sleep), which is from Middle English lullen, lollen; originally, perhaps expressive in origin from lu-lu-lu sounds made in calming a child. There are also equivalents in other Germanic languages, such as German "lullen" (to lull).

"Lull" is also a German and Catalan surname (the Catalan is borrowed from a Germanic cognate); though I don't think that Zeb really knew of those. The surname is from the German word "Leute" (tribe, people).

I'm not saying that Zeb actually intended this: but since Luln is near the Black Eagle Barony, you could interpret the name to be shortening of M-German (Hattian) "lullen" > Luln. Though cooing a baby to sleep is not the first thing that comes to mind in regard to a hardscrabble town stuck between the Black Eagle and the Haunted Keep!

Or, you could say it's from the M-German (Hattian) surname "Lull", from Leute "people".

It could be good to have a "heroic/good" M-German cultural base in Karameikos (in contrast to the Black Eagle meanies), so that it's not just "German bad guys."

Or it could simply be a blend of "lull" + "kiln." For some reason.

That's all I got for Luln.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lull
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lullen#German
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lull#English
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Llull#Catalan

Glantri

Official TSR English pronunciation: glan′ trē. Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide."
International Phonetic Alphabet: ['glćn.tri]

Mike wrote:
TraverseTravis wrote: But Corunglain speaks its own language "Glaini." The city-state of Corunglain appears to be an independent colony of the Kingdom of Gorllewin, since Corunglain's "ceremonial capital" is the city of Glantri, which is also the actual capital of the Kingdom of Gorllewin.

That is interesting. Could "Glaini" and "Glantri" be related? Perhaps Glantri means "city of the glaini" and Glain is the name of an ethnic group or progenitor (the people descended from the patriarch-hero Glainn).

I always thought that Glantri sounded vaguely italian (don't ask me why) but it's interesting to think it might be a fantasy word derived from welsh influences. I never connected it to Corunglain.

Apologies for the late reply Mike. I've been chewing on what you shared, and I finally had a breakthrough.

The solution was in plain sight...obscured by the fact that the name "Glantri" (in a Mystaran context) is so familiar to me that I assumed it was some sort of Dunsanyan fantastic name; and by the fact that it appeared close enough to Corun-glain, that I figured it was, at best, a fantastic modification of "glain"; and because I wasn't sure how to parse the word: "glant-ri"? "glan-tri"? So I overlooked the obvious: Welsh. Your question and comment unlocked that. We know that Moldvay/Schick certainly had a Welsh dictionary or glossary at hand, given the several names which are straight Welsh.

And so I simply looked up "glan" and "tri" in the University of Wales dictionary and Wiktionary:

glan = "bank (of a river); shore (of any water body)"
tri = "three"

glan: https://geiriadur.uwtsd.ac.uk/index.php ... n#ateb_top
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glan#Welsh

tri: https://geiriadur.uwtsd.ac.uk/index.php ... =#ateb_top
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tri#Welsh

Given the several other RW Welsh words, and the fact that Glantri is the capital of the Kingdom of Gorllewin, the OKW analogue of Wales, it's certain that Moldvay/Schick coined the name from Welsh: "shore/bank three."

Princes of Glantri > Principalities of Glantri:

Also of note, the long-form name was "Princes of Glantri" on the 1981 map (in X1), but "Principalities of Glantri" in the 1981 paragraph header (also in X1). But the 1983 X1 revised map (and Expert Rulebook map) updated it to "Principalities of Glantri."

The "princes" and "principalities" are likely inspired by the RW "Principality of Wales." For much of the medieval period, Wales was composed of many independent Principalities, which, following the English conquest, were subsumed by the English-instituted, unified "Principality of Wales.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Wales

In-World Implications:

The name "Bank/Shore Three" suggests that the OKW Glantri is situated on some sort of river bank or shore of a lake, and that there's some sort of "threeness" involved: three rivers or three lakes. On the OKW map, Glantri is not seated on any of the depicted rivers, but that doesn't mean there aren't local tributaries (or lakes) which aren't shown on the map. However, it might be that the "three banks" refers to the three rivers which are shown on the map in or near the Kingdom of Gorllewin. (See map.)

Research question: In the mind of Moldvay, was 1981-era Glantri actually still Welsh? Its OKW predecessor, the Kingdom of Gorllewin (of which Glantri city was its capital) was certainly Welsh, and spoke the Gwynish (=Welsh) language.

Lawrence Schick's best recollection in the Mishler interview is that these are the RW cultural equations:

"Celtic Wales = Gwynish" [Note: Gwynish is a language, which is spoken by several OKW geopolitical entities: Gorllewin, Dwyrain, and Llyntref.]
"Carolingian France = Glantri, but filtered through C.A. Smith’s Averoigne and Leiber’s Nehwon"

Given that in the OKW, Glantri was the capital of the Kingdom of Gorllewin, it seems questionable that the capital city of the Gwynish-speaking country was a Carolingian France analogue.

But since Schick is a co-author of the world, even if he's misremembering, it would be relevant when presenting a newly synthesized OKW. Glantri city itself would be an analogue of Aachen, the ceremonial capital of the Carolingian Empire, plus Newhonian Lankhmar, city of thieves, plus the Averoignian walled city of Vyones, site of an impressive cathedral. But this city would be situated in what is otherwise a Welsh country, the Kingdom of Gorllewin. And the city itself speaks Gwynish too (not Frankish or French or Lankhmarese).

Again, I think that Schick might be misremembering, and may be retroactively blending in French (Averoignian/Carolingian) influence which may not have been there in the original campaign. In the previous paragraph I describe what it would look like if Glantri city really were as Schick guesses, rather the pure "OKW-Welsh" analogue which I suspect was the implicit conception during the Kent/Akron days.

However, I think it's probable that even in 1981, Moldvay's conception was that the Principalities of Glantri were Welsh (Merlin-like) magic-user princes. The other "Welsh" placenames of the OKW (Gorllewin, Dwyrain, Llantref, Corunglain) didn't make it onto the 1981 map, so we're left with Glantri as the only Welsh representative. Note that, unlike for some of the other countries, the paragraph in X1 doesn't list any cultural correlations for Glantri. All we have to go on are its Welsh name "glan-tri" (bank-three), its Welsh-like long-form title "Princes/Principality of", and it's magic-user culture (which is fitting for the land of Merlin). So we have three Welsh correspondences.

I suggest that in the B/X paraverse (seen from 1981 to 1982) and in the pre-GAZ BECMI paraverse (1983-1986), the Principalities of Glantri were just that: a "Merlinic" KW-Wales, and nothing more. (Except for the intrusion of New Averoigne via the mists.)

It's true that Moldvay's X2 Castle Amber is French, not Welsh; but that is a mystical pocket realm...an interloping province from C.A.S.'s Earth, with its mists encroaching into that spot on the map, within what is otherwise "Wales."

1987's GAZ3 presents a "Heardian Glantri" which loses all Welsh connections. A reboot.

Llyntref (Llyndref)

Pronunciation: In RW Welsh, the two spellings would be pronounced: ['ɬꞮn.treːv] and ['ɬꞮn.dreːv]. The double "ll" sound is a voiceless "l"; which sounds sort of like English "thl" or "shl"--but it's really a sound that English does not have. The "e" is long pure "ay" sound. The letter "f" in Welsh, at the end of a word, is pronounced /v/.

But in Anglicized pronunciation, it'd probably be "LINN-trev."

First Appearance:
This name was recently made known via the Wilkerson Portfolio. And the OKW Wall Map.

As indicated on the "ORIGINS" page, Llyntref is one of the smaller "Cities", rather than a big "City-State." On that same page, the language of Llyntref is identified as Gwynish (OKW-Welsh). In contrast, the yellow legal pad says the language is Thyatic.

The yellow legal pad spells the name "Llyndref." (Welsh does have "lenition", where the "t" sound turns into "d" under some conditions, so this appears to be a linguistically "valid" form.)

Etymology:

"Llyn" is the Welsh word for "lake." "Tref" is the Welsh word for "town."

So Llyntref means "lake-town." And, in fact, Llyntref is located on the shore of Lake Amsorak, as seen in the Wall Map: https://postimg.cc/dkXmNz2F
Furthermore, Bill's legal pad describes Llyndref as a "small port city. Other end of the Lake Amorsak ferry."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/llyn#Welsh
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tref#Welsh

In-World Implications:

In my Archetypal Mystara, Llyntref would be featured in a new subsetting.

Biazzan

Official TSR English pronunciation: bē′ a zan. Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide."
International Phonetic Alphabet: ['bi.ə.zćn] or ['bi.ə.zɑn]. (The pronunciation of "zan" is ambiguous, but [zćn] is more straightforward, but the RW name Fezzan likewise has alternate pronunciations [zćn] or [zɑn].)

First appearance: In the OKW Wall Map and the Wilkerson Folio. Biazzan was not included in the OKW scans from 2015.

The first appearance in a TSR publication is in Tom Moldvay's short story: "Black Lotus Moon" from the DRAGON magazine fiction anthology book, Dragontales, published in 1980, prior to the publication of the 1981 map in X1. (There's a Piazza thread about that story here.) Reportedly, in that story, Biazzan is a city-state ruled by a king. This fits with the OKW, but not with TSR's KW. This fact suggests that the short story takes place in the OKW.

On the "ORIGINS" page, Biazzan is listed as an Iasuli-speaking city. According to Schick's best recollection, the Iasuli-speaking culture is a "Moorish Arab" analogue. In the Wilkerson legal pad, the languages of Biazzan are listed as "Iasuli, Thayatic [and] (Dwarvish)".

Etymology: The name appears to be a blend of the Basque city "Biarritz" (in the French Basque Country) + Italian "piazza" (plaza) + the Libyan region "Fezzan."

Ripvanwormer suggests Byzantium: Biaz(za)n < Byzan-(tium). Based on Byzantium/Constantinople's proximity to the the Muslim east. In the yellow legal pad, both Iasuli and Thyatic were listed as languages of Biazzan...which could imply a point where Greco-Latin culture meets the OKW-Muslim culture of the Dulesmir Tribes and the City of Ylaruam.

The word "bazaar" is also associated with Biazzan, as seen the write-up for Biazzan in Wilkerson's yellow legal pad: "Bazaars are everywhere."

These are the RW etymologies of those source words:
•Basque Biarritz. The suffix -itz, is a Basque locative, so the name means "at Biarr."
•Latin Bȳzantium, from Ancient Greek Bȳzántion, named after its legendary founder, Byzas < Greek byzas "he-goat."
•Italian piazza < Latin platea, from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa).
•Arabic Fezzan < Berber languages, Fezzan (or ifezzan) means "rough rocks", or from the region's Latin and Greek name Phasania or Phazania, which may mean "the country of the pheasants" (and which could be an ancient folk etymologizing of the Berber name).
•English bazaar < Middle French bazar or Italian bazar, from Ottoman Turkish بازار (bâzâr), from Persian بازار (bâzâr).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biarritz
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/piazza#Italian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fezzan
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bazaar

In Mystara: In the 1981 X1 map, Biazzan became a city of Thyatis, situated near Ylaruam, in a similar way that the OKW Biazzan was situated near the desert of Dulesmir Tribes and the City of Ylaruam.

In-World Implications: This name might be the only(?) name in Mystara with a Basque affinity. I'm not aware of any fanon which has addressed the possibility of an M-Basque culture. The M-Italian (piazza) aspect is present in Thyatis and Darokin. The M-Arabic (Fezzan) aspect would be from Ylaruam. Though in regard to the Berber source of "Fezzan", I'm not aware of any M-Berber culture in Ylaruam. The possible Greek/Latin sources (Byzantium and Phazania) would of course be from Thyatis itself. The faint M-Ottoman/M-Persian (bazaar) sources would be from Ylaruam; there are M-Persian elements in southern Ylaruam, such as "Parsa" and "Ctesiphon", and an M-Ottoman Turk element in "Selenica".

Soderfjord • Ostland • Vestland

Official TSR English pronunciation: sō′ der fyōrd • ōst′ land • vest′ land. Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide."
International Phonetic Alphabet: ['soʊ.dɚ.fjoɹd] ['oʊst.lćnd] ['vɛst.lćnd] (though unstressed "land" would be pronounced with a schwa in flowing American speech: ['oʊst.lənd] ['vɛst.lənd])

First appearance: In the Wilkerson Folio, as the Kingdom of Soderfjord, the Kingdom of Ostland, and the Kingdom of Vestland. The "ORIGINS" document lists them in that order twice (at the top of the page, and in the Languages section). Since S-O-V is not in alphabetical order, Soderfjord must be more prominent than the other two kingdoms.

Their triplicity is probably inspired by Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

Note that Soderfjord has a 2% chance of being the PC's origin, whereas Ostland and Vestland only have a 1% chance. In the RW, Sweden has nearly twice the population of Denmark or Norway. Which suggests that Soderfjord could be the Swedish analogue in the OKW.

They are together referred to as the "Heldani kingdoms". There's another Heldani geopolitical entity called simply "Heldann" (proper), "Tribe of Heldann", or the "Heldann clans." Together, the three Kingdoms plus the Tribe are referred to as the "Heldann 'kingdoms' and clans." They all speak the Heldann language.

Etymology: Interestingly, these names are not entirely Old Norse.

•soder is Swedish söder "south." The Old Norse word is suðr. The Danish: syd. Norwegian: sřr / syd.
•fjord is from Norwegian fjord, which is from Old Norse fjǫrðr. However, the Swedish and Danish words are the same: fjord.
So note: the Old Norse form would be Suðrfjǫrðr, not Soderfjord. Soderfjord is definitely Swedish.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suðr#Old_Norse
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fjǫrðr#Old_Norse

•ost is Danish řst "east". It's not Old Norse...that'd be austr. It's not Swedish either; that's öster. It could be Norwegian, since that borrowed the word řst from Danish.
•land is the word for "land" in all of the major Scandinavian languages, including Old Norse.
So we know that Ostland is probably Danish, but could be Norwegian.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/austr#Old_Norse

•vest is Norwegian, Danish, and Old Norse (vestr) for "west." But it's not Swedish, which is väster, väst.
•land is the word for land in any of the Scandinavian languages, including Old Norse.
So we know that Vestland is not Swedish, but it could be Danish, Norwegian, or Old Norse.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vestr#Old_Norse
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/land#Old_Norse

In-World Implications:

Though these three kingdoms aren't shown on the OKW, we can guess that Soderfjord = OKW-Sweden, Ostland = OKW-Denmark, and Vestland = OKW-Norway (since RW Norway is the westernmost of those three countries).

Did these analogues continue in Mystara?

When they appear on the 1981 map, the now have capital cities (the Wilkerson Folio explicitly said that the Heldani kingdoms don't have capitals), which could provide some clues.

The capital city of Ostland: Zeaburg is similar to the Danish Zealand, and the island-based geography of Denmark best matches Ostland, so Ostland is definitely KW-Denmark.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealand

Soderfjord's capital is just "Soderfjord" so that doesn't add anything.
Vestland's capital is "Norrvik." There is a Norrvik village in Sweden, along with a Swedish navy ship Norrvik that got sunk in WW1. But "Norrvik" is phonetically similar to "Norway", so perhaps Vestland is KW-Norway. Norrvik is also cognate to the well-known English placename Norwich, which could've been on Moldvay and Cook's minds.

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norrvik
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... ember_1915

However, the "petty jarldoms" of Soderfjord match RW Norwegian history better, whereas Sweden was a dominant, unified kingdom, which matches with the Kingdom of Vestland. Denmark and Sweden had long established monarchies, whereas Norway was subsumed into either Sweden or Denmark throughout much of its history. Which suggests that the Soderfjord Jarldoms might be M-Norway instead of M-Sweden, despite the definitely Swedish origin of the name "Soderfjord."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petty_kingdoms_of_Norway

This is an open research question. A thorough combing of GAZ7: The Northern Reaches might provide further clues.

Xoph

Hypothetical pronunciation: "zŎf" (IPA: [zɑf]). That's how it'd be pronounced in English if it were a classical name.

First (and Only!) Appearance: The Wilkerson Folio, on the two different language charts:

"Xoph - Nanq-Rubbob, Malpheggi, Quastog, Qeda, Mmeshny." (the 2022 scan; I have reason to believe this chart was constructed earlier than the 2015 scan, since it features names that only appear on the Wall Map. The Wall Map was produced early in the actually play at Kent (c. 1976).)

"Xoph - Nanq-Rubbob, Malpheggi." (the 2015 scan; this simplified and altered language chart, which only referred to places on the b&w 8.5x11'' map, may've been typed in late 1978-early 1979, as a sort of "resume" for applying at TSR.)

In Lawrence Schick's best recollection (in the Mishler interview), he equates: "Pharaonic Egypt = Xoph" (though Xoph is a language, not a country).

Etymology:

I suggest that Xoph is inspired by RW "Copt", which is from French Copte, from Egyptian Arabic قفط, قبط (Qibt' , Qubt'), from Coptic ⲅⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲥ (guptios, “Egyptian”), ⲕⲩⲡⲧⲁⲓⲟⲥ (kuptaios, “Egyptian”), from Late Ancient Greek Αίγύπτιος (Aigúptios), from earlier Αἲγυπτος (Aíguptos).

Note especially the Arabic form: Qubt'. This is aesthetically similar to "Xoph."

We know that Tom Moldvay was aware of the Coptic language, which is the descendent of the Ancient Egyptian language. In the RW magickal grimoire which Tom gleaned several OKW names, two of the names refer to Coptic:
•"PLIROK.--Perhaps Coptic. Burning up."
•"SCLAVAK.--Perhaps from Coptic, SzLAK, Torture, Pain.".

Given Tom's interest in Western Esotericism (as evinced by his "Seven Magical Planets" article in DRAGON mag), it's likely that Tom (rather than Lawrence) was responsible for the names which came from the grimoires.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Copt
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/قبط#Egyptian_Arabic

Ripvanwormer suggests:

Mount Qaf (legendary mountain in Islamic myth). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Qaf
Zothique (far-future continent in stories by Clark Ashton Smith). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zothique_%28collection%29

I still feel that since Coptic is an language, and so is Xoph, I'll list Copt / Qubt as the primary source. Yet those two do aesthetically and evocatively resonate as well, particularly Zothique, in the sense of a decadent "future-ancient" civilization.

In-World Implications:

We already have three M-Egyptian languages: Nithian, Thothian, and Hutaakan. Xoph could be repurposed in another Mystaran subsetting, elsewhere on the planet.

Ierendi

Official TSR English pronunciation: ē er end′ dē. Source: 1981 X1 p.4 "Suggested Pronunciations" and 1983 X1 p.32 "Pronunciation Guide."
International Phonetic Alphabet: [i.ɚ.'ɛn.di]

First appearance: Moldvay and Schick's Original Known World c.1976. Ierendi is a City-State. The Wilkerson yellow legal pad describes Ierendi as the "largest seapower on the continent". Ierendi is one of several geo-political entities which speaks the Iasuli language. Lawrence Schick's best recollection is that Iasuli is an Arabic analogue, and that Ierendi is specifically a Barbary Pirates analogue (i.e. Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, Morocco).

However, there are also Irish and Welsh facets. The characters Moirrighan and Taran are both from Ierendi. In the RW, Morrígan is a major deity of Ireland, and even represents the island as a whole. Taran is a Welsh name, borrowed from Lloyd Alexander's Taran Wanderer young adult fantasy series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Morrígan
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Morrígan#Middle_Irish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taran_(character)

Etymology: Of the three RW cultural connections (Arabic, Welsh, and Irish), it's the Irish connection which provides a plausible inspiration for the unusual name "Ierendi." Namely, Ierne, which is the first attested written name for Ireland. During his exploration of northwest Europe (circa 320 BC), the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massilia called the island Ίέρνη (Ierne).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Éire#Etymology

"Ierne" is very close to the first five letters in the name: Ieren-di, including the most unusual combo: "Ie-". The ending "-(n)di" is obscure, but could be a scrambled, clipped equivalent of "-land", as Ire-land = Ieren-di. The name as a whole appears to be a kind of blend of "Ierne" and "Ireland."

The "-i" ending is probably vaguely inspired by the English spelling "-i" of Arabic ـئ (-iyy), a suffix which turns nouns into adjectives, as seen in "Iraqi" (ʿirāqiyy); as also seen in the OKW language name "Iasuli."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ئ#Etymology_3

Atruaghin

Etymology:
Irish atrua, atruach = "compassionate"
Irish trua (archaic truagh) = "pity, compassion"
Scottish Gaelic truagh "poor, wretched, sad, miserable, pitiful, woeful"
Irish truaghán (plural truagháin) "miserable person, wretch. 2. Thin, emaciated, creature; underdeveloped person or animal. 3. Importunate person."; plural

The Atruaghin = the "Compassionate Persons"? Or the "Wretched Persons"?

The aesthetic of "Atruaghin" is similar to Tom's Irish-style PC "Moirrighan."