| Years ago when I first played Emerald Dragon, I
remember being baffled at the names. Normally some English approximation
of character names could be made, but in the case of Emerald Dragon, no
matter how hard I tried everything sounded strange. It wasn't until five
years later I would realize why. The names aren't English. I'm sure that
last statement has a whole lot of people saying "DURRRRR! No kidding!"
However, they're not Japanese either.
When I was throwing out a load of notes from my Ancient Near-East
history class I just happened to flip open to a page of notes that had a
word that stuck out at me, "Avesta." My brain jumped straight to Emerald
Dragon (since I was listening to the Radio Show a few days before) and
realized "Wait, wasn't that the huge weapon that tanked the Western
Desert?" Sure was.
Then I flipped through a bit more and saw another word, "Vendidad." Oh
yeah, and that was the sword that housed the spirit of the Emerald Dragon.
What section of class notes was this all from? Zoroastrianism.
Zoroastria-whatsa? Well, I'll explain in brief. Zoroastrianism was an
ancient religion started by Zarathustra who apparently came down from a
mountain after seeing God in a fire and told everyone to worship the one
true god and creator of the universe, Ahura Mazda. Name aside, I'm sure
that story will ring a bell for anyone who's heard the name "Moses."
While it's still a debated topic, it's very likely that the stories of
the Zoroastrianism faith were incorporated into Jewish and then Christian
religions later. In fact it happened to preach of a Saoshyant (Messiah)
being born a virgin to save the world. He would be killed then come again
to judge the living and the dead, etc etc etc.
I'll shut up before I get a lot of hate mail from fundamentalist groups
but one thing is for sure, it pre-dated Christianity by at least 1500
years and likely pre-dated the Hebrew migration from Egypt. As such, it
had a tremendous impact on thought in the region, especially after being
made the official religion of the Persian Empire during the time of Cyrus
I.
So yes, this old religion is where most of the Emerald Dragon names
came from. A Few others were taken from Sumerian or Egyptian, but almost
all of them came from the Near-East (modern day Iran).
| アヴェスタ |
Avesta (Persian) |
The holy scriptures of
Zoroastrianism. |
| ヴェンディダード |
Vendidad (Persian) |
A section of the
Avesta dealing with myths, purification ritual, and religious
observance. |
| ヴォウルカシャ |
Vourukasha (Avestan) |
A great mythical ocean
mentioned by Zarathustra in the Avesta. |
| ウルワン |
Urvan (Avestan) |
The Zoroastrian term
for a person's soul. |
| ドゥルグワント |
Draugwand (Olde
Persian) |
From 'drauga,' the
demon of lies. |
| アーパス |
Arpath |
Taken from Harsapatha,
the name of a river in the region. |
| エルバード |
Ervad (Parsi Gujarati) |
A priest of a higher
ecclesiastical order. |
| ザーマ |
Zam (Avestan) |
The yazad of the
earth. |
| スローシュ |
Srosh (Pahlavi) |
The spirit who guards
the soul for three days after death. |
| ダードワ |
Dadarwa (Persian) |
From Dadar Hormazd, a
variant on Ahura Mazda, the creator of the universe. |
| キルデール |
Kildale (possibly
Celtic) |
From "gildale," a
drinking bout where everyone pays equal amounts (found in 1913
edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary). |
| バージル |
Basil (Greek) |
From the name of the
Christian saint, Basil the Great. He was one of the strongest
proponents of orthodoxy in the early church. |
| オヴィングストン |
Ovingston (unknown) |
Presumably taken from
the name of a famous historian. |
| フウォーウィー |
Frawardi (Avestan) |
The maidens who sew
the spiritual garments worn by a soul after death. |
| ナナイ |
Nanai (Sumerian) |
Equivalent of Venus,
was worshipped until Persia's official religion was made
Zoroastianism. |
| ヘルロード |
Harerud (Modern) |
One of the 16 perfect
lands created by Ahura Mazda. |
| マルギアナ |
Marguan (Olde Persian) |
From Margu, one of the
16 perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda. |
| カシャ |
Kasha (Avestan) |
From Vourukasha, the
mythical ocean. |
| パールシー |
Parsis (Persian) |
The term for
Zoroastrians who fled Persia and settled in India. |
| ヘルマンド |
Helmend (Modern) |
One of the 16 perfect
lands created by Ahura Mazda. |
| アトルシャン |
Atrushan (Armenian) |
Sacred ritual fire
altar for Zoroastrianism practice. Barsom are lain across its poles. |
| タムリン |
Tamryn (Russian) |
The word for "palm
tree." |
| バルソム |
Barsom (Pahlavi) |
A bundle of twigs tied
with a date-palm cord used by priests during liturgies. |
| ヤマン |
Yaman (Avestan) |
Taken from the name
Airyaman, the yazad of friendship. |
| サオシュヤント |
Saoshyant (Avestan) |
The Zoroastrian word
the Messiah who will be born of a virgin to save the world. |
| カルシュワル |
Karshwarl (Pahlavi) |
One of the seven
continents of Earth. |
| オストラコン |
Ostracon (Hebrew) |
Writing on pottery. |
| バギン |
Bagin (Armenian) |
The image shrine used
for Zoroastrianism practice. |
| ホスロウ |
Khosraw (Persian) |
One of the early
heroes of Zoroastrianism. |
| サダ |
Sada (Persian) |
Avesta texts without
Pahlavi commentary. |
| ティリダテス |
Tiridates (Armenian) |
An early king of
Armenia. |
| フラワルド |
Fraward (Avestan) |
From Frawardigan, the
Zoroastrian "All Soul's Day." |
| ダストール |
Dastur (Persian) |
A high priest. |
| ゴーメズ |
Gomez (Pahlavi) |
Unconsecrated bull's
urine. |
| ホルス |
Horus (Egyptian) |
Egyptian god of the
moon or son of Osiris and Isis depending on who you ask. |
| ラー |
Ra (Egyptian) |
The Egyptian sun god,
Ra, worshipped in the region from very early times. |
|
