Naming Beasts

[Mindfire]

Exactly how much latitude do you get when you use an old term in a new sense? For example, if I created a species of giant, terrible, man-eating, but non-chimerical cats, could I get away with calling them "manticores"? I'm thinking probably not. They're basically saber-toothed tigers, but that's not exactly a catchy name. It's too long. I'd like to boil it down to a single word. Smilodon? Panther? Liger? Suggestions?

 

[Ireth]

I wouldn't use panther or liger, as those are names for existing animals. Smilodon could work, or you could make up a new word for them. If nothing else, I'd try looking up words to describe your cat-beasts in various languages and smushing them together.

 

[Saigonnus]

I guess it would really depend on the intelligence level and sophistication of the society that directly deals with them... A caveman archetype would likely call them something simple like "Longteeth"; something that accurately describes the most obvious characteristic of the animal. "Render" or "Biter" could work too.

For a more advanced culture (though not modern), I would think a more scientific name would be used like smilodon or sword-tooth cat; (maybe shortened to swordtooth).

I also want to mention that different cultures often have different names for the same thing. If the principal culture has a "sound" to the names of places, people etc, it would stand to reason that the animals would likewise have names with that sound.

Another option is to name it after the person who discovered them first... Rivgorn's Cat or some such.

 

[Zero Angel]

I think you can get away with calling them manticores. Video games reuse famous monster names all the time. You can even have a nod towards the legend. Maybe they are poisonous or are known to prey on elephants AND porcupines

 

[Anders Ämting]

Well, you can totally get away with manticore - I doubt anyone will object much. Question is how much it makes sense when you really think about it and how much you care about that.

The word manticore comes from the Persian martyaxwa, which literally means "man eater." So, unless there is an ancient Persia in your setting, the question is where the word came from, and why they aren't just called man eaters.

See, unless they've been around for so long that their name is in a different language, or they are literally named after some kind of mythological being, most ordinary people would just call it something brief, simple and fitting. (Like man eaters, because they freaking eat people.) For saber-toothed tigers, I personally like the Skyrim term "saber cat", because that's pretty much what they are.

Alternatively, how about dire cats? (Or direcats.)

 

[Wanara009]

you might also consider the beast's local name. Usually when travelers from another land see a new beast, they usually make name for it themseleves based on their own language. Also, you can afford to make the name as meaningful as possible, usually relate them to the experience people have with it.

I agree with Anders about the mother language. You should probably have a Persian-based language.

For Example: my world features an large, shrieking, dangerously-aggressive horned beasts that attack every other creature on sight. The Westerners called it "Direceratops" (which denote its size, the two horns, and what kind of situation you'll be in if you meet one). However, the people around where it lives simply calls it "Yaamaut" (Short of Yaasu khu lmaut, which mean 'Screaming Death').

(p.s.: Thumbs up on Anders again. I got into a blood-rage every time someone call saber-toothed cat "sabre-tooth tiger" )

 

[Mindfire]

you might also consider the beast's local name. Usually when travelers from another land see a new beast, they usually make name for it themseleves based on their own language. Also, you can afford to make the name as meaningful as possible, usually relate them to the experience people have with it.

I agree with Anders about the mother language. You should probably have a Persian-based language.

For Example: my world features an large, shrieking, dangerously-aggressive horned beasts that attack every other creature on sight. The Westerners called it "Direceratops" (which denote its size, the two horns, and what kind of situation you'll be in if you meet one). However, the people around where it lives simply calls it "Yaamaut" (Short of Yaasu khu lmaut, which mean 'Screaming Death').

(p.s.: Thumbs up on Anders again. I got into a blood-rage every time someone call saber-toothed cat "sabre-tooth tiger" )

You must have hated Power Rangers.

 

[Shockley]

The general consensus, from what I've always been led to understand, is that the manticore was just a warped, European misunderstanding of the tiger.

So you're clear from that perspective.

 

[Zero Angel]

So I don't know exactly what Mindfire had in mind when he posted originally, but I think this topic would apply for any term that has been used for other things that you want to use for your own maybe tangentially related thing but not really recognizable as the original thing thing.

in the fantasy public mind now, manticores are the legendary beast, sometimes even with wings, not the medieval bestiary for normal creature misunderstood by the scholars of the time. Just like Baphomet is a goat-headed demon instead of the prophet Muhammad and fantasy salamanders have fire powers.

That's my take on it anyway.

But yes, as far as your general consensus from what you've been led to understand, yes. At least, the extensive research I've done into the subject has supported the tiger origin rather conclusively.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Actually, having played Neverwinter, a lot, I'd think that manticore might not fit. No wings, no scorpion tail etc. My thought would be to go for calling it some kind of cat. Considering its fangs I might be considered to work the dentition into its name. I'm guessing 'sabre' is out. But some other kind of pointy weapon? - lance cat, spear cat, pike cat.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Shockley]

Maybe this comes from growing up in the empty part of Texas, but I'd imagine something called a 'Pike Cat' as a fish.

 

[psychotick]

Hi Shockley,

Would that be a cat fish?!

But had another idea anyway. This critter has two great big spikes in its mouth - so why not call it a spiker?

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Mindfire]

I'm thinking I might go with manticore, mantak, or hellcat. Opinions?

 

[Ireth]

Out of the three, I like mantak the best. "Hellcat" strikes me as jarring, especially if this story involves a culture with nothing like a typical (Judeo-Christian?) idea of hell.

 

[Mindfire]

Out of the three, I like mantak the best. "Hellcat" strikes me as jarring, especially if this story involves a culture with nothing like a typical (Judeo-Christian?) idea of hell.

You're right, hellcat does strike me as rather lazy now. Mantak it is then. Not 100% pleased with it, but I'll use it as a placeholder for now.

 

[SeverinR]

I wouldn't use panther or --liger--, as those are names for existing animals. Smilodon could work, or you could make up a new word for them. If nothing else, I'd try looking up words to describe your cat-beasts in various languages and smushing them together.

"Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic. "

http://www.moviefanatic.com/quotes/what-are-you-drawing-a-liger-whats-a-liger-its-pretty-much-my-fa/

Mantak was my fave.

 

[Mindfire]

"Deb: What's a liger?
Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic. "

What are you drawing? A liger. What's a liger? It's prett... - Movie Fanatic

Mantak was my fave.

Ugh, it's that movie. -_-

 

[Devor]

in the fantasy public mind now, manticores are the legendary beast, sometimes even with wings, not the medieval bestiary for normal creature misunderstood by the scholars of the time.

That's certainly the norm, but you don't have to use the norms. If it's a real departure, maybe you could hang a lampshade on it.

"That's a manticore? But it looks so . . . normal."

The important thing is more about context than concept. Would it feel out of place in your world for a manticore to feel like a normal sabre-toothed cat?

Mindfire, if I remember right from some of your previous posts, I get the feeling you use a lot of these creatures, and that this one fits right in. So unless you're using legendary manticore-status creatures ontop of these slightly-enhanced ones (like griffins and hydras and unicorns), then probably it should be easy enough for you to avoid the legendary expectation-and-letdown which you might otherwise get from using the word manticore.

((edit))

I seem to have missed the second page of the conversation. I don't like mantak. Seems like a waste of a new word to me.

You could try a name that refer to the teeth's other qualities - like their value as ivory, the beautiful sculptures that can be carved from them and the life-changing fortune you can make from killing one. That might give it more depth. But I'm coming up short on examples, I'm afraid.

 

[Mindfire]

That's certainly the norm, but you don't have to use the norms. If it's a real departure, maybe you could hang a lampshade on it.

"That's a manticore? But it looks so . . . normal."

The important thing is more about context than concept. Would it feel out of place in your world for a manticore to feel like a normal sabre-toothed cat?

Mindfire, if I remember right from some of your previous posts, I get the feeling you use a lot of these creatures, and that this one fits right in. So unless you're using legendary manticore-status creatures ontop of these slightly-enhanced ones (like griffins and hydras and unicorns), then probably it should be easy enough for you to avoid the legendary expectation-and-letdown which you might otherwise get from using the word manticore.

((edit))

I seem to have missed the second page of the conversation. I don't like mantak. Seems like a waste of a new word to me.

You could try a name that refer to the teeth's other qualities - like their value as ivory, the beautiful sculptures that can be carved from them and the life-changing fortune you can make from killing one. That might give it more depth. But I'm coming up short on examples, I'm afraid.

Yeah, I'm not 100% sold on mantak either, honestly. But it's the best placeholder I've got for now. However, you have a point. I have "reinvented" other creatures of stock fantasy and myth: the harpy, which I've made into a hideous man-bat creature, direwolves, which I've given magical powers, and the unicorn, which I've given a new origin, a slightly different appearance, and even an alternate name. So perhaps "manticore" isn't so out of place after all?

 

[Steerpike]

Easier if you're writing about a more primitive culture. You could just use descriptive phrases:

"Thing with big teeth."

"Thing that run fast."

"Thing that eat Thag"

And so on.