EternalEmpire:Naming Conventions

Arqi Names

The Arqi language is almost 2,000 years old and it is relatively dynamic, accepting foreign words and phonemes, and as a result the tongue is continually growing. The language has also gone through two major “revisions” stemming from a combination of important political developments and natural linguistic progressions. One aspect that has remained more or less the same through the years, however, are the naming conventions.

Arqi names follow the pattern of a personal name, or first name, followed by a family name, followed by a clade name, or clan name. Certain optional names may be given as well, primarily to distinguish between children with the same names in large families (middle names placed between the personal and family name) or the highly-valued Honor names which are placed before the personal name. These rules apply to both males and females. An example:

Aventin Pandimo Faridat Corivali

Personal Names

In the above, Pandimo is the personal name, which is traditionally decided by the father. Most Arqi names are very old and have remained unchanged even though other parts of the language have undergone drastic alterations overtime. As a result, most personal names are not directly decipherable today and many people have forgotten the original meanings of their names entirely. Of course, there have been some newly invented names that have become semi-common as well as modernizations of old names. Pandimo itself is a very old name. Certain personal names have become representative only of specific clans or families and may be unusual in the wider world even if they are very common within that clan. The vast majority of male personal names end in with –o or –io, while most female personal names end with –i or –ia.

In modern grammar, there is only one instance where the form of a personal name is changed; the dative case. Even then, the change is made only to signify the addressee of formal correspondences. In the case of a male with the –o or –io ending, an ‘s’ is added. In the case of a female with the –i or –ia ending, the ending is dropped and an ‘es’ is appended to the end. Other endings remain unchanged.

Example: Pandimo becomes Pandimos and Theria becomes Theres.

Common Arqi Personal Names (male)

Pandimo, Torigo, Nesto, Velicho, Sandimo, Quanio, Grino, Thorimo, Odaezio, Nolo, Sebasto, Othemo, Trego, Telco, Inigo, Antaro, Matino, Trubirio, Ponzo, Selsibrio, Andoluro, Subico, Andiarco, Endiarco, Castio, Endrino, Antonigo, Vebrezio, Testino

Common Arqi Personal Names (female)

Velia, Iasti, Ozati, Opthia, Consestia, Theria, Syferri, Ioni, Xesca, Zylen, Synal, Cantularia, Popiri, Espar, Pactra, Ceperali, Andoluria, Jerani, Hozari

Family Names

Continuing with the original example, Faridat is the family name, which comes from the father’s side. Originally, Arqi family names were more regular, but over the years, many thousands more have been established with varying origins. Most commonly, the names indicate a profession or a place of birth, although a fair amount also incorporate honorifics, virtues, or the personal name of a famous ancestor. Many family names have been derived from foreign words over the centuries as different cultures were assimilated into the Empire. When a last name is derived from a personal name, honor name, or location, it is always masculinized. It is common to masculinize the forms of other types of family name as well. In this case, Faridat retains its original form from the Prana word it is descended from. It means “river-crosser” (ferryman).

Common Arqi Family Names

Sestomis, Etchomis, Carranzul, Cotozo, Pontofarus, Borovedis, Consestus, Clesto, Madrugal, Amprugo, Vanarquan, Sotor, Orpaz, Barrico, Pelenado, Cortulorico, Ambarazino, Marrioten, Sorozino, Marzuti, Cocclimo, Artigo, Galbo, Poldora, Tapina

Clade Names

Corivali is the Clade Name and signifies membership to a much, much larger and more disparate social group. These are ancient names, signifying the ancestral family from which multiple modern families have since sprung. The “super-families” have their roots back in Lenjic times and the earliest days of the Empire where the large social groups were far more cohesive and the source of considerable political and economic power. In all but the most lethargic or corrupt clades, the central family (from which all the descendants have sprung) archives the great deeds of their members, past and present.

Centuries ago, clades were concentrated around specific locations, primarily the greatest cities on Arqualan. Today, however, they are far more scattered and few have any discernible “territory”. Over the ages, new clades evolved from various sources, especially the descendants of powerful individuals like certain Emperors and conquerors. Others arose from groups who followed an unusual religion or philosophical school, and circles of the elite, such as oracles and physicians.

Today, most Arqi citizens still profess membership in a clade, although the strength of this union diminishes the farther one moves away from Arqualan. In some isolated spots of the empire, many people have abandoned or forgotten the Clades their families once belonged to. Occasionally, an individual or an entire family may be “evicted” from a Clade because of some great disgrace or nefarious deed. Similarly, certain families and individuals may view their clades as degenerate or otherwise undesirable and abandon their membership entirely.

Previously, it was tradition for husbands and wives to maintain their pre-marriage Clade names (if distinct), and while this is still the case in more traditional circles, many people change their Clade affiliation upon marriage. Generally, the married couple decides the issue jointly, although the clade in question is under no obligation to allow new members. A few rare instances exist where a family has membership in two (or more) clades, but this situation is exceedingly rare and most clades do not allow dual membership. The form of a Clade name is always feminine.

Common Arqi Clade Names

Brewi (Brui in trad. spelling), Havari, Corivali, Fiovaria, Ambieria, Thorovia, Arquezi, Sequinia, Varedi

Honor Names

Aventin is the “honor name”, a special name bestowed upon an individual for some distinction, be it for heroism in combat, great scholarly achivements, religious accomplishment, acts of great kindness, and so forth. Honor names are never given lightly and may rightfully be given only by the heads of a Clade, a high civil, military, or religious authority, and most prized, by the Illuminarch himself. It takes a great amount of accomplishment to earn an honor name and most people never receive one or even know anyone personally who has one. In some walks of life, however, honor names are more common, like in the Sea Knight orders and the Conclave of the Tylofoston Church. Honor names are gender neutral and typically end in –in.

Some Arqi Honor Names

Aventin, Ectin, Vanlin, Olovarin, Clestin, Corin

Pronunciation

In translating from Arqi into the Latin alphabet, the following conventions are used:

“C” is always hard, pronounced as /k/, never as /s/

“Ch” is an aspirated /k/.

“X” can be either /ks/ or /ch/, but never /z/. The /ks/ phoneme usually appears at the ends of words, while the /ch/ usually appears at the beginning. Consider the female name Xesca (pronounced “Cheska”) versus Hecto Bellorix (Bell-o-ricks), which means Fortress of Agony.

“A” is pronounced both like the “a” in “amp” and “saw”

“Ae” is pronounced like the long “a” sound in “Ace”, but is comparatively rare and found mostly in words of foreign origin.

“E” is almost always pronounced as in “exit”

“I” is usually pronounced as in “bee”, but sometimes as in “if” when marked with a circumflex “O” is pronounced as in “both”

“Oa” is pronounced as “way”, but is comparatively rare and found mostly in words of foreign origin.

“U” is primarily pronounced as in “super”, but sometimes as in “umpire”

“Y” is never pronounced like “yester” but rather as a long “I” sound.