Hey, in one of my random information quests through the internet i was wondering why Solstheim island was called Solstheim island. I had a think and have come to the conclusion that its something along the lines of Sun Birth Island which is quite a fitting name for a northern island i believe.

I dunno if thats what Beth were thinking when they came up with the name, but i like the imagry it brings.


So getting more to the point what do you guys think or know about the origin of names within TES series: Daedra, Aedra, provicne cities etc...

=)

I thought Solstheim was based on Solstice and Heim (meaning home).

I've always thought it's a case of "what sounds good", or some kind of relation to real world words. Morrowind, I'm guessing, was a "what sounds good" option, for example. Nord is related to our own Nords, obviously. Although, occasionally, there's something to do with TES lore in a name. For example, Hammerfell. All about some Dwemer throwing Volundrung at Hammerfell.

It all really depends. I'm guessing they actually often look at words from another language, and mix 'em together. Pretty much everyone does this in common media.

I'm seconding this.

Solstheim is kind of a tongue-twister, so I doubt they used the name simply because it sounded good. Although I don't know what solstices have to do with Solstheim. It could be a reference to the fact that Solstheim is so far north and first to witness the solstice of Magnus (given of course, that giant holes can move like celestial bodies).

A place in Solstheim is called Thirsk, and I lived near a place named Thirsk ( which was full of drunk northmen also ).
As this in in Yorkshire I presume its takes it from a Nordic term, Mara one of the nine is also a name of an indian deity.
The forts in Oblivion are to my best guess just someones idea of a puny joke, Nowhere, irony.. so on but I could be wrong.
So I guess what I'm saying is that they toiled through many sources of myth and culture, then filled in the blanks with madse up or personal ideas,
Just like most fantasy universes do

I believe I read somewhere that alot of dwemer names are babylonian, as well as some ashlander and eggmine names.

Yes, the Dwemer names are Babylonian, and if you look at the Dwemer ghosts, they are also very Babylonian/Assyrian in appearance.

The Ashlanders have Indian names.

Oh, and let's not forget Dagoth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur.

According to the easter egg section of the wiki, "A large proportion of names of Ashlanders, Egg Mines, and Daedric shrines are modeled on ancient Assyrian and Babylonian names from around the second millennium BCE. This is a very quiet joke on the resemblance between Ashlander and Ashur, the Akkadian name for ancient Assyria."

Then apparently it's just Vivec.

Well it does sound a little like the norwegian/swedish words "Sol" (sun) and "Hjem" (home/place).... That would make it something like Sunhome? Sunplace? I also checked the word Solst through norwegian and it seemed to be "sunshine"... Sunshinehome? Sunshineplace? Place where the Sun Shines (upon the snow?)?
It also seems to highlight the lack of ashstorms there... Since there are no ashstorms there a name which indicates that the sun is visible more than in Vvardenfell?

Note the city of Trondheim (that is where I got the idea to take it through norwegian from) in Norway. Throneplace/Thronehome I would guess that would mean.

I think Morrowind might be "Morrow" and "Wind"

:rofl: nice.

One question is its literal translation a fresh start? as in the the new day ushered in with a new wind of change.
Or is it a twisted future, as in tampering with fate brings a winding fate? ( as in to wind a clock ).

the names of the eight divines are derived frome some daggerfall beta testers as you can read http://www.svatopluk.com/daggerfall/temples.stm. quite a cool idea imo.

Maybe because of the sand storms in the Ashlands.