I think it's more that a lot of English words that Protoss units / abilities are based off of happen to have Greek roots rather than the units / abilities being directly based off of Ancient Greek culture.

urashimakt

United States1591 Posts

April 06 2011 15:30 GMT

#43

On April 07 2011 00:15 tofucake wrote:

Show nested quote +

The Norse? I very highly doubt it.

Despite the best efforts of the movie Clash of the Titans to insist otherwise, Kraken is a word of Norwegian origins. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kraken

The monster Perseus defeats is most commonly described in the myths as a "sea monster", not specifically any individual sea monster ("Kraken" just sounds better than "the sea monster" in Hollywood terms). Also, in Age of Mythology, the Kraken is a Norse unit. Microsoft knows what it's talking about!

Greyjoy

Canada29 Posts

April 06 2011 15:32 GMT

#44

On April 07 2011 00:04 Chaosvuistje wrote:

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Actually, the kraken comes from the norse mythology. It was said to swim around the icelandic regions, I doubt the greek people had any knowledge of iceland at that time.

You're both wrong the Gracken is Zerg and he grew up in Kalamazoo michigan.

Zaphid

Czech Republic1860 Posts

April 06 2011 15:32 GMT

#45

95% of any terminology originates in latin/greek, so I have no idea how it surprises anyone.

Zellabris

United States43 Posts

April 06 2011 15:34 GMT

#46

On April 06 2011 23:32 awha wrote:
whats the movie where a guy (the dad?) keeps insisting that everything was originally from greece?

My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The dad character also loved windex.

Virtue

United States318 Posts

April 06 2011 15:36 GMT

#47

The reason for all of this is probably because English is so influenced by ancient Greek and Latin. Its pretty common to notice a lot of stuff like this if you study English and Latin. Good job finding the actual Greek roots words. I didn't know about the Pylon one.

esre

Ireland109 Posts

April 06 2011 15:36 GMT

#48

On April 06 2011 23:55 Zocat wrote:

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Banshee is coming from Irish mythology. bean sídhe. It's a "death" spirit (similiar to it's meaning in a shitton of fantasy RPGs / Tabletops (D&D, Warhammer).
The sidhe are basically all spirits (see more: wiki)

Playing King Arthus (the roleplaying wargame) payed off

Banshee's were always women too , just like the Banshee picture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banshee

LoLAdriankat

United States4307 Posts

April 06 2011 15:38 GMT

#49

Anyone notice the Latin reference in the name of this website, TeamLiquid? Liquidus is the Latin word for "flowing".

On April 06 2011 23:45 Jombozeus wrote:
Unfortunately for you:
1. Chrono- is a prefix to many words involving time, such as chronology
2. Pylon is an english word meaning the exact same thing
3. Archon is an english word
4. Proto- is a prefix for many english words involving firsts, such as prototype
5. Agriculture

As already mentioned, you will find links like this in ANY random essay or even scientific paper because english has inherited a lot from greek anyways.

Oh, right. In the words of BIC, get real.

Centorian

United States95 Posts

April 06 2011 15:38 GMT

#50

On April 07 2011 00:32 Zaphid wrote:
95% of any terminology originates in latin/greek, so I have no idea how it surprises anyone.

Even in Indo-European languages this isn't really true. Germanic languages (probably the large portion of English) have their own root words.

Cow certainly doesn't come from latin or greek.

pirouni

Greece31 Posts

April 06 2011 15:38 GMT

#51

On April 06 2011 23:22 AdunToridas wrote:
Hi there TL,

I noticed over the years while I played Broodwar and now SC2 that Blizzard uses many Ancient Greek words for their alien-ish style.
I list some up which I remember atm, I just wondered if some of you also got a few.

πρώτος - prótos: first, first of a kind => Protoss
χρόνος - khrónos: time => Chrono boost
ἀρχόν - arkhon: (which) ruler, leader => Archon
τήν Πύλον - tén pylon: (which) place => Pylon
άγρια - ágria: wild, uncultivated, uncivilised (feminine): => Agria

Adun toridas is correct.
But the word pylon is more likely from η πύλη, gate in english and since there is already Gateway this would be something between pole as in shape and gate for gating units.

Generally, games like to add stuff from mythology and ancient civilizations to many things more interesting.

I played Dark Age of Camelot (Albion-british / Midgard-skandinavian / Hibernia-Irish) and its expansion, Trials of Atlantis was full of greek and egyptian references.
Also most sciences have loads of greek words since their birth and development was placed in Greece. You can see the computer science being in english since the mayor companies are placed in the USA.

Excessive

Denmark151 Posts

April 06 2011 15:40 GMT

#52

Indeed the Kraken is from Norse mythology, although it was never actually called by that name. Kraken seems to come from the german krake, which means octopus.

The leviathan from the campaign is apparently one of the seven princes of Hell.

Zorgaz

Sweden2951 Posts

April 06 2011 15:52 GMT

#53

On April 06 2011 23:34 RobbybabyDTF wrote:
Thor's

Nvm Norse god I think lol.

Yep Thor is a Norse god ^^

Ghostcom

Denmark4783 Posts

April 06 2011 15:57 GMT

#54

When you first encounter collossi in the prophecy missions, they arise from the ocean and Zeratul says something along the lines of ancient technology which was long forgotten. That part struck me as a pretty clear reference to Atlantis.

lololol

5198 Posts

April 06 2011 15:57 GMT

#55

On April 06 2011 23:33 Eishi_Ki wrote:

Show nested quote +

Hellion is actually an upstart or rebellious person

It most likely just comes from hell, they are armed with an infernal flamethrower and inferno means hell/large fire, which fits both the name of the hellion and it's purpose.

Nasradime

France83 Posts

April 06 2011 16:41 GMT

#56

Wow, the "chrono boost" discovery amazed me. I always believed the meaning simply was pretty clear, and wouldn't need to be called an "Ancient Greek reference". I mean, all of you heard of "chronometers" right ?
(Not-so) of topic, thanks for the Greek movie and the quote "just spray some windex of it, it'll be fine", I never heard of it but now I understand the reference that Date Movie makes ("just spray some hummus (...)" ), that was on my brain since years.

morimacil

France921 Posts

April 06 2011 16:59 GMT

#57

I thought everyone knew that the protoss were based on egyptian?
[image loading]

$[image loading]$

OverZero

United States271 Posts

April 06 2011 17:04 GMT

#58

On April 06 2011 23:41 canikizu wrote:
I thought that it's well known that protoss race is based on Greek myth and Terran race is based on Norse myth.

Protoss needs a unit like The Kraken. Imagine this: whenever the unit is being made, there's an alert (like nuke warning) that says: The Kraken has been released. Screw the mothership, give us the Kraken

The mothership had "planet cracker" thats close enough right?

Typhon

United States387 Posts

April 06 2011 17:29 GMT

#59

πρώτος - prótos: first, first of a kind => Protoss
χρόνος - khrónos: time => Chrono boost
ἀρχόν - arkhon: (which) ruler, leader => Archon
τήν Πύλον - tén pylon: (which) place => Pylon
άγρια - ágria: wild, uncultivated, uncivilised (feminine): => Agria

Pylon is the english word for the towers used to hold up power lines... that seems pretty obvious that the towers that emit protoss power are called pylons:

[image loading]

And it's pretty obvious that Protoss culture is derived from various historical civilizations.

Zealot: militant jewish sect that revolted against the Romans
Dragoon: generic term for mounted infantry/light cavalry/armored recon (more modern use)
Templar: Christian military order from Middle Ages
Archon: Greek magistrate
Praetor: Roman magistrate/commander

MangoTango

United States3670 Posts

April 06 2011 17:30 GMT

#60

On April 06 2011 23:55 chenchen wrote:

Show nested quote +

You just said that Terran is based on Norse mythology and Protoss is based on Greek . . . then shouldn't the Kraken be a Terran unit?

We all know the Gracken is a Zerg unit >.<

Ok I'll go back to my hidey hole now