Your (isolated) alternate terminology ideas

Boto von Ageduch

Do you have ideas for alternate terminologies, but no timeline to go with it?
Here is a place to collect these ideas.


(Terminology from timelines are also welcome, but for them there is already the alt-term wiki page.
Also, please no jokes - they can go to the "ASB: frivolous ideas" thread.


To make a start,I suggest:

Tessaroi (Greek), Tessares (Latin): Arabs.

Comment: Already in ancient Greek, the Arabs went by the name Araboi - which is close to how they refer to themselves.
Now assume that the Arabic words 'arab ("Arab") and arba'a ("four") have been mixed up by a Greek observer. This confusion may have been accompanied by some myth about these people in which the number four plays a central rule (e.g. a founding myth with a father handing down his legacy to his four sons). So the Greek believe that the Arabs call themselves the "people of the number four", which is translated by Tessaroi.


And your ideas?
 

Zuvarq

train: iron horse
automobile: steel mule
tank: steel ox
plane: steel falcon
 
Last edited:

PipBoy2999

Banned
I am working on a story (I know, who'd expect THAT on this kind of board) about an alt-WW1. Some of the terminology I've come up with.

Powered Glider: Airplane
Cloud Cruiser: Armored Airship
Tesla Talker (a TeeTee): Radio
Mechanical Horse: Motorcycle
Da Vinci (a DeeVee): Parachute
Clank: A tracked vehicle, usually a tank
 
Petike

Petike

Some names from my (sadly on hiatus) "WWI meets Watership Down" fantasy comic book, Dog Soldiers :

bullfrog = tank prototype of the Barkians, looks like Little Willie
frog = standard tank of the Barkians during the Great Canine War, think Mark I-VIII
newt = light tank of the Barkians during the Great Canine War, think Whippet A and B

The whole "amphibian" theme naming started when someone commented on the ATL Willie : "Bliyme ! It looks like a giant steel bullfrog on threads !" So they stuck to it ever since. ;)

tonnelet ("small barrell / keg") = light tank of the Chiens, very popular, revolutionary bodyframe design and a working turret. Appeared during the second half of the Great Canine War. Think Renault FT-17. Armoured keg on threads indeed... :cool:

Kiste / Kampfkiste ("crate / battlecrate") = standard tank of the Hunds, though not very reliable and produced in only measly numbers. Think Panzerkampfawagen A7V (simple crate-like shape, hence the name).

Electricity is called "amberin" (a shout-out to Pullman and his "ambaric"). Therefore "amber lamps, amber (power)lines, amberbulbs", etc. Tobacco is "smokeweed" and cigarettes are "weedies". :D

Other WWI weaponry and tech have fictionalised names, mostly dog-related or satirical.... And all horribly punny :
the "Crackers" (Vickers) machine gun
the "Dross" (Ross) rifle
the "Labile" (Lebel) rifle
the "Rattefanger 98" (Mauser 98) rifle
the "Yip-Woofield" (Lee-Enfield) rifle and "Barkley" (Webley) revolver


I have a lot of other, genuinely alternate terms in my first real TL, that I've been writing for about a month or two. Sadly, I can't reveal any of it yet. It's not open source. :D You'll just have to wait until I finish the TL.
 

Boto von Ageduch

Petike said:
And here's one of the recent threads where this was discussed too
Click to expand...


... but technology is not all which has to be named.

Your take at political trends is a good approach!

Another idea:
Don't you think too that Mediterranean Sea is an extraordinarily boring term?
Btw, it might also apply to other waters, like the Baltic.
What about calling it the Roman Sea, or, robbing that name from a rival, the Arabic Sea?
 

Orko

Boto von Ageduch said:
... but technology is not all which has to be named.

Your take at political trends is a good approach!

Another idea:
Don't you think too that Mediterranean Sea is an extraordinarily boring term?
Click to expand...
No, not really. It's just a very long name, and I always mis-spell it, too.
 
Petike

Petike

Boto von Ageduch said:
... but technology is not all which has to be named. Your take at political trends is a good approach!
Click to expand...

Too bad my TL is still in the works and I'd hate to post any of the alternate terms I invented so far. :( Besides, they could still possibly change during writing. But... Oh, well, you got me ! I'll give some of it away :

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=161395
"Tsarism" as the equivalent of "nazism / fascism". Why tsarism, you ask ? Read it and weep. ;)

BTW, Socialism (or what resembles it the most) is called Solidarism.
And pencils are known as "coalpens" or "graphite pens". :D

OK, enough of the preview for now...

P.S. The TL (yet to be named) diverges in May 1395 AD. So, essentialy, I've got over 600 years of alternate history to cover.

Orko said:
No, not really. It's just a very long name, and I always mis-spell it, too.
Click to expand...

Just use the OTL abbrievation "The Med". Problem solved. ;)
 

Tom Veil

Telelogos -- Internet
Talkbox -- Telephone
Gym -- University
Hayers -- Armenians
Seljooks -- Turks
Sindadesh -- Pakistan
 
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