Alternate names for "Tank"

LeX

Hi all,

IOTL, as we know, the word "tank" to mean a tracked armored combat vehicle was coined because they were initially described for purposes of secrecy as mobile water tanks. This name has a very specific cause, one that would be particularly sensitive to butterflies (unlike the more generic Panzer from German or Sensha in Japanese) in any pre-WW1 AH scenario. But what other names could we use?
 

Nofix

Barrel a la TL-191.

Yeah it is the most obvious but SOMEONE was gonna say it. For an actual, original idea maybe Mud Cars?
 

Flocculencio

Donor
Have a classically minded fellow in the development corps name it the Mk 1 Cataphract. Or a fellow who's well versed in Oriental Studies names it a ratha (the heavy battle chariots of bronze age India and Persia). Ratha is short and easy to pronounce.

Or have them call it a Land-Cruiser. Later transliterated as landcruiser and perhaps just cruiser after actual naval cruisers are dropped by most navies.
 
Kome

Kome

Armored Wagons. Or Combat tractors.

Tracked Trains/Locomotives.

Are we disqualifying all more than one word name?
 

katchen

Banned
How about juggernauts, from the giant Hindu idols on wheels that get pushed around by followers and that devotees fall under and get rolled over.?
 
Kome

Kome

katchen said:
How about juggernauts, from the giant Hindu idols on wheels that get pushed around by followers and that devotees fall under and get rolled over.?
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Actually now that you mention it, how about Rams? Functionally and visually the tank is essentially a tube sticking out of a box that rolls forward slowly to break through the enemy line after all.
 

dgharis

LeoXiao said:
Hi all,

IOTL, as we know, the word "tank" to mean a tracked armored combat vehicle was coined because they were initially described for purposes of secrecy as mobile water tanks. This name has a very specific cause, one that would be particularly sensitive to butterflies (unlike the more generic Panzer from German or Sensha in Japanese) in any pre-WW1 AH scenario. But what other names could we use?
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The German is actually panzerkampfwagen (armored battle wagon), so some variation on that would be reasonable. Landkreuzer (land cruiser), as suggested above, would also be reasonable for German AFVs.

The Italians used carro armato (armored car) for their tanks, so a variation on that would work for them.

The Russian танк and French char are simply translations of tank into their respective languages, so whatever English speakers use they might adopt as well.

The Japanese is actually sento-sha (fighting vehicle), which is apt.
 

Just Leo

Dragons. A slurring of the words "tracked guns". In the case of flame-throwing tanks, the name is even more fitting. Infantry tanks like the Matilda would befit the title "turtles", owing to their velocity impairment.
 

The Uchronian

LeoXiao said:
Hi all,

IOTL, as we know, the word "tank" to mean a tracked armored combat vehicle was coined because they were initially described for purposes of secrecy as mobile water tanks. This name has a very specific cause, one that would be particularly sensitive to butterflies (unlike the more generic Panzer from German or Sensha in Japanese) in any pre-WW1 AH scenario. But what other names could we use?
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The first thing that really came to my mind(other than Turtledove, of course) was the term "Terramobile" used by Sobel in "For Want of a Nail".
 
Dan1988

Dan1988

dgharis said:
The Russian танк and French char are simply translations of tank into their respective languages, so whatever English speakers use they might adopt as well.
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Of which the French char works only in Europe. In Canada, char means, well, "car" (as in English), as opposed to the more "proper" auto (also common, as well as part of the magazine title Le monde de l'auto ([The] World of Cars)) or voiture.
 
oshron

oshron

i've been trying to think of alternatives like this myself but always defaulted back to "tank". personally, i like the use of "cataphract" but only in a certain context, namely in it being used by countries that were once part of the Byzantine Empire (or alternatively count that as a name for mecha :p). "land battleship" is a good default, since it has the Wells precedent.
 
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