Morrowind

File information

Last updated

Original upload

Created by

AliceL93

Uploaded by

AliceL93

Virus scan

Safe to use

Tags for this mod

About this mod

Rewrites all the 'orphaned etymology' words, and all the references to them.

Requirements
Permissions and credits
Changelogs
Donations
'Orphaned etymology' refers to the phenomenon when a word is used in a work of fiction that breaks from the established setting or time period:

"Serjo Venim! This Dunmer from Maar Gan wishes to join House Redoran. Could you evaluate whether she is a suitable candidate?"

"Oh GEEZ, Neminda, must I?" (Just a random example of what "orphaned etymology" would be. The word "geez" is a shorter way of exclaiming "Jesus," and it's a mistake that I have frequently spotted in the works of TES fan fiction authors.)

Morrowind also has a couple of such words, and the aim of this mod is to replace those with words that look less out of place. While it's true that the language of the game is English, therefore, fundamentally every word used is rooted in the real world, there are some words that shouldn't exist in TES, even if we accept that the citizens of Tamriel just speak English. For example: words having their origins in Greek mythology, Christianity and modern American popular culture, none of which are present in TES.

Words replaced in this mod:

Crusader: The word's etymology is the Latin "cruc" or "crux" which means "cross." A literal translation of a "crusade" would be "military expedition under the cross." It's true that nowadays a "crusade" is not necessarily related to a Christian cause, the word itself was still created with the usage of the word "cross," which doesn't have the same significance in the world of TES as in our world, therefore it wouldn't make sense for the people there to name their holy warriors crusaders. The mod replaces this word, and all the references to this word to zealot. Even though a "zealot" originally was a Jewish equivalent of a "crusader," the etymology of the word is the Greek "zelotes" which simply means "admirer" or "follower," and it also has the same general connotation as "crusader," a holy warrior.

Icarian: Refers to Icarus from Greek mythology. A general connotation of someone "Icarian" would be "excessively ambitious." (Like Icarus was.) Nevertheless, there is no Icarus in TES, therefore the word was rewritten to "enterprising," which has the same meaning.

Hermaphrodite: Hermaphroditus was the child of Hermes and Aphrodite whom the gods merged with a nymph, making them a hermaphrodite. Since there is neither Hermes, nor Aphrodite, nor their child, Hermaphroditus, in TES, the word was rewritten to "androgyne" and "androgynous" when it is an adjective. (The word in Morrowind mostly comes up in connection with Vivec and the Sload.)

Eltonbrand: It refers to Elton Brand, a professional American basketball player. I have renamed the sword to Bluebrand, which is the ID of the item. Even though this item is somewhere between an Easter Egg and something that is actually part of TES lore, I have rewritten it anyway, because it was like two seconds, lol.

Preemptively answered questions:

Q: Can't you make the argument that the citizens of Nirn obviously don't speak English, but it's a story presented for a real life audience, and everything is a translation? "Crusaders" in Nirn are not actually called "crusaders," it's just the closest word in our language, and these "crusaders" are called as such so that we could understand the story better?

A: You can. The good thing about this situation is that if you feel this way, you are not compelled to download this mod. I never understood why people feel it necessary to vehemently start a CRUSADE against optional, free content. Look, these things bothered me, so I have changed them. Maybe other people will appreciate these changes too.

Q: Ackchyually, ESO explains "Icarian" by saying that there was a legendary mage named Icarian!

A: I recognise that ESO has made a decision. But given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.

Q: What about Desele's House of EARTHLY Delights?

A: It would involve renaming a cell, which would create issues compatibility-wise. If people want it, I can make a separate add-on that renames that tavern and every reference to it later. If I do make this add-on later, it won't be "Nirnly" because that's incredibly silly in my opinion, but rather something like "carnal."

Q: You say that this mod renames this and that, yet when I have the .esp activated, this and that still has the vanilla name!

A: The mod has been tested, it should work as intended. What you are experiencing is that another mod which modifies the same thing interferes with this one. You should move my mod to the bottom of your load order.