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Old 02-23-2014, 08:53 AM   #21
robkelk
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Default Re: Real World Name Origins?

Hieronymus Bosch painted St. Christopher Carrying the Christ Child - this is the best justification I've been able to find for the name of the Archangel of Children.

Wikipedia says "Zadkiel was said to be the Angel who prevented Abraham from sacrificing his son, Isaac."

As mentioned in his Superiors writeup, Mammon is named in the King James version of Matthew 6:24.

A couple of names come from the Book of Tobit:
"And Raphael was sent to heal them both, that is, to scale away the whiteness of Tobit's eyes, and to give Sara the daughter of Raguel for a wife to Tobias the son of Tobit; and to bind Asmodeus the evil spirit; because she belonged to Tobias by right of inheritance."
- Tobit 3:17a

And, despite what Mammon claims, another Prince is mentioned in the New Testament:
"And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many."
- Mark 5:9

Have we missed any Superiors?
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Last edited by robkelk; 02-23-2014 at 09:38 AM.
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Old 02-23-2014, 10:11 AM   #22
Matthias Wasser
 
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Default Re: Real World Name Origins?

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Originally Posted by robkelk View Post
Have we missed any Superiors?
Jean, Jordi, Laurence, Litheroy, Marc, Metatron, Oannes, Alaemon, Beelzebub, Fleurity, Gebbeleth, Genubath, Kronos, Legion, Magog, Makatiel, Mariel, Meserach, Vephar. Of those, Jean, Jordi, Laurence, and Marc fall into the category of random-as-best-I-can-tell French given names, while Metatron, Beelzebub, Kronos, Legion, and Magog are obvious.

Oannes was a half-fish Babylonian god who came from the sea to teach. For all you Lovecraft fans out there, apparently related to Dagon.

Alaemon is the name of a genus of lark, though I have no idea if there's a connection.

Fleurity is probably derived from "fleur," or "flower."

Genubath is a minor character that shows up in 1 Kings whose name supposedly means "theft."

Makatiel - along with our friend Hutriel of Daniel and Hutriel fame - is listed in several sources (apparently including Davidson's Dictionary, though I can't track down a copy at the moment or find any antecedents) as an angel of punishment. Trusting other's Hebrew, "Makatiel" is "plague of God," while Hutriel is "rod of God" and Daniel "judge of God."

Vephar - or Vepar - is not just Goetic but, unlike most of the Goetic lifts, actually has a connection to hs description therein; he "governs the waters and guides armoured ships laden with ammunition and weapons; he can also make, if requested, the sea rough and stormy, and to appear full of ships" and "is depicted as a mermaid."

So that leaves Litheroy (ironically,) Alaemon, Gebbeleth, and Mariel (perhaps less ironically,) and Meserach (also less ironically, if I could have found it with more effort.)
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Old 02-23-2014, 12:52 PM   #23
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Originally Posted by Matthias Wasser View Post

Fleurity is probably derived from "fleur," or "flower."
Which makes sense, since the Opium Wars were a key factor in his winning the Word of Drugs, before it became Prince-level. Poppies, anyone?

Meanwhile, one wild guess on Litheroy. At Versailles, the royal family's life was notoriously lived in public from the moment they woke up in the morning to the moment they went to sleep. That starting point of a non-private existence -- the king's bed -- is literally Le Lit du Roi.
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Old 02-23-2014, 08:54 PM   #24
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Of those, Jean, Jordi, Laurence, and Marc fall into the category of random-as-best-I-can-tell French given names
Though John, George, Lawrence and Mark are all pretty important saints. I think Marc may be a play on the currency unit.

Quote:
So that leaves Litheroy (ironically,) Alaemon, Gebbeleth, and Mariel (perhaps less ironically,) and Meserach (also less ironically, if I could have found it with more effort.)
Mariel is a name that shows up in protective amulets. Alaemon might be too, Alimon is a popular angel to invoke for protection from bullets. Though I don't see any link to the IN superiors.

Davidson gives Meserach as an alternate name of the Assyrian god Nisroch and says he's chief of cuisine in the House of Princes, which I suppose you can stretch into a connection.
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Old 02-23-2014, 10:36 PM   #25
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Though John, George, Lawrence and Mark are all pretty important saints. I think Marc may be a play on the currency unit.
Mark is also the patron saint of Venice, a city with a proud commercial heritage. Though ironically, the name refers to one blessed by Mars -- i.e., a warrior.
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Old 02-24-2014, 03:45 AM   #26
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Default Re: Real World Name Origins?

Alaemon's name may be related to a Hebrew word for "hide/conceal"; a Demon Prince of Secrets could hardly have a more suitable name than "Concealer". From Strong's Hebrew and Greek Lexicon--

Quote:
5956 `alam aw-lam' a primitive root; to veil from sight, i.e. conceal (literally or figuratively):--X any ways, blind, dissembler, hide (self), secret (thing).
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Old 05-02-2014, 06:01 AM   #27
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Default Re: Real World Name Origins?

This thread is surprisingly current.

Two things--first, is it my imagination, or is Janus the only Superior whose name comes from a reasonably well-known god? Granted Baal is pretty well known but he's also demonized from biblical days onward. Janus the Roman god is relatively recent and well known. It made me wonder what happened to him, more to the point what Wind did to him...

Second, on the choirs of angels, In Nomine is pretty traditional on the highest six. By traditional I refer you to Pseudo-Dionysus the Areopagite http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ar..._hierarchy.htm In my game his "On the Celestial Hierarchy" exists, in part because it's both illuminating and an imperfect match. From that book we have, in hierarchical order:

Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones

Dominations
Virtues
Powers

and then it gets freaky:
Principalities
Archangels
Angels

The author explains why "Angels" is the term for all of them but particularly for those on the ground, but the translation I'm reading does not makes sense to me at the momen.
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Old 05-02-2014, 05:10 PM   #28
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This thread is surprisingly current.

Two things--first, is it my imagination, or is Janus the only Superior whose name comes from a reasonably well-known god? Granted Baal is pretty well known but he's also demonized from biblical days onward.
Beelzebub is an insulting mutation of Ba'al, and of course Biblical too. Oannes is the Greek name for the Babylonian god Ea. Chronos is the Greek personification of time, and eventually conflated with the titan Kronus.
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Old 05-02-2014, 05:17 PM   #29
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Beelzebub is an insulting mutation of Ba'al, and of course Biblical too. Oannes is the Greek name for the Babylonian god Ea. Chronos is the Greek personification of time, and eventually conflated with the titan Kronus.
And the fact that Kronos became the Big Bad of the Percy Jackson books, out to undo modern civilization and transform the world, shows just how well the conferences with Nybbas have been going these days.
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Old 05-02-2014, 05:24 PM   #30
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And the fact that Kronos became the Big Bad of the Percy Jackson books, out to undo modern civilization and transform the world, shows just how well the conferences with Nybbas have been going these days.
So we've got one angry(er than usual) Olympian, and a Roman who gets love in the middle of winter. Playing nicely into my 'verse...
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