The Campaign Builder's Guild

I'm havin a tough time with comin up with a good racial name for dwarves...for instance elves i naertica call themselves Sidhe (Subraces include the Aes Sidhe, Ald Sidhe, Mri Sidhe etc..)  goblinoids are Cheitun (Subrace names are Ursir, Kulsir etc...) any ideas? I've thought of Dvergar and some other roughly mythological equivalents, but i'm not liking any of them

how about diligo vinum... or is that just vreeg?

I'd use a variation on the Norse word. I always liked that sound.

I find it kind of ineresting that the word dweomer apparently comes from dvergmál or "dwarf talk" the dwarven secrets.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Transwiki:Dweomer
You could go with some variation of the above?

Dverger.  Dweomer.  Dökkálfar.  Svartálfar.

M.

svart means black and álfar means elfs, so that might be a bit too close for comfort (yes, their role in norse myth was close to dwarves but still)

Why not use some kind of Slavic/Eastern European sounding name, rather than the typical Scandinavian-type?

I don't know enough about the culture of your dwarves, but maybe if they're a more clerical type, then they might call themselves the Cinstit (Romanian for faithful); more martial dwarves might be known as the Snazan (Serbian for powerful); and a more mining-centred culture might be the Dedesubt (Romanian for under).

Just my two low-denomination-monetary-units.

I second the suggestion of slavic.Although maybe not ont one of the suggested words.

My dwarves call themselves the Klaxik, and that is generally how others refer to them as well.

Are there any events of biblical equivalence in their past, such as a flood or a certain batle that might define how they term themsleves?

Zwergen? Khazad? Vaettir?

Or, hell, if you give your dwarves a secret language that they never use around outsiders, you don't need to figure out what they call themselves. That's definitely been done before.

My dwarves have called themselves, variously, Khuuzd, Khazad, Duer, Iglish and Dver.

Common 'Dwarf' could be a derivation from the dwarven language itself, so, Dver, Tver, Tvar, Tvarv, Tfarf, Dwaav, Dvaarf... the possibilities are almost endless, depending on sound-changes etc.

Alternately, you could use some varied or unvaried word, from Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Norse, Arabic, Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Cherokee... depending on the them you want.

Also, if you're going with Slavic, you don't want Romanian words. Romanian is a direct linguistic descendant of Latin (with influences from Slavic languages), and thus is closer to French (technically speaking) than Serbian.

Quote from: Bill VolkOr, hell, if you give your dwarves a secret language that they never use around outsiders, you don't need to figure out what they call themselves. That's definitely been done before.

If the world is designed for gaming and playing dwarves is an option for players, this course of action is potentially problematic.

Quote from: Luminous Crayon

Quote from: Bill VolkOr, hell, if you give your dwarves a secret language that they never use around outsiders, you don't need to figure out what they call themselves. That's definitely been done before.

That response was the first thing that went through my head.

In Eschaton, all creatures are from mythology, and there are really fewer creatures, just known by different names in different cultures. "Dwarf" is one name for earth elementals, popular largely in Heimdallite (Germanic) cultures. Other names:

Coranian/Derrick, couril/goric, spriggan, blue cap; quinkan ; dokkaebi; Pygmy/daktyl; shinseen; Dverg/svartalf/duerg/dockalf/dwarf; Koropokkuru; Abatwa; Menehune, Nuno; Yumboe/ndogbojusui; Monociello; gana; gtod; maa-alused/maahiset; karzelek/karliki/krasnoludek/shyshock

Edit: Oh, and Furor, your avatar rocks.

Quote from: Luminous CrayonIf the world is designed for gaming and playing dwarves is an option for players, this course of action is potentially problematic.

Not necessarily. It wouldn't be the first fantasy language for which no actual words are given. A dwarf's player could just tell the GM when his character is speaking the language and when he's not, and the dwarf language's own word for dwarves could translate to something simple like "the people" or "true men."

Quote from: Bill VolkNot necessarily. It wouldn't be the first fantasy language for which no actual words are given. A dwarf's player could just tell the GM when his character is speaking the language and when he's not, and the dwarf language's own word for dwarves could translate to something simple like "the people" or "true men."

this raises another question: is this a name they use for themselves? if yes, they won't call themselves dwarves or any of its related words, because this a human word for them. dwarf always carries a connotation of "small" with it, but to a dwarf, he'd be normal sized and everyone else is a giant. an exception would be if to them, "dwarf" means "person" and for humans it has come to mean "small".
just to go a little deeper into entymology, "dvergr" is related to the germanic "trügen", i.e. betray or trick, which is either not flattering or very honest, if dwarves call themselves dwarves.

Quote from: Scholar

Quote from: Bill VolkNot necessarily. It wouldn't be the first fantasy language for which no actual words are given. A dwarf's player could just tell the GM when his character is speaking the language and when he's not, and the dwarf language's own word for dwarves could translate to something simple like "the people" or "true men."

this raises another question: is this a name they use for themselves? if yes, they won't call themselves dwarves or any of its related words, because this a human word for them. dwarf always carries a connotation of "small" with it, but to a dwarf, he'd be normal sized and everyone else is a giant. an exception would be if to them, "dwarf" means "person" and for humans it has come to mean "small".
just to go a little deeper into entymology, "dvergr" is related to the germanic "trügen", i.e. betray or trick, which is either not flattering or very honest, if dwarves call themselves dwarves.

That's what I was suggesting. Dwarf could originally have meant 'people' in... let's call it Dwarven. Then it was used in early dialogue between humans and dwarves, and the humans mistranslated it and borrowed it into their own language meaning the 'dwarf race'. This then gained further connotations of size when used as a metaphor and eventually become a word in its own right.

Also, dwarf doesn't NECESSARILY have to come from the above mentioned germanic term, trugen. It could come from a completely different fantasy language.

Go on with Krasnoluds. :) It comes from name of Dwarves in my langaueg.

wow, lot of responses. I like the idea of Dvergar the most, but i really need a name that when spoken evokes what you think of as a dwarf, stout, dependable, strong, warlike...and maybe its just me, bur Dvergar, because of Dnd and their actual place in nordic myth, makes me think of pale, cavern dwelling tricksters. I like to assign the internal linguistic names for each race (Sidhe means peopple in Sidhal [Elven], Sidhal meaning "people's tongue" etc.) because a race like the goblinoids refer to themselves as Cheitun but are known by others as goblins, orcs etc.

I played with Coranian [Insert Dwarf racial name] as a subrace, but it doesn't evoke what i want fore the race as a whole.

@Pheonix, thanks, pretty nasty pic i grabbed off a search for demons

Stout, strong sounding names (no actual lingual connotations as I just pulled these out of my head).

- Hungrum
- Iandor
- Kelrakun
- Melgram
- Ghor
- Degorl