Unflappable Drayk adc. Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 So, in our literature, we encountered a word called "Avernus", it described in the book that it was an entrance to the underworld. Source: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Avernus Avernus was an ancient name for a crater in Italy which contained Lake Avernus (Lago d'Averno). It was believed to be the entrance to the underworld, and was portrayed as such in the Aeneid of Virgil. In later times, the word was simply an alternate name for the underworld. My theory is that maybe Jeff just removed letter 's' and added letter 'm'. Which, might be true... ------- -A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 You're absolutely correct: that's where the name comes from. There's actually a note about this in the manual to the original Avernum; I'm not sure whether the note still exists in A:EftP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 And even though "Avernum" isn't actually Latin (as far as I know), it still looks like Latin, because the -um ending is a standard neuter singular ending (whereas -us is a standard masculine singular). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Harehunter Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Actually, according to this reference, Avernum is indeed a latin word meaning 'of or belonging to the infernal regions. Of course the infernal regions is understood to be Hades, which is the "down" place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Lurking Eyebeast Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 According to a poorly sourced article that anybody can edit; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Avernus, avernus derives from ancient Greek awornos (with w being some obsolete letter called "digamma") (modern aornos), meaning birdless (which I wildly speculate to be a cognate with aviary and aviator), as it was believed that it emitted poisonous fumes which would kill any birds unfortunate enough to fly over it. EDIT: Sorry, Harehunter, I should've read your reference. It basically is a more detailed version of what I just posted. Perhaps I should add it as a reference in that Wikipedia article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 My favorite part of that article is that "the lake was confiscated by the police" in 2010. I understand what that means, and legally it makes sense, but the image it conjures is hilarious. —Alorael, who is also reminded of a recent Oglaf about water theft. You can Google it yourself (try naiads); the entire comic is emphatically not safe for work and not legal for anyone under 18. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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