Hermetic Names

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

I've always wondered how to construct Hermetic names.

They seem to be in the form (from what I recall of the old HoH supplement):

<Magus's Name> filius/filia <Mater/Pater's Name> ex (House Name in Latin ablative)

Hence IMO,

Primiatus filius Mercere ex Merceris
Fenicil filius Guernicus ex Guernici (?or Quaesitori)
Lucian filius Trianoma ex Bonisagi

But what if you change Houses eg. Guernicus to Jerbiton? There seem to be a few examples in the various HoH:* books that suggest this is possible, with the magus having a "surname" added that reflects their old House.

Is it:

Damocles Guernici filius Perseus ex Jerbitoni?
(ie. Damocles filius of Perseus, formerly of House Guernicus, now House Jerbiton)

OR

Damocles filius Perseus ex Jerbitoni (ex Guernici)

And for those magi who prefer Greek names:

Is it:

Gypaetos gios Megalos Gypus apo Allos
(rather than Gypaetos filius Megalos Gypus ex Miscellanea)?

Thanks,

Jarkman

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2

You might want to look over here.

It is for ArM4, but I think still applicable.

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3

Yes this is roughly what i wanted.

There seems to be a bit of a pattern in some of the ArM5 supplements that I hadn't noticed in some of the ArM4 line though.

Jarkman

4

I was wondering about this so I searched for this topic before writing my own post about it. In the 2nd edition supplement The Order of Hermes they used the style (name), filius of (parens), follower of (founder), e.g. "Trentus, filius of Vermbar, follower of Flambeau." I've noticed in newer edition supplements there's no "of" afer "filius," e.g. "Muscaria, filia Demetrius, follower of Criamon." I suppose the idea is to aim for a more authentic Latin sound, but I don't think this works if the parens's name isn't in the genetive form so I still go with the 2nd edition style.

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5

Perhaps this helps: Hermetic Naming Conventions
Building the genitive of a wizard's name is basic grammar, like described here:

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6

The problem is that the name should be Latin(ized) to start with.
Fine with Bonisagus, Guernicus, Merinita, Verditius, Tytalus.

All the male names above sound 2nd declension (I guess they could be 4th like tractatus, but the "natural" assumption would be 2nd). So replace "us" with "i" for the genitive, and with "o" for the ablative, as in Primus, filius Secundi, de Bonisago (I'd note "de+ablative" is way more correct than "ex+ablative" to express "of the line of"). And Meriinta is clearly 1st declension, so genitive Merinitae, and ablative Merinita.

But ... how are you supposed to get the genitive of Flambeau, or Jerbiton?
It's worth noting that for quite a long time even after the middle ages scholars would latinize their names when dealing with the scholarly community (particularly the international one).
Francis Bacon was Franciscus Baco (occasionally, Baconus). Rene Descartes was Renatus Cartesius.

So, for Mercere, Tremere, Bjornaer, Criamon, Flambeau, Jerbiton (and Diedne, I guess), one would have to first latinize the name (Mercer,-is? Tremer,-is? Birna-ae? Criamo,-nis? Flambo,-nis? Jerbito,-nis?) and then form the genitive and the ablative.

If you want to do it, great! Otherwise, my strong suggestion is not to do things half-way, and stick with the suggestion of Aurelius:

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7

See here for Mark Shirley's proposal, which then got further discussed.

8

This is also the style suggested in Houses of Hermes, for the WotC ArM4 that never materialised. It's on p149 in the Hermetic Name and Swearing the Oath sections.

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