[ Models | Lore | Sources | Inspiration ]
With a rich background stretching back decades in time, the various Warhammer games contain a vast array of names (of people, places, items, and so on). Many of these names are original, but some happen to have a meaning in the real world, as obscure terms, foreign words, or cultural references. This page lists some of these underlying etymologies for your edification. Note that some of these are best guesses (speculative fan theory) rather than confirmed derivations.
Where a name is followed by the symbol ¹, if you hover over or click on that symbol you will see when that name was first mentioned in a publication.
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Biologus Putrifier | New Latin biologus, "biologist" + "putrefy", decompose or become gangrenous. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Blightbringer | See: Noxious Blightbringer. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Blight-hauler | See: Myphitic Blight-hauler. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard Vehicle] |
| Blightlord Terminator | "Blight", cause of spoiling + "lord", master of a household + Terminator. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Blightspawn | See: Foul Blightspawn. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Bloat-drone | See: Foetid Bloat-drone. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard Vehicle] |
| Calas Typhon | Calas from "callous", heartless. See also: Typhon, Typhus. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Deathshroud | "Death", the cessation of life + "shroud", a sheet for dressing the dead. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Eisenstein | Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948), a film director whose work includes Battleship Potemkin in which a ship's crew rebels against their officers. [WH40k Imperial DeathGuard Starship] |
| Felthius | "Filthy", very dirty. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Foetid Bloat-drone | "Foetid", foul-smelling + "bloat", distend + "drone", worker insect. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard Vehicle] |
| Foul Blightspawn | "Foul", disgusting + "blight", cause of spoiling + "spawn", offspring. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Malignant Plaguecaster | "Malignant", malevolent + "plague", a pestilential epidemic + "caster", one who performs magic. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Miasmic Malignifier | "Miasma", a noxious atmosphere + "malign", evil. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Mortarion ¹ | Latin mors, mortis, "death". But note Latin mortario (dative/ablative of mortarium, "mortar"). [WH40k Chaos Nurgle Daemon Primarch DeathGuard] |
| Myphitic Blight-hauler | "Mephitic", foul-smelling + "blight", cause of spoiling + "hauler", one that transports by pulling. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard Vehicle] |
| Nauseous Rotbone | "Nauseous", causing vomiting + "rot", decay + "bone", component of a skeleton. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Noxious Blightbringer | "Noxious", harmful + "blight", cause of spoiling + "bringer", one who supplies. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Plagueburst Crawler | "Plague", a pestilential epidemic + "burst", missile explosion + "crawler", one who creeps along the ground. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard Vehicle] |
| Plaguecaster | See: Malignant Plaguecaster. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Poxwalker | "Pox", disease + "walker", zombie. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle DeathGuard] |
| Putrifier | See: Biologus Putrifier. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Rotbone | See: Nauseous Rotbone. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Scribbus Wretch | Latin scribo, "I write" + "wretch", one who is miserable. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Terminus Est | "Terminus Est" is the name of a sword in The Book of the New Sun (first published 1980), a series of novels by Gene Wolfe (which include a character called Typhon). [WH40k Chaos Nurgle DeathGuard Starship] |
| Typhon | Typhon, a divine monster in Greek mythology. See also: Calas Typhon, Terminus Est. [WH40k Imperial SpaceMarine Vehicle Chaos Nurgle DeathGuard] |
| Typhus ¹ | Typhus, a disease. From Ancient Greek τῦφος, "fever". [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Wretch | See: Scribbus Wretch. [WH40k Chaos Nurgle SpaceMarine DeathGuard] |
| Zegenda | Dutch zegende, "blessed" (but as the singular past indicative, not the adjective gezegend). [WH40k Imperial Navigator DeathGuard] |
| Inspiration | |
| Warhammer Setting | The Dark Tongue; Daemonic Names; Lexicon; Short Stories; Cut-ups; Cool Stuff |
| Art | Golden Demon; Nurglesque Music |
| Speculation | Chaos God Correspondence; Dark Heresy Backgrounds; Sevenfold Path; Sevenrot; Seven Deadly Sins |
| Real World References | Nergal in Mesopotamian History; Symbolism of Three Circles; Symbolism of Seven |
dedicated to He who lives in the Veins