[ 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 |
|---|---|
| Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka | There is a persistent fan theory that "Mag Uruk Thraka" is meant to represent Margaret Thatcher. According to the character's creator, Andy Chambers, this is not true: "The real answer is far more arcane than that. In the early eighties my friends and I used to do live roleplaying (it wasn't called that then, but that's what it became in later years). We played monsters a lot, particularly Orcs, so we worked out basic Orcish based on the bits of Black Speech in Lord of the Rings so we could communicate without the adventurers understanding what we said. In that framework, Mag Uruk Thraka = big orc leader, Ghazghkull = metal skull (coincidentally the sun we called 'ghash-kul' = fire-skull). No Maggie involved; we were doing out best to forget about the wicked witch." [WH40k Ork Goffs] |
| Mag Uruk Thraka | See: Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. [WH40k Ork Goffs] |
| Makari ¹ | Greek μακάρι, "if only". This is probably coincidence rather than a deliberate allusion. [WH40k Ork Goffs Grot] |
| 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 the King of Decay