Errors with our Name Origins (Etymology) page

Question

Here: http://pokemondb.net/etymology
I think we got it 99% correct, so thanks to everyone that helped, I really appreciate it!

The point of this post is just in case there may be a few mistakes. If you happen to notice anything you think is wrong, post an answer here and I will look into it. Answers will be hidden once corrections have been made (or rejected). Thanks to everyone who's contributed so far!

Please post ANSWERS instead of comments or else your post will be hidden, thanks.

Answer 1

Tropius' name is listed as a combination of 'tropical' and 'saurus' - I'm not sure that suffix fits. There was a sauropod-like animal called Tanystropheus living in the triassic - '-tropheus/trophius' is a much more similar suffix, and the animal in question actually resembles Tropius more than sauropods do, as Tanystropheus was characterised as having a neck which exceeded the length of its body and tail. Tanystropheus was a marsh-dwelling animal, which fished in narrow rivers with its long neck - a marshy habitat intersected with rivers describes exactly the routes Tropius are found in. The piscivorous aspect of the animal is referenced, in my opinion, in the location of Feebas on the same route.
Tropius is a single-stage evolution. Tanystropheus was a relatively short-lived animal which existed after the most destructive mass extinction in history - the developers, I'm sure, would've been aware of this period of time, and I think that Tropius being a single-stage, unique Pokemon is a reference to the brevity of the existence of the animal. Also, given the precedent set by the designers of Pokemon for an affinity towards non-dinosaurian ancient animals (Aerodactyl being a pterosaur, Archeops being a proto-bird, the Cambrian fossil duo from Hoenn), I think it's more likely that Tropius was actually named after Tanystropheus.

Answer 2

Appletun's name comes from Appleton, a toponym that means an orchard or place where apples grow, which makes since because Appletun is a apple pie. Appletun's name may also come from ton (referencing its bulk). It may also be a play on apple turnover or under, an apple dish.

Toxel's name also comes from toddle, which means a young child's unsteady walk. It may also come from little.

Applin's name also comes from tannin, a biblical serpentine dragon, which is why it is Grass-Dragon.

Eldegoss's name originates from edelweiss, a flower with a furry coat, which makes since because Eldegoss is covered in a furry coat.

Regidrago's name possibly comes from draco (dragon in Latin).

Sobble's name also comes from dribble, a word that means a thin stream of liquid; a trickle, which makes since because Sobble is the water starter.

Rookidee's name also comes from a species of bird called rooks. Rookidee's name possibly comes from kid.

Corvisquire's name also comes from the bird family corvidae, which makes since because Corvisquire is a bird. That also applies to Corviknight.

Wooloo's name comes from loom, a type of machine used to weave cloth, which makes since because cloth can be gotten from sheep.

Yamper's name also comes from ampere, the SI base unit of electrical current, which makes since because Yamper is an electric doggo.

Sillicobra's name also comes from silt, a granular material of a size between sand and clay, whose mineral origin is quartz and feldspar, which makes since because Sillicobra is a ground snake.

Arrokuda's name also comes from arowana, which are freshwater bony fish of the family osteoglossidae.

Sizzlepede's name possibly also comes from millipede, a type of bug.

Kartana's name may come from card, since cards are made out of paper. It may also come from curtana, a British ceremonial sword used at the coronations for kings and queens. It definitely comes from Kartana, which is Sanskrit for cutting.

Bronzong's name also comes from gong, a musical instrument, and bianzhong, an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of bells.

Comments

"makes sense" not "makes since". My apologies if this sounds rude.

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What do you mean?(Edit) Oh I see it.

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Applin is a wyrm in an apple, as opposed to a worm in an apple.

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That's why it's a dragon type.

Answer 3

The "Dura" in Duraludon might also come from durable, because according to the Pokedex entries, Duraludon is made of very strong metal.

Raikou is probably from "Raijou".
Source

Scorbunny might also be from "score".

Comments

I think that this would be redundant. Duralumin comes from a combination of durable and aluminum.

Answer 4

Rayquaza

The entry for Rayquaza refers to a quasar as a distant star; this is incorrect. Quasars are quasi-stellar objects, and are actually the result of huge supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. The light from the quasars is a result of a huge amount of matter in the accretion disk of these black holes.

Comments

I know my astronomy and whatever you wrote about quasars is half correct. Firstly, quasars are not quasi-stellar “objects”. They’re quasi-stellar radio sources, named as such because they were discovered through their strong radio emissions, but they’re visible in bright light, as you may know, too. They’re a part of the wide varieties of AGN, or active galactic nuclei. They’re not a “result” of the black holes, they’re “powered” by a supermassive black hole in the AGN’s core, which is surrounded by a monstrous accretion disk funnelling material in at a prodigious rate. The brightest quasars need to gobble up an equivalent of a thousand suns each year to keep the lights on. Whenever the AGN runs out of fuel which it needs to sustain the lights and emissions, they central region quietens down. Currently, the scientists are exploring the correlation between a galaxy and the mass of its central black hole. In particular, they are studying how the black hole’s role in gobbling up material eventually robs a galaxy of its chance to make new batches of stars. The central engine’s prodigious appetite seems to be causing its own eventual downfall as it runs out of fuel to keep accreting mass.

The reason which I believe the page mentions quasars as a “distant star” is because of quasar’s initial similarity to stars (emphasis on initial). They appeared bright, almost starlike, and their brightness would sometimes vary over a few days. However, it was hard to tell what they were associated with, and they were almost always very, very far away. eventually, Dutch astronomer Maarten Schmidt* (1929-*) looked at emissions lines from a quasar called 3C 273*. He pointed out that these lines were coming from energized hydrogen atoms and were highly redshifted (i.e., the spectra were shifted very far toward the red end of the spectrum). 3C 273 was not only very bright, but also very far away. Eventually, people realised that quasars are powered by extremely massive black holes consuming huge amounts of materials.
(*- Please note that I haven't re-checked the date(s) and the name(s). They might be incorrect, but I'm pretty sure I do remember them correctly)

So I think that it’s particularly common among the people who’re not familiar with astronomy to think of quasars as bright and/or distant stars. A mistake which needs to be rectified.

That’s all from me. Cheers.

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If I could upvote a comment I would.

Answer 5

The "puff" in Slurpuff should not be the morpheme : "a small blast (of powder etc.)" as currently stated in the entry. The puff here refers to the dessert, makes more sense considering the design of the pokemon which is based on some cake-like confectionery.

Cross referencing with it's Japanese name ペロリーム （ペロペロLicking Noises + クリーム Cream）might bring more clarity.

French name "Cupcanaille" and German "Sabbaione" both referenced a type of sweet confectionery as well. (cupcake and Zabaione respectively)

Answer 6

Skrelp is probably "scrawny+kelp" or "scrap+kelp", I definitely like the latter much better as there are stronger arguments for it.

Japanese Name "クズモー" contains reference to "scraps/morsels of seaweed" : 藻屑 (もくず)
Chinese Name 拉拉藻 is 垃圾（trash/debris）+ 藻 (algae)/海藻（seaweed）

Answer 7

Wishiwashi is based on "wishy-washy", but the reason as to why it is stylised as Wishiwashi is another different reason. It is a direct succession from the Japanese name ヨワシ (Yowashi), which contains the word 鰯 (iwashi) which means sardines, thus the "-washi".

Also to any lost soul who even bothers to read these, I would really like to draw attention to Vikavolt.

I don't really buy the current etymology analysis of Vice + Volt, we probably all don't pronounce "Vika" similar to "Vice", not to mention that it doesn't fit the design of the Pokemon. All other names of this Pokemon in other available languages all contain a morpheme relating to a cannon: クワガノン Kuwaganon (Japanese) / Lucanon (French) / Donarion (German)/ 锹农炮虫“Stag Beetle + Cannon” (Chinese).

So what the heck is Vika exactly? Volt part is self-explanatory.

Answer 8

Palossand's current etymology is done right, but it did not account for the additional syllables or morphemes in the name beside the currently identified "palace" and "sand".

It's quite a fun interpretation, but I think the name also was just made to sound like "Pile of Sand".

Answer 9

Stakataka is Stack and Attack/Attacker.

Answer 10

Polteageist should be put as having pot in its potential name origin

Comments

But it doesn't have "pot" in there... it's "polt" from "poltergeist"

Answer 11

Isn’t Basculin/Basculegion’s names also puns off the Spanish word for scales-bascúles? It makes total sense for fish Pokémon like these, right?

Also, skunks are not rodents, they’re rodent-like, and skunks belong in the family Mephitidae.

Tangela’s name sounds a bit like “tangle of”.

I think the “dos” part of Gyarados’ name likely refers to the fact that it’s the second and last stage in its family.

Answer 12

Arboliva's name most likely comes from the fact that "tree" in Spanish is "árbol" and not from the word "arboretum".

Answer 13

Magnemite's name is close enough to magnetite for me to bring it up here, which is a type of iron ore that is one of the most magnetic naturally occurring minerals in the world.

Answer 14

Just wanted to point this out
A random Reddit post titled “Actual origin of Golduck and Golbat’s names” once said:

But Golduck isn’t gold, that must be a translation error!!” Nope. The prefix “gol” is short for “goliath”, implying “big”. So Golduck is basically Bigduck, and Golbat is basically Bigbat (which makes sense, since Psyduck’s japanese name pretty much translates to little duck)

It kinda makes sense.

Comments

what about gollop in golbat?

Answer 15

Doubt that the '-beat' in Volbeat's name has anything to do with musical beat (which you define as rhythm, which isn't really true - beat is steady and consistent with tempo, while rhythm is created around the beat. It's a rectangle/square thing, the beat is a rhythm, rhythm is not inherently beat. I digress.) but rather beetle, as Bulbapedia suggests.

Doesn't make the damn thing any more memorable though. Worst Pokemon ever.

Answer 16

Ariados
I was looking through the dex, and noticed some entries that immediately made me think “oh, its name origin is Ariadne of Greek mythos.” These are the entries that stood out to me:

Silver/SoulSilver, FireRed
A single strand of a special string is endlessly spun out of its rear. The string leads back to its nest.

D/P/P & BD/SP, B/W & B2/W2, Y
It attaches silk to its prey and sets it free. Later, it tracks the silk to the prey and its friends.

The imagery of “leading back to the nest” and “tracking the silk” heavily reminded me of Ariadne. I can’t say with 100% certainty that was the intention of Game Freak when writing dex entries, though.

Comments

Arachnids were named after Arachne, another character from Greek mythology, and I think it's just a coincidence that both of their names sound similar.

Answer 17

Meowscarada has "scar" cause it is neither meow nor masquerade.
Lokix could be Loki (deception god) and Low-key (Shady)
Goomy probably is gloomy

Answer 18

For Volcanion, im pretty sure the part you think is lion is referring to the word canyon, since canyon is referring to a word that could fit it and i dont see any resemblance to a lion at all

Comments

> Volcanion may be a combination of volcano and *lion*. It may also include canyon, referring to its ability to break large landmasses. "Canion" may also be a corruption of cannon.

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Volcanion_(Pok%C3%A9mon)#Name_origin

Answer 19

I believe Celebi is also derived from ‘celery’, based on the Grass-typing as well as the listed celestial.

Comments

I think that's a coincidence. It much more closely resembles a bulb than celery. Not sure they'd deliberately design a vegetable fairy either.

Answer 20

Celebi probably does not have its etymology in English words, because it's like an exact romanisation of it's Japanese name セレビィ, which I think is a combination of 精霊 (seirei)(Fairy) and 美 (bi)(Beauty).