I think there is a tendency (and one that Greg and I fell for from time to time) to fall into a real-world anthropology take on Gloranthan religion and not to take Glorantha at face value. We have set of runes and major archetypes – and pretty much any important god is likely an expression or mask of those. Yelmalio and Dayzatar are the better known expressions of Light and Sky – one is removed, one is engaged in the world. Yelm is the Sun – well we all know what the Sun is (most people it is the Disk – too remote or too power to directly contact). The big list of cultural names are fun for systems or lore mastery, but they also tend to obscure core mechanics of what is going on.
It’s one of the reasons I love one of the early drafts of what became the Entekosiad and GRoY Greg gave me – it uses the familiar names of Lodril, Pelora, Dayzatar, and so on. I’ve a few others like that – skeleton keys to decipher them and turn them back into game materials.
This gets me to something I have been playing around with since the Guide to Glorantha – the name of things.
In the ancient world names had meaning and power, and were often understandable as common nouns or clear compounds (e.g., Aristoklēs = “best glory,” Sophoklēs = “famous for wisdom,” Periklēs = “very famous,” Dēmoklēs = “glory of the people”). These were often chosen deliberately for auspicious or descriptive qualities.
For gods, the transparency reinforced worship: saying the name invoked the concept (thunder, sky, sun, etc.). Many other examples fit this pattern too, such as Eos (“dawn”), Nyx (“night”), or even some Roman equivalents. For example:
- Thor (Norse Þórr; also Old English Thunor, Old High German Donar): Literally meant “thunder.” In Germanic languages, the name was essentially the common word for thunder personified—no deep etymology needed. Worshippers heard “Thor” and directly associated it with storms and thunder.
- Zeus (Greek) and cognates like Jupiter (Latin Iuppiter), Dyaus Pita (Sanskrit): From Proto-Indo-European *Dyēus (or *Dyēus ph₂tḗr), meaning “Sky” or “Bright Sky/Daylight” + “Father.” The root *dyeu- referred to shining daylight or the sky. Ancient speakers recognized the sky-god connection; the full title was a clear “Sky Father.”
- Perkʷūnos (reconstructed Proto-Indo-European thunder god): Linked to “oak” or striking/percussive force (cognates include Lithuanian Perkūnas, Slavic Perun). The name evoked the thunder god who strikes oaks.
- Helios: Simply meant “sun.” He was the personification of the sun itself, and the word was used for both the god and the celestial body.
- Selene: Meant “moon” (from a root for brightness or the moon). The goddess of the moon.
- Uranus (Ouranos): Meant “sky” or “heaven.” The sky god.
- Gaia (or Ge): Meant “earth.” The earth mother.
- Aether (Aithēr): Referred to the “upper air” or “bright/pure sky” (the highest, shining layer of the atmosphere).
- Hypnos: Directly meant “sleep.” The god of sleep.
- Thanatos: Meant “death.” The personification of death.
- Rhea: Often interpreted as “the one that flows” (linked to flow or ease), fitting her role in generation and fertility.
- Hyperion: Meant something like “the one who goes above” or “high-going,” associated with light and the sun.
I do lean into this a lot when I run RQ at conventions like GaryCon or GenghisCon. Rather than give lists of fantasy names, I talk about the Storm God and his companions the Talking God, the Knowing God, the Merciful Goddess, the Trickster, the Flesh Man, and the Spirit of Us. The Storm God used his brother Death to kill the Sun God, and the Mother of Trolls emerged from the underworld. And so on.
Maybe Glorantha is a lot like Gene Wolfe’s best novel Soldier of the Mist? Does the name Arkat literally mean Liberator? Anyways that train has long since left the station but I do think about it a lot.
We moderns are used to hiding the meaning of things behind syllables that no longer have a literal meaning. I sometimes think we have lost something in the process.