Guardian of what?

Collins6542

So, while playing the DC after completing the EP, I stumble across this mission. In the mission you are required to meet with different elemental guardians. One thing really stumped me... One of the guardians is the Guardian of the Earth.... Wait a minute... what? I thought we were on the Planet Nirn... what do you mean the Guardian of Earth.... I thought maybe they meant the Guardian of the Earth element..... then I thought... in Mundus, they have never heard of the planet of Earth.... So with that said, you would conclude that the 'Earth Element' would actually be the 'Nirn Element'.

Volkodav

Earth meaning dirt,or the planet floor,maybe?

Mighty_oakk

WhiskeyRiver.AZub17_ESO wrote: »

Earth meaning dirt,or the planet floor,maybe?

Hmm he means the term earth meaning dirt would only exist on the planet earth. Martians on mars would call dirt mars type deal

Epona222

Mighty_oakk wrote: »

WhiskeyRiver.AZub17_ESO wrote: »

Earth meaning dirt,or the planet floor,maybe?

Hmm he means the term earth meaning dirt would only exist on the planet earth. Martians on mars would call dirt mars type deal

Apart from Mars is our name for that planet, if there were Martians, they probably would have a different name for themselves and their planet.

I was actually wondering about this the other day, there are references to 'the sun' in ESO, but as that is the English language name we give to our star (Sol being the Latin), shouldn't they have a different name for it? There is no such thing as a 'sun', it is just a name we give to our star.

Lenikus

"mother earth" ?
Earth as in Earth,Fire,Air,Water ?
... Captain planet?

Collins6542

Hahahaha... Exactly! If referring to an element it should be element of Nirn since there is no knowledge of planet earth.

Xendyn

Guardian of Dirt just doesn't have the same feel to it somehow.

starkerealm

Guardian of Nirn would be a dull red, and drive you insane. So... Guardian of earth it is. At least they're not speaking in German anymore.

UrQuan

But is earth the substance named after earth the world where it is found, or is earth the world named after earth the substance that it's made out of?

OzJohnD

elemental earth not world earth

theroyalestpythonnub18_ESO

Epona222 wrote: »

Mighty_oakk wrote: »

WhiskeyRiver.AZub17_ESO wrote: »

Earth meaning dirt,or the planet floor,maybe?

Hmm he means the term earth meaning dirt would only exist on the planet earth. Martians on mars would call dirt mars type deal

Apart from Mars is our name for that planet, if there were Martians, they probably would have a different name for themselves and their planet.

I was actually wondering about this the other day, there are references to 'the sun' in ESO, but as that is the English language name we give to our star (Sol being the Latin), shouldn't they have a different name for it? There is no such thing as a 'sun', it is just a name we give to our star.

They do have a different name for it. The game calling it 'the Sun' rather than Magnus or that Magnus shaped hole in the sky is for our benefit, and for general flow. The people we encounter in Tamriel aren't supposed to speaking English, they're speaking Tamrielic or common Cyrodiilic. What we get in game is like a translation. It's not much different from Tolkein using 'the Sun' in his writings instead of Vasa or Anar.

Farorin

Lenikus wrote: »

"mother earth" ?
Earth as in Earth,Fire,Air,Water ?
... Captain planet?

CAPTAIN PLANET! HE'S A HERO! GONNA TAKE POLLUTION DOWN TO ZERO!

Collins6542

OzJohnD wrote: »

elemental earth not world earth

What I am saying is earth is named earth because we as humanity named it as such. Where as Nirn is named Nirn because those of Mundus know their planet as Nirn. So, with that said elemental soil would be represented by Planet Nirn and not Planet Earth.

RizaHawkeye

UrQuan wrote: »

But is earth the substance named after earth the world where it is found, or is earth the world named after earth the substance that it's made out of?

More than that, it's just the word for the substance. It's not the proper noun, (e.g Earth), it's just a noun.

And used in this case, it's a word for that substance that makes up the physical, static earth. The vaporous substance is air; the fluid substance is water.

If the name Guardian of Earth is wrong because it uses an English word to refer to that substance, then the others are wrong, too. In fact, almost every noun in the game would be wrong because the various language groups on Planet Nirn would have their own words for these things.

(And was I the only one who read this thread thinking it was going to be about Guardians of the Galaxy?)

Collins6542

RizaHawkeye wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

But is earth the substance named after earth the world where it is found, or is earth the world named after earth the substance that it's made out of?

More than that, it's just the word for the substance. It's not the proper noun, (e.g Earth), it's just a noun.

And used in this case, it's a word for that substance that makes up the physical, static earth. The vaporous substance is air; the fluid substance is water.

If the name Guardian of Earth is wrong because it uses an English word to refer to that substance, then the others are wrong, too. In fact, almost every noun in the game would be wrong because the various language groups on Planet Nirn would have their own words for these things.

(And was I the only one who read this thread thinking it was going to be about Guardians of the Galaxy?)

I think this will turn into a "what came first" type of debate. I believe that if the Earth was never ned Earth, then what would the word for substance/soil/dirt whatever you want to call it be? If their sciences have discovered elements, they would have only been able to reference Nirn as the Element of Substance and not Earth due to them not knowing what Earth is or means.

Sharee

The heart of the 'problem' here is that the denizens of Nirn are speaking english. And in english, the 4th element after fire air and water is called earth.

Collins6542

Sharee wrote: »

The heart of the 'problem' here is that the denizens of Nirn are speaking english. And in english, the 4th element after fire air and water is called earth.

I agree, but the origin of that word is based off of our understanding of our own planet that we have labeled as earth in the English language. The people of Mundus, with this understanding, would have labeled the elemental Earth as Nirn and not Earth due to their understanding of the elements.

theroyalestpythonnub18_ESO

Collins6542 wrote: »

Sharee wrote: »

The heart of the 'problem' here is that the denizens of Nirn are speaking english. And in english, the 4th element after fire air and water is called earth.

I agree, but the origin of that word is based off of our understanding of our own planet that we have labeled as earth in the English language. The people of Mundus, with this understanding, would have labeled the elemental Earth as Nirn and not Earth due to their understanding of the elements.

It's likely they already have. It just doesn't translate to us through the game.

Collins6542

theroyalestpythonnub18_ESO wrote: »

Collins6542 wrote: »

Sharee wrote: »

The heart of the 'problem' here is that the denizens of Nirn are speaking english. And in english, the 4th element after fire air and water is called earth.

I agree, but the origin of that word is based off of our understanding of our own planet that we have labeled as earth in the English language. The people of Mundus, with this understanding, would have labeled the elemental Earth as Nirn and not Earth due to their understanding of the elements.

It's likely they already have. It just doesn't translate to us through the game.

Ah yes, but for us to fully understand the Elemental guardian, we have to associate it with an element. Here on Earth, our element of substance is Earth. It would be reasonable to assume without doubt that the denizens of Nirm associated substance with their home planet of Nirn. So, in retrospect, the Guardian of Earth, should actually be named the Guardian of Nirn due to their understanding of elemental substance.

starkerealm

This is why it was so much less confusing when the Guardians spoke German. Sure, it being German it made no sense, but at least it sounded like they were speaking another language. :P

In all honesty, there is no English in the games. As a player, information is conveyed to you in your language of choice, but NPCs are actually (supposed) to be speaking in a couple different languages. Which is part of where that idiosyncratic Khajiit speech pattern comes from.

Collins6542

I wish they spoke Tamrielic(?).... With English subtitles, it would make this game more fun.. Even more, actually form a language of Tamriel.... Like Klingon... Turn it into a "real" language.

starkerealm

Collins6542 wrote: »

I wish they spoke Tamrielic(?).... With English subtitles, it would make this game more fun.. Even more, actually form a language of Tamriel.... Like Klingon... Turn it into a "real" language.

Yeah, but then those cut scenes would make no sense whatsoever.

Collins6542

Eh.. If they had English subtitles... The characters never once talked in the cinematic anyway

The Uninvited

Collins6542 wrote: »

I wish they spoke Tamrielic(?).... With English subtitles, it would make this game more fun.. Even more, actually form a language of Tamriel.... Like Klingon... Turn it into a "real" language.

Indeed, that would make sense. Every word in the game that an NPC speaks is a word we humans came up with, so "Earth" makes sense as it is something we can relate to. I understand the point you're making, but that would also go for a lot of other words in the game. Now if it was another language all together, it would make the game a lot more interesting.

Tamriel dictionary in crown store soon.

Collins6542

The Uninvited wrote: »

Collins6542 wrote: »

I wish they spoke Tamrielic(?).... With English subtitles, it would make this game more fun.. Even more, actually form a language of Tamriel.... Like Klingon... Turn it into a "real" language.

Indeed, that would make sense. Every word in the game that an NPC speaks is a word we humans came up with, so "Earth" makes sense as it is something we can relate to. I understand the point you're making, but that would also go for a lot of other words in the game. Now if it was another language all together, it would make the game a lot more interesting.

Tamriel dictionary in crown store soon.

LOL yes! #Tamrielic - honestly though I can understand that many words in game are used for our understanding... Just this particular instance really annoys me because clearly, even though elemental, it's not Earth. Lol

NovaMarx

It refers to the 4 elements: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water. Earth as in the ground, what the trees grow out of. Fire as in *ouch I burnt my finger. Wind as in gushes of air. Water as in the wet stuff you drink and swim in.

It has nothing to do with the Planet Earth!! The word "earth" existed as a term for the ground long before it was used as a name for our planet. Different civilizations throughout time have had different names for our world. The Earth just happens to be the modern/international name.

This has to be a troll thread/discussion.....

SlayerTheDragon

Never noticed that because... back when I did the quest this NPC was German.

TheShadowScout

The problem is with us stupid humans who got stuck with our darn planet named after dirt because our ancestors didn't have enough brains to give it a proper name...

Serves us right for using the same word for two things!

I vote we fix the problem at the source, and furthermore refer to the dirt as "Earth" and the planet as "Terra"! There, problem solved!

Tommy_valkyria

Collins6542 wrote: »

So, while playing the DC after completing the EP, I stumble across this mission. In the mission you are required to meet with different elemental guardians. One thing really stumped me... One of the guardians is the Guardian of the Earth.... Wait a minute... what? I thought we were on the Planet Nirn... what do you mean the Guardian of Earth.... I thought maybe they meant the Guardian of the Earth element..... then I thought... in Mundus, they have never heard of the planet of Earth.... So with that said, you would conclude that the 'Earth Element' would actually be the 'Nirn Element'.

You're putting too much thought into it. Guardian of the crap beneath your feet is what it means.

Enodoc

I am of the opinion that whatever the name of the planet is, the element will always be called earth, and that the element isn't named after the planet.

And don't forget that the gods who created the laws of nature on Nirn are called the Earthbones.

Collins6542

NovaMarx wrote: »

It refers to the 4 elements: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water. Earth as in the ground, what the trees grow out of. Fire as in *ouch I burnt my finger. Wind as in gushes of air. Water as in the wet stuff you drink and swim in.

It has nothing to do with the Planet Earth!! The word "earth" existed as a term for the ground long before it was used as a name for our planet. Different civilizations throughout time have had different names for our world. The Earth just happens to be the modern/international name.

This has to be a troll thread/discussion.....

If you would read the comments we have established that it means elemental earth repeatedly. Firstly, it’s important to understand that nearly every language has its own name for the planet. It’s called ‘terra’ in Portuguese, ‘dünya’ in Turkish and ‘aarde’ in Dutch, just to name a few with their own etymology.

The modern English word and name for our planet ‘Earth’, is said to go back at least 1,000 years. Just as the English language evolved from ‘Anglo-Saxon’ (English-German) with the migration of certain Germanic tribes from the continent to Britain in the fifth century A.D, the word ‘Earth’ came from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘erda’ and it’s germanic equivalent ‘erde’ which means ground or soil. In Old English, the word became ‘eor(th)e’ or ‘ertha ‘. There is speculation that the origins of the word may be from an Indo-European language base ‘er’ which produced more modern adaptations of the word used in languages today. What is certain though is of all the Planet’s names, Earth is the only one in our solar system that does not come from Greco-Roman mythology. All of the other planets were named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. We look at The Earth and see its historical use and association. Originally, the Earth was associated with various deities throughout many civilizations and beliefs that represented the planet or plain of existence.

Now, while speaking of Greek mythology and sciences, The ancient Greeks believed that there were four elements that everything was made up of: substance, water, air, and fire. This theory was suggested around 450 BC, and it was later supported and added to by Aristotle. (Aristotle also suggested that there was a fifth element, aether, because it seemed strange that the stars would be made out of earthly elements. He would be surprised to learn that they are in fact made up of many elements found on earth, and are so hot they could be said to be on fire all the time!)