Maju

Hi. I just joined the forum because I realized that the game was now using Basque (or rather quasi-Basque) for the Iberian faction and honestly, while I consider this development a clear improvement over the totally anachronistic usage of Castilian Spanish, I see that some stuff does not seem to be properly translated. This may be explained in some cases because of the usage of proto-Basque reconstructions and such (would not be my choice because they are controversial but whatever) but in other cases it is clearly just wrong. For example "caballero cantabri" is still in Castilian but worse: mixed with a plural Latin form that is inconsistent in both languages. I'd use the Basque form "zaldun" for "knight" or "horseman" but I'm a bit uncertain about what to do with the word "cantabro": should the game use the original documented Latin form "cantaber" (not the plural "cantabri", please) or the modern Basque form for the modern Spanish regional Cantabrians which is just transliteration of Spanish in the form "kantabro". In any case I'd use zaldun(-a) for horsemen (which directly derivates from "zaldi": horse and I believe is attested in Iberian as well). Cantaber zaldun or kantabro zaldun would be my choices here. Another issue I have is the priestess: "emakumezko apaiz" is a most strange sounding phrase (priest of the woman type, literally). Apaiz is a Christian word derived from Latin abbas (abbot) and now used for priests (abbot is said abate for some reason). Personally I'd use sorgina instead, which now means witch but is quite apparent that in antiquity meant priestess in the context of Paganism and, in some legends, even magical beings that were courtiers to Mari (the Basque goddess as recorded in legends, although arguably the name Mari is a Christian loan - quasi-santeria, you know). The phrase would be <goddess>-ko sorgina (sorry but I can't recall the name of the historically chosen goddess right now, fill in the blank for me). Alternatively maybe use apaizesa (but not my choice because it implies all kind of "barbarisms"). About using zezen for monument it sounds right to me. Unlike Akerbeltz I do not know of any reason to think that Basques "only sacrified goats". In fact in the legends I've read they usually sacrified red rams to Mari, by abandoning them at the entrance of a sacred cave. These practices are probably unrelated to Iberian ones and it is true that bull iconography is quite dominant in southern Iberia, where it may have replaced an older one of the deer (judging on cave art). Even in the Basque Country one bull idol (Mikeldi idol) is known, extremely eroded but clearly recognizable as a bull (with a circular element inside the legs) in spite of the horns being lost. Another issue I have is the use of ezpata(-ri) and lantza(-ri), because these words are clear borrowings from Castilian Spanish or maybe Latin (spatha and lancea). However it is argued that Lat. lancea comes from Celtiberic. Yet this is not the case of spatha (from a Greek word cognate of spade) and the well-known word falcata (typical Iberian sword) again comes from Latin ensis falcata (sickle-shaped sword), so it seems impossible to find any genuine term. Personally I'd question if everything needs to be translated to more or less probable approximations to unknown ancient names or if it is better to just keep terms English (or whatever language the game is translated into) in some cases at least. For example "falcata warrior" or "falcata swordsman" would sound fine enought to me, giving historical flavor while not falling into unlikely execesses. Also here, if you choose to keep ezpatari, I would reconsider "Lusitano ezpatari" because "Lusitano" is a modern Romance word, not even Latin (Lusitanus I presume). If you want to use Basque, it'd be "Lusitaniar ezpatari", semi-Latin "Lusitanus ezpatari" and my personal choice plain good English "Lusitanian swordsman" or "Lusitanian warrior", honestly. Anyhow here, would I make the choice of skirmisher unit, I'd choose Balearic slingers (Balear habailari; in this case there is a genuine Basque term), because Lusitanians are more akin to the Celtic world than to the Iberian one (both ethnic groups were fighting each other for centuries until the Phoenicians first and later the Romans put them in line). My two cents. I'll come back when I play more with the new version of the Iberian faction and get more ideas. Hope it helps.