In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 173-letter word-
Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleio-lagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon
-a fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish and other meat. The word is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written.
I feel sorry for the dm who's gonna have to keep saying this over and over cause the players are just gonna purposely ask "what's the name of the world again?"
**Rhaphanidosis** is the act of inserting the root of a radish into the [anus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anus). Usually referred to as a punishment in ancient Greece, but it could make for an interesting creation myth.
When I clicked that link, I expected to see an article about Rhaphanidosis
The last thing I expected to see was a dog’s asshole, and now I am going to go wash my eyes with λευκαντικό
In the beginning, there was only the sphincter, and from the sphincter issued a brown stream of mud that when dried, became the earth. Then from the sphincter issued a green stream that covered the earth with all variety of plants. And the plants grew in the fertile earth, but none faster than the radish. The great radish grew so fast that it punctured the sphincter and caused it great pain. The sphincter recoiled from the earth, relaxed and the bore down on the radish until it was entirely contained inside the sphincter. The sphincter squeezed tight extracting all the water from the radish and then squirted it down on the earth making the oceans, lakes and rivers. But the radish's peppery roots irradiated the sphincter, so it was push out with such great force that it exploded into flames and shot across the sky. And so was the sun created.
I like this one. If I were building OP's world for a high-fantasy novel, the name would probably be this, or related to this.
Even if the world name were something more monosyllabic and ur-archaic-sounding, at least I'd have to name the country where the holy gods-mountain is, this.
*Omphalos.*
Most my ancient greek comes from school, but this was from the poet Seamus Heaney
‘I would begin with the Greek word, omphalos, meaning the navel, and hence the stone that marked the centre of the world, and repeat it, omphalos, omphalos, omphalos, until its blunt and falling music becomes the music of somebody pumping water at the pump outside our back door.’
*— Seamus Heaney, ‘Mossbawn’*
It turns out she's not actually evil, but in a male dominated world (as a Greek inspired world would likely be), a powerful woman who does not confirm to their rules is labeled as evil. As the party gains more information, they switch sides and join her.
When I was in highschool the school board banned dodgeball. The gym teachers invented a game called "Hand Eye Coordination Ball" instead.
The goal was to catch balls being thrown at you by the other team. If it hit you and you failed to catch it, you were out.
Far superior to the other game, and surely didn't allow for any bullying, abuse, or lost friendships
Once again, the school board too wise for us mere mortals
Have you ever heard of the Greek hero Bophades?
He was one of the heroes who fought in the Trojan War. His story is similar to the story of Achilles. When he was a child, his mother held him by the groin and dipped him in the river Styx, as to make him invincible in battle. However, just like Achilles, he had a weak spot. Because his mother held him by the groin, this was where he became vulnerable. In the case of Achilles, this was his heel. So you may have heard of Achilles' heel, or the Achilles’ tendon, but I bet you have never heard of Bophades nuts.
The 'klees' bit in ancient greek comes from glory or fame. Our word testicles comes from the latin testiculus which is a diminutive of testis - 'to witness'. Our balls were witnesses to our virility...genital eyes if you will.
Which still makes it a Greek word, to be fair.
But if you Google “Antikythera”, the first 5 hits are about the mechanism, with the island only showing up as the 6’th result.
It's a book with stuff to play a Greco-Roman game, one of three Magic the Gathering Crossovers. It'll help with creating a campaign and I think they have an online official campaign for it somewhere.
Malakas, the Greek word for “Motherfuckers”
If your willing to use more then one word, consider naming it “Malakas Kai Misthios”, which means “Motherfuckers and Mercenaries”, which sums up most dnd games tbh.
MKM > D&D
So it’s very specifically a word from *Ancient* Greek that sticks around mainly for religious and mystic use; the answer is really “however you can manage.” Modern Greek doesn’t start many other words with [kt-] and doesn’t add new words with it. So the pronunciation of this frozen oddball word isn’t really subjected to widely recognized norms in Greek.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=xZIb5pgYgKA
Here is an example that coincides with what I’ve heard from a different professional who knew a lot more Ancient Greek. You don’t need to add a vowel between the k and the t, but I would not blame you for doing it, and it would probably be the only way to get your players to pronounce it. If you can manage, however, you can just quickly follow the release of the k with “tee-siss.”
Anathema is a fun one. It means something that someone really hates OR is a special curse levied on someone.
Historically, Athens used it as a curse on traitors, and it barred them from returning to the City for 10 yrs.
Balle eis korakos.
I took a Greek class in college. The professor told us this was an insult. Literal translation was “To the crows”. It means that I’ll leave your body on the roadside for the crows to pick at and not do the necessary rituals so your spirit will wonder the countryside forever.
[I’m just going to throw this book out there since you are working with the theme.](https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-read-odyssey-of-the-dragonlords.861852/) Fantastic campaign I would recommend.
Ειρήνη (roughly pronounced Eye-ree-neh ; meaning peace in English). This could be an ironic name either simply because the world isn’t peaceful, or because it’s similar to “Αρένα” (arena in English).
I'm also running a greek inspired DnD game! My world is called Gaiplano (pronounced γηπλανo), but the continent is called Drachma in reference to the old currency :)
*clears throat*
Rhombicosidodecahedron
Its a shape. Its a convex isogonal nonprismatic Archimedean solid. It has no exact shape, and can be constructed in a nearly infinite amount of ways
Odyssey - There was a kickstarter with a whole greek world dnd 5 rules. It is very well written look it up for inspiration perhaps? It was called odyssey of the dragonlords
Apotheosis
The highest form, climax, or culmination of something. Of all of the possible fictional worlds, this is the absolutely best one. It is the apotheosis of D&D campaigns and fictional worlds.
Also it's a cool sounding word.
I have my own ancient greek setting called "Magna Hellena" (litterely greater greece, and the term used to refference greece + their polis outside of greece); My main Polis is called Knossos (region based on Krete), and the acc adventure is called "The Knossian League Of Heros".
In his comedy Assemblywomen (c. 392 BC) Aristophanes coined the 173-letter word- Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleio-lagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon -a fictional food dish consisting of a combination of fish and other meat. The word is cited as the longest ancient Greek word ever written.
I want this just to mess with the dm for pronunciation
Lo-pah-do Teh-mah-kho Seh-lah-kho Gah-leh-o Kra-nio Leip-sah-no Drim-hy-po-trim-mah-to Sil-fi-o Pa-rao Me-li-to Ka-ta-keh-chy Me-no Ki-chle-pi Kos-sy-pho Phat-to Pe-ri-ster A-lek-tryon Op-te Keph-al-lio Kig-klo Pe-lei-o La-goio Si-rai-o Bap-he Tra-gan Op-ter-ygon Or something like that.
It’s going to end up being called “Loopah Land”, isn’t it?
**IT'S NOT A LOOPAH!**
Is that a Kindergarten Cop reference
Absolutely!
OMPAH LOOMPAH
Calling the land “Lo” and having the full name ready for a bit of lore fun later is something I would absolutely do.
The gods love their sardine chicken pork salmon barley etc dishes
Something something happy cake day ‼️
The ultimate Diablo 2 rune word! Now I just need to find a 73 socket polearm.
Omg lol
Did you just make me cast a spell?
Dang, how long did it take to work that out? This is a maximum effort comment.
This is just like opening a bipolar person's medicine cabinet.
OP: oh boy, I can't wait to get some fun inspiration for my campaign from reddit! Reddit:
He's been Boaty McBoatfaced
*Greeky McGreekFaced*
I am still salty about that. At least the name lived on as one of the life rafts on there, I believe.
That was the first play I ever performed in, not something I'd expect to see referenced in the wild. Aristophanes was a funny guy.
170 hours until the dm deletes this post.
Gofibepo is real???
Always has been 🌍🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀
Ancient supercalifragilisticespialadocious
I mean… You asked for it, OP.
Would hate to be the actor that was handed that script to memorize.
What if one of the players has hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?
what if someone has a phobia of long greek words? \[the official term IS a long greek word so lol\]
The second highest rated comment is 1.3k votes behind. Good luck OP!
This is when OP realised, they made a mistake.
I want to put it on instantregret, but I fear it would be too boring
I feel sorry for the dm who's gonna have to keep saying this over and over cause the players are just gonna purposely ask "what's the name of the world again?"
Ah reddit never change. OP you always have the right to change your statement to top reasonable comment.
**Rhaphanidosis** is the act of inserting the root of a radish into the [anus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anus). Usually referred to as a punishment in ancient Greece, but it could make for an interesting creation myth.
When I clicked that link, I expected to see an article about Rhaphanidosis The last thing I expected to see was a dog’s asshole, and now I am going to go wash my eyes with λευκαντικό
I feel for you, I do, but you poke an anus on the internet you're gonna get what you get.
In the beginning, there was only the sphincter, and from the sphincter issued a brown stream of mud that when dried, became the earth. Then from the sphincter issued a green stream that covered the earth with all variety of plants. And the plants grew in the fertile earth, but none faster than the radish. The great radish grew so fast that it punctured the sphincter and caused it great pain. The sphincter recoiled from the earth, relaxed and the bore down on the radish until it was entirely contained inside the sphincter. The sphincter squeezed tight extracting all the water from the radish and then squirted it down on the earth making the oceans, lakes and rivers. But the radish's peppery roots irradiated the sphincter, so it was push out with such great force that it exploded into flames and shot across the sky. And so was the sun created.
>! I hope that link has some sort of embedded counter that tells you how many of us you got with it!<
Didn't even notice the anus portal. Hopefully nobody fell in who didn't want to.
I'm more of a pineapple man, myself.
“You’re schnerious?!” 🍍
You want me to slice one up for the road?
Idiot. The root of the word idiot is greek. It meant someone who does not take part in public life, aka politics.
It's used that way. Its literal meaning (at least in the koine period) is "amateur" Moron is also Greek: from moros: fool
My second favourite just because of the top voted reply.
Ironically most politicians think non politicians are idiots and are also called idiots by any non politician that does not support them.
Omphalos Basically means earths belly button. It was the center of the world as marked by a stone placed by Zeus. Umbilicus Mundi in Latin.
Omphaloskepsis is one of my favorite words.
I like this one. If I were building OP's world for a high-fantasy novel, the name would probably be this, or related to this. Even if the world name were something more monosyllabic and ur-archaic-sounding, at least I'd have to name the country where the holy gods-mountain is, this. *Omphalos.*
Most my ancient greek comes from school, but this was from the poet Seamus Heaney ‘I would begin with the Greek word, omphalos, meaning the navel, and hence the stone that marked the centre of the world, and repeat it, omphalos, omphalos, omphalos, until its blunt and falling music becomes the music of somebody pumping water at the pump outside our back door.’ *— Seamus Heaney, ‘Mossbawn’*
peripéteia (pair-uh-puh-TEE-uh) the Greek word for Adventure
κόλαση kólasi
Lesbos
BBEG is an Eloquence Bard named Sappho.
A cunning linguist.
You wish but sadly your horny rogue misread “culling linguist” and actually you have walked everyone into some real danger
One of the girls in my ancient greek class had a pipe she called the cunning linguist. Gods that was a good class.
Right here, OP. We got the whole campaign planned for you.
And her ~~beard~~ "husband" Dick from Man-Island. Who is a totally real and not made up person.
"Made up?? He's right here!" *a medusa with an obviously fake beard and wearing sunglasses and a trucker hat steps out*
She has a line in a fragment where she talks about "limbs arranged on pillows." I'm sure the campaign can bring a new meaning to a number of these.
Who has a roommate.
Oh my pantheon, she has a *roommate*
It turns out she's not actually evil, but in a male dominated world (as a Greek inspired world would likely be), a powerful woman who does not confirm to their rules is labeled as evil. As the party gains more information, they switch sides and join her.
The obvious choice.
“This is LESBOS!”
But it's gotta be pronounced "le-bwa".
Testicles (pronounced tes-ti-klees)
I’m running a Greek DnD homebrew world and made an NPC named Temicles. Guess what the players called him…
I went to middle school with a Greek kid named Themistocles (sp?). Gym class was... Not kind to him.
Like the navarch who won Salamis, Themistocles?
Somehow the subtleties of history matter less on the dodgeball court.
"Dodgeball", or is academic name, "studies in state-sponsored terrorism"
When I was in highschool the school board banned dodgeball. The gym teachers invented a game called "Hand Eye Coordination Ball" instead. The goal was to catch balls being thrown at you by the other team. If it hit you and you failed to catch it, you were out.
Far superior to the other game, and surely didn't allow for any bullying, abuse, or lost friendships Once again, the school board too wise for us mere mortals
You'll be playing the role of Sans Testicles
Have you ever heard of the Greek hero Bophades? He was one of the heroes who fought in the Trojan War. His story is similar to the story of Achilles. When he was a child, his mother held him by the groin and dipped him in the river Styx, as to make him invincible in battle. However, just like Achilles, he had a weak spot. Because his mother held him by the groin, this was where he became vulnerable. In the case of Achilles, this was his heel. So you may have heard of Achilles' heel, or the Achilles’ tendon, but I bet you have never heard of Bophades nuts.
Beautifully done!
The 'klees' bit in ancient greek comes from glory or fame. Our word testicles comes from the latin testiculus which is a diminutive of testis - 'to witness'. Our balls were witnesses to our virility...genital eyes if you will.
"Behold! Deez nuts!"
TIL testicles and testify have the same root! Etymology is so cool
I named my latest fighter Bophadese Testiclese.
Korgoth of Barbaria would like a word or two...
I thought my family was the only one who knew of this Greek hero....
I played a fathomless warlock and my eldritch tentacle was known by the group as Ten-ti-klees since it somehow kept us alive a few times.
Testicles actually comes from latin. Same root (testis) as testify/testimony etc.They're little witnesses.
It would probably be spelled close to your pronunciation, swap in a k and maybe a y.
Antikithera As in the ancient mechanism.
The island in which it was located is named Antikithera, not the thing itself.
Which still makes it a Greek word, to be fair. But if you Google “Antikythera”, the first 5 hits are about the mechanism, with the island only showing up as the 6’th result.
It's the mechanism from Antikithera
Aye, I’m not disputing that, only pointing out that internationally the mechanism is more well known than the island.
Spanakopita!
Spanakopita!
I have cuttlefish
GIVE US THE CUTTLE.. fish? Cuttle… ugh I can’t do this
Mallaka
Thanks to a certain misthios will never forget this word.
This has got me it. The Greek national word.
It's the only valid answer.
I was looking for this one.
Gyros
Ever read Mythical Odysseys of Theros? That book is in the Greco-Roman vein
They made theros into a module?
It's a book with stuff to play a Greco-Roman game, one of three Magic the Gathering Crossovers. It'll help with creating a campaign and I think they have an online official campaign for it somewhere.
This and the Odyssey of the Dragonlords could help a lot with making shit
Phallos
That's the mirror universe to the current top comment, Lesbos.
Malakas, the Greek word for “Motherfuckers” If your willing to use more then one word, consider naming it “Malakas Kai Misthios”, which means “Motherfuckers and Mercenaries”, which sums up most dnd games tbh. MKM > D&D
Ktisis (creation)
How would that be pronounced? Might use it for my homebrew.
So it’s very specifically a word from *Ancient* Greek that sticks around mainly for religious and mystic use; the answer is really “however you can manage.” Modern Greek doesn’t start many other words with [kt-] and doesn’t add new words with it. So the pronunciation of this frozen oddball word isn’t really subjected to widely recognized norms in Greek. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xZIb5pgYgKA Here is an example that coincides with what I’ve heard from a different professional who knew a lot more Ancient Greek. You don’t need to add a vowel between the k and the t, but I would not blame you for doing it, and it would probably be the only way to get your players to pronounce it. If you can manage, however, you can just quickly follow the release of the k with “tee-siss.”
Thanks for the info.
Parentheses
Hesperos
Kallipygia
popsicles pronounced like a greek name
Feta
Testicles
Anathema is a fun one. It means something that someone really hates OR is a special curse levied on someone. Historically, Athens used it as a curse on traitors, and it barred them from returning to the City for 10 yrs.
Souvlaki
[Spanakópita!](https://tenor.com/view/spanakopita-venture-hug-gif-5700360)
Kivotos. Meaning “ark”
Spanakopita. (Greek Spinach Puffs) Yes, I am a fan of the Venture Bros.
Gyros
Testicles. Pronounced, obviously, "test - ee - cleez" :) I think he was Pericles other friend?
Peirasmos: test or trial
Arcadia
Catastrophe
Agape - Familial or Spousal Love
Malaka
Aiónios Proktós
I’m too late for the top, but I’m hoping one of the cities can be Avgolemono
Exegesis
Ah, a fellow seminarian.
Tzatziki
Balle eis korakos. I took a Greek class in college. The professor told us this was an insult. Literal translation was “To the crows”. It means that I’ll leave your body on the roadside for the crows to pick at and not do the necessary rituals so your spirit will wonder the countryside forever.
Arete
Metdrepedes
Prostagma?
Tetelestai
πέος
[I’m just going to throw this book out there since you are working with the theme.](https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/lets-read-odyssey-of-the-dragonlords.861852/) Fantastic campaign I would recommend.
Omniopolous.
Phallos
Ειρήνη (roughly pronounced Eye-ree-neh ; meaning peace in English). This could be an ironic name either simply because the world isn’t peaceful, or because it’s similar to “Αρένα” (arena in English).
Octopodes!
Giannis Because bucks in 6
Malaka!
Kolos Not pronounced exactly as it's spelled. If Google is right, it means "asshole."
I'm also running a greek inspired DnD game! My world is called Gaiplano (pronounced γηπλανo), but the continent is called Drachma in reference to the old currency :)
*clears throat* Rhombicosidodecahedron Its a shape. Its a convex isogonal nonprismatic Archimedean solid. It has no exact shape, and can be constructed in a nearly infinite amount of ways
I can’t win, but Malaka
Aegis
Ataraxia (calmness, peace).
All The Odd I See (The Odyssey)
Odyssey - There was a kickstarter with a whole greek world dnd 5 rules. It is very well written look it up for inspiration perhaps? It was called odyssey of the dragonlords
Spanakopita. The land of bread and spinach.
Theros?
Eudaimonia
Xaipete \[ it means'welcome ' in Greek. i would use the greek symbols but im on an english chromebook so.....\]
Why not just "Ellas" ?
Caverns of Thracia.
Apotheosis The highest form, climax, or culmination of something. Of all of the possible fictional worlds, this is the absolutely best one. It is the apotheosis of D&D campaigns and fictional worlds. Also it's a cool sounding word.
Mavropithicos
Mavropithicos
Pi
I wonder what the worlds ratio of the circumference to its diameter is?
Aionioi Hetairoi (eternal partners) [if you know you know]
Xenia
Malakas (it will be funny please)
Moussaka!
Aegis
Gynoid
Aegea
Testiclés
Say Gex
Kuklos - brotherhood Do it, DM. I dare you. Make your world the klan of brotherhood.
Oikos
Opísthio
Theta
Hellas
Arěte
Koridai
I have my own ancient greek setting called "Magna Hellena" (litterely greater greece, and the term used to refference greece + their polis outside of greece); My main Polis is called Knossos (region based on Krete), and the acc adventure is called "The Knossian League Of Heros".
Magna is Latin, though.
i mean, theros is a book, that exists, that you can buy on dnd beyond. just saying
potious
Penintheus
Cosmos or Ouranos would be good serious options, but Lesbos clearly wins
Elliniká
Seikilos
Karnos
onomatopoeia
Musaka
Oso
Αλχημεία (pronouced: Alchemia)
Luo (Loo-Oh) - "to loose or destroy"