Monster name origins

[Sanctherion]

Does anyone know the origins behind the new monsters names, like somnacanth, tetranadon and goss harag?

The elder serpent dragon couple’s names were explained by the Youtuber gaijin hunter, in a vid he made about them, but those are the only new monsters, which names I know about.

About 10 years ago there was a promotional vid for MH3U, in which a guy from that game’s localization crew actually showed up in the comment section and explained the name origins for many of that game’s monsters. Would be cool if the same happened again, so we knew about Rise monsters names.

[Metaspark]

Somnocanth likely comes from the Latin word Somnus, meaning to fall asleep, and -canth, which can either come from the Greek word ákantha (spine), or is related to the Coelocanth, a fish with fossil records from hundreds of millions of years ago that still exists today

Tetranodon combines Tetra (Greek number 4), Rana (a genus of frogs), and Odon (Greek for tooth), which when you combine Rana and Odon you get a corrupted version of Anodon, which means toothless

Goss Harag is simply a romanization of its Japanese name, Goshahagi, which derives from goshagu, meaning to get angry, and nanomihagi, meaning to peel blisters

[Chaos Mana]

Originally posted by Metaspark:

Somnocanth likely comes from the Latin word Somnus, meaning to fall asleep

Somnus is also what the Romans called the god of Sleep, Hypnos from the Greeks

[Popcorn]

Rakna Kadaki?

[Remi]

Rakna Kadaki comes from arachnid and an alternate name for the Tsuchigumo (Earth Spider) which is "Yatsukahagi" (八握脛). Its JP name is "Yatsukadaki", translators took the second part of that it seems.

Almudron likely is a pun on mudra, a buddhist practice of making hand gestures, and mud.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by Popcorn:

Rakna Kadaki?

It's an anagram (and slight rejiggling) of arachnid

[Metaspark]

Originally posted by Popcorn:

Rakna Kadaki?

A romanization of the Japanese name, Yatsudahaki (which is itself a reference to Yatsukahagi, an alternative name for the spider youkai, Tsuchigumo) and a corruption of the word arachnid

[Metaspark]

Bishaten is likely a swap of the name Shibaten, a type of riverbank-dwelling tengu

Izuchi combines Izuna (a name for a type of kamaitachi, the youkai Izuchi is based on) and Itachi, which is Japanese for weasel

Arzuros, while not originating in Rise, is likely featured as a reference to the onikuma, a bear youkai known for stealing food, referenced by it stealing honey from the hunter with its grab attack

Aknosom I can’t find anything on the name, but its design is based on the kasa-obake, an umbrella youkai, and a crane

Jyuratodus is most definitely a reference to the Namazu, a catfish that can sense (or in some stories, cause) earthquakes. The Namazu likely played a part in Almudron’s design as well

Magnamalo is quite literally Great (Magna, Latin) Evil (Spanish, Malo). Its design and use of purple flames are also meant to call to samurai and onibi (will-o-the-wisps)

Mizutsune is such a blatant reference to kitsune that it would’ve been a crime not to include it in Rise’s roster

[Sanctherion]

Interesting, though I have no idea what tetranadon has to do with the number 4. Is it referring to its four front toes? I think something like aspidanadon would have been a better name, referring to its turtle shell.

[Popcorn]

Originally posted by Metaspark:

Bishaten is likely a swap of the name Shibaten, a type of riverbank-dwelling tengu

Izuchi combines Izuna (a name for a type of kamaitachi, the youkai Izuchi is based on) and Itachi, which is Japanese for weasel

Arzuros, while not originating in Rise, is likely featured as a reference to the onikuma, a bear youkai known for stealing food, referenced by it stealing honey from the hunter with its grab attack

Aknosom I can’t find anything on the name, but its design is based on the kasa-obake, an umbrella youkai, and a crane

Jyuratodus is most definitely a reference to the Namazu, a catfish that can sense (or in some stories, cause) earthquakes. The Namazu likely played a part in Almudron’s design as well

Magnamalo is quite literally Great (Magna, Latin) Evil (Spanish, Malo). Its design and use of purple flames are also meant to call to samurai and onibi (will-o-the-wisps)

Mizutsune is such a blatant reference to kitsune that it would’ve been a crime not to include it in Rise’s roster

Uchiha...Weasel xD

[Metaspark]

Originally posted by PhoceeTherion:

Interesting, though I have no idea what tetranadon has to do with the number 4. Is it referring to its four front toes? I think something like aspidanadon would have been a better name, referring to its turtle shell.

From the wiki:

Originally posted by wiki:

The Japanese name ヨツミワドウ (Yotsumiwado) takes the characters 四つ (yotsu) for "having 4 things" and 蛙 ("kaeru" in general terms, but translates to "wa" in Sino-Japanese) for the word Frog.

Incidentally, the youkai the Tetranadon is based on is the kappa, who are known to enjoy sumo, which is where the sumo inspiration comes from in its moveset