Warframes and Helmet Names Origins

[Cam]

*This thread used to be just for the frame helmet names, but I decided recently to also include the actual frame's origins because some of them had kind of interesting references.

*The Frames are listed in alphabetical order

*The list is not complete, I'm still working on it! (flash forward to 2019 and I am not longer working on it)

*there are probably some mistakes or misinformation but I try to check everything

*I used the
-official warframe wiki,
-wikipedia,
-and google translate for my sources
-comment section
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Ash: When something burns, it leaves behind a residue called ash
Ash: Koga Ryu is ninjustsu of concealment
Ash: Carrabid is a type of beetle
Ash: Scorpion is a type of arachnid with a stinger on its back
Ash: Locust is a type of grasshopper that swarms
Ash: Bai Hu means White Tiger of the West in Chinese, one of the four symbols of the constellations
Ash: Tsukiyomi, is short for Tsukiyomi-no-mikoto, which is the name of the moon god and Japanese and Shinto mythology

Atlas: A titan tasked with holding up the sky in Greek mythology
Atlas: Tartarus is greek version of the void or hell, where the Titans were put after they lost the God-Titan war
Atlas: Shikiro is a ninja tool or weapon to open things
Atlas: Arhat is someone who has achieved their religious goal
Atlas: Telamon is a male statue that holds up a structure
Atlas: Monument is a stone block or pillar that sometimes serves a religious purpose

Banshee: In Irish myth, a banshee is kind of like a ghost woman who shrieks whenever death is coming
Banshee: Soprana is the highest voice out of 4 voices
Banshee: Reverb is a sound that echos
Banshee: Chorus is a group of singers, or a repeated section of a song
Banshee: Domina refers to a female mistress or just dominant female
Banshee: Sonority may refer to a sonorant which is a sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract
Banshee: Echo is a sound that is repeated back to the source of noise. Bats commonly use echolocation to navigate by bouncing sounds off of objects to "see"

Chroma: The purity or intensity of color
Chroma: Tarresque is a Dungeons and Dragons monster
Chroma: Kaiju is Japanese for "strange beast"
Chroma: Vojnik is Slavic for Warrior
Chroma: Drevni is Croatian for ancient
Chroma: Dynasty is a line of rulers of a country which is passed down hereditarily
Chroma: Amaru is the name of a mythical dragon from the Andean civilization in South America
Chroma: Drac is simmilar to Draco, which is Latin for dragon, and a Drac is Romanian for a generic demon.

Ember: Another name for a small fire
Ember: Backdraft is a backwards wind that goes down a chimney
Ember: Pheonix is a mythical bird made of fire, and when it dies, it is reborn from its own ashes
Ember: Ignition is a verb for setting something on fire
Ember: Magesty, might be some other spelling for Majesty which pertains to royal power, dignity, and beauty

Equinox: A time when day and night are of exactly equal length (Sept 22 and March 20)
Equinox: Solstice is when the sun is at its highest/lowest point at noon and is also the longest day(July 21st) and night (December 21st) of the year
Equinox: Clisthert is a demon from "Solomon's Clavicles" who had the power to change day to night and night to day
Equinox: Insomnia is the inability to sleep at night

Excalibur: King Arthur's sword, pulled from the stone, that "could cut through iron as though it were wood"
Excalibur: Pendragon is the name of a British or Welsh prince holding great power
Excalibur: Avalon is the island where King Arthur was taken after he was gravely wounded
Excalibur: Mordred was a trator who fought Arthur, but died after wounding Arthur
Excalibur: Arturius is the only name historians have that may be linked to a real King Arthur
Excalibur: Ogrant... best I could find was O'grant which means grand
Excalibur: Isurus is a species of large, vicious sharks
Excalibur: Caduto is Italian for "fallen"
Excalibur: Vespula is a small species of wasps, otherwise known as yellowjackets

Frost: Small ice crystals left on the ground after it gets cold
Frost: Zastruga, or zastrugi, are ridges formed by snow, or wind in polar plains
Frost: Squall is a sudden storm, usually of rain or snow
Frost: Jotun is a member of the race of giants, enemies of the gods in Old Norse mythos, it means "frost giants"
Frost: Harka is Norse for Hardness, and Tauros
Frost: Hailstorm is a storm that produces hail, which are like large chunks of ice
Frost: Emperor is someone who rules over an empire
Frost: Summit is the highest point of a mountain
Frost: Himavat is the Hindu personification of the Himalayan mountains and in Sanskrit: the king of snow
Frost: Aurora is a phenominon where red and green streams appear in the sky around the Earth's two magnetic poles

Gara: Japanese for Glass
Gara: Virago traditionally means a women of great power and courage in latin
Gara: Silica is a hard, unreactive, colorless compound that occurs as the mineral quartz and as a part of sandstone

Harrow: Means to traumatize or torment
Harrow: Suffragan is a bishop that is under a metropolitan bishop or a diocesan bishop
Harrow: Hieropha is one who brings religious gifts to something that is deemed holy, made up of hiera: "the holy" and phainein: "to show"

Hydroid: Hydro- meaning water, and -oid meaning "like", so "water like"
Hydroid: Ketos is greek for massive sea creature, like a whale or shark
Hydroid: Triton is a greek messenger of the sea, son of poseidon
Hydroid: Rorqual is a whale with streamlined blubber and pleated skin on its stomach
Hyrdoid: Posiedon is the Greek God of the seas and oceans, carries his signature trident as his weapon

Inaros: There were two ancient Egyptian rulers at two points in history, Inaros I and Inaros II, who both rebelled against the Assyrians and the Persians in 665 BC and 460 BC
Inaros: Anubis is the ancient Egyptian god of death, had the the head of a jackal, which is a small wild dog
Inaros: Canopic jars are used during the mummification process to store the organs of people to preserve them for the afterlife
Inaros: Kephri, refering to the ancient Egyptian Deity Khepri, a solar diety with the head of a scarab, and represented rebirth and creation
Inaros: Ramses, refering to the Ramesses of Egypt, a line of pharaohs that included Ramesses II, otherwise known as Ramesses The Great who was celebrated as the Great Ancestor after his death
Inaros: Horus was an ancient Egyptian god who had the head of a falcon, and was the god of kings and the sky

Ivara: Old Norse "Ivarr" means "tree warrior" and in Norse legend, Ivar the Boneless was a legendary archer
Ivara: Loxley is a clearing of woodlands, like a meadow, in the Robin Hood Books. Loxley was also the last name of Robin Hood. "Robin of Loxley
Ivara: Zirastra is sanskrit for words that relate to hats or headwear
Ivara: Arcuata is simmilar to Arcuatas, which is latin for "bow-shaped", or "hooded"
Ivara: Youkai, or Yokai, are japanese spirits with supernatural aspects

Khora: the Greek Goddess of the underworld, Kore, or Persephone
Khora: Delphi was a place that housed the temple of Apollo, one of the greek gods. A high priestess would serve in this temple, and was refferred to as "The Oracle of Delphi"

Limbo: The place of waiting, a place of uncertainty, the area between life and death
Limbo: Aristeas was a Greek poet and a miracle worker, who dissapeared in his coffin during his funeral
Limbo: Magrite was a Belgian surrealist artist, who was famour for his inquisitive art
Limbo: Aureolus was a Roman military commander, whos exsitance is often contradicted by various pieces of evidance
Limbo: Venari means to hunt in latin
Limbo: Vasiona is Serbian for "Universe" and is also the name of a popular astronomy magazine
Limbo: Vistyxio [couldnt find anything that this might be refferencing]

Loki: The norse god of trickery and mischief
Loki: Swindle is to use trickery to steal money
Loki: Enigma is someone who is shrouded in mystery
Loki: Essence is something abstract that determines its character
Loki: Rogue is someone who has gone against orders, or gone missing
Loki: Ersatz is a substitue good, which is not as good
Loki: Incubus is a demon dude who does some highly illegal things to women
Loki: Knave is a dishonest man

Mag: Short for magnetic or magnet
Mag: Alata is Bosnian for tool, English for winged female aphid.
Mag: Induction is the action of setting something into position
Mag: Toroidal magnets are a donut magnet that atracts and repels in a donut flow
Mag: Anthro, is a root which has to do with biology in humand and animals
Mag: Knaita could be a nod to the kyanite rock, which is bloue, with white streaks
Mag: Gauss is a unit of magetic induction = 1/10,000 of a tesla
Mag: Coil is just an object that has been molded into a spiral. Copper that has been molded turns into a magnet when a current passes through
Mag: Pneuma is a word that various religions use for "Spirit"
Mag: Orbit is when something goes around something else

Mesa: A flat topped hill or mountain, common in the wild wild west.
Mesa: Ovis is a genus of mammals, also known as sheep
Mesa: Presidio is a fortified base under spanish control
Mesa: Longhorn is a breed of cattle with long horns
Mesa: Falcon is a bird, maybe you've heard of it

Mirage: An illusion created by atmospheric conditions
Mirage: Trivelin is a character who is a stupid, but comedic servant
Mirage: Harlequin is a pantomime, that usually dresses in exagerated clothing
Mirage: Sigyn is the wife of Loki, goddess of fidelity
Mirage: Morgaine is most likely a referance to Morgaine Le Fey, a powerful witch in Arthurian tales
Mirage: Mithra is a Zoroastrian diety of covenant, light, and oath

Nekros: Necro- meaning "corpse", Nekros is also greek for "dead"
Nekros: Lazarus was a man in christianity, who was raised by Jesus 4 days after he died
Nekros: Raknis may be a referance to Rakni's Mound, which is a famous burrow
Nekros: Irkalla was another name for the mesopotamian underworld, located far underground, where it was believed people would go to when they died. It was said that the people there lived like they had on earth, only more bleak.
Nekros: Mortos is Portugese for dead
Nekros: Shroud is a length of cloth that is wrapped around someone being burried


Nezha: A Chinese diety of protection, was incinerated in the temple he had made to help the sick after it was burned down, however he was brought back to life and given his signature weapons, the "Wind Fire Wheel" and the "Fire Tipped Spear"
Nezha: Circa kind of sound like circle, and when describing a historical time, one might say "that was circa 200 BC", meaning approximatly 200 BC
Nezha: Jinza, or Jinzha, was the elder brother of Nezha
Nezha: Devine, or divine means to have god like properties
Nezha: Yaksha are Hindu nature spirits that have a split personality: Caring nature spirits, or ghost that haunt the wilderness and devour travellers
Nezha: Dracun is most likely a referance to Guinea Worm Disease, otherwise called Dracunculiasis, which is when the host drinks water with water fleas infected with guinea worm larvae. The worm then grows in the host and comes out a year later in a painful blister.

Nidus: Nidus is a point of origin for infectious bacteria or diseases
Nidus: Prion is a malformed protein that can lead to neurodegenerative diseases in aninals and humans.

Nova: Is a star that shows a sudden large increase in brightness and then slowly returns to its original state over a few months.
Nova: Flux is the action of flowing in or out
Nova: Tachyon is a hypothetical particle that travels faster than light @speednova
Nova: Lamia is a Greek monster that was cursed to eat her own children, but then she got to take out her eyes...
Nova: CYGNI, or v1489 Cygni is currently the largest star known to date. It is 1,180 time bigger than the sun
Nova: Asuri is Indian/Sanskrit for "demonic", or very powerful
Nova: Quantum is energy proportional to the radiation it emits
Nova: Slipstream is air or water pushed back by a propeller or jet
Nova: Fusion is the process of joining two things together
Nova: Visage is a person's facial expression
Nova: Device is a mechanical object
Nova: Stinger is a device used to make hot water in prison, or something that stings

Nyx: The Greek Goddess of the night, feared even by Zeus, king of the gods
Nyx: Athena is the Greek goddess of strategy and war
Nyx: Vespa is Itallian for wasp
Nyx: Mentacide is the effort to undermine or destroy a person's values and then manipulate them to think "differently"
Nyx: Saikou is Japanese for "maximum","Highest","best"
Nyx: Carnifex is the name of a public executioner in ancient Rome
Nyx: Ampulex is a genus of wasp that injects a venom into roaches that immobilizes it, then it lays it eggs on it

Oberon: Is the king of the fairies in medieval literature
Oberon: Destrier is a medieval knight's horse that they would ride into battle
Oberon: Markhor is a large wild goat with big, twisted horns, from central Asia
Oberon: Oryx is a general name for a specie of antelope native to Africa and Asia, known for pointy horns
Oberon: Freyarch is a combonation of a European word "fay" and a greek suffix "arch" which means "fairy" "king"
Oberon: Ferosh might be in refernace to Zelda BOTW's Farosh, who is a giant horned flying dragon
Oberon: Taurus means bull, and it is also the name for the zodiac sign of the bull
Oberon: Wendigo is part of folklore from Algonquin-speaking people that describes a monster that was formerlly human, with its skin pulled tightly over its bones, which poked through its flesh. To turn into a Wendigo, one must turn to cannibalization

Octavia: An octave is an 8 note interval in musical composition
Octavia: Cadenza is an improvised peice of music in a free rythem style
Octavia: Maestra is the femenine form of maestro, which is an honorary title given to a composer
Octavia: Diva is a famous female opera singer

Rhino: There is an animal called a rhino, maybe you've heard of it
Rhino: Thrak was an album of a band called King Crimson, which had the song Blastic Rhino
Rhino: Vanguard is a group of people leading the way for new ideas
Rhino: Teutonic, relating to the Teutons, an ancient tribe in Jutland, and who fought the Romans
Rhino: Palatine is a high ranking roman official, who lead fights and wars
Rhino: Mastodon is similar to a mammoth, but it looks more like an elephant

Saryn: There is a colorless, oderless liquid that also acts as a nerve agent called Sarin
Saryn: Hemlock is a highly poisonnous plant with a purple spotted stem, and bad smell
Saryn: Chlora is the Pingasa Chlora, or the White Looper Moth. It eats flowers and is considered a pest, however, could also be tied to plant chloraphils, which let the plant do photo-synthesis
Saryn: Integra is part of Res Integra is a case or question that has not beem examined yet
Saryn: Orphid is a mono-color 3 petalled type of plant
Saryn: Belladonna, or "deadly nightshade". The leaves and berries are extremely toxic and can cause halucinations and delirium
Saryn: Amalgama, or Amalgam is a scientific term for a mixture
Saryn: Napellus is a species of plant, the Aconitum Napellus, which is a purple flower with cardiac-poisoning elements that were used in ancient rome
Saryn: Velenossa is Italian for "Poisonous"
Saryn: Nita's Moda, Moda Operandi is a luxury fashion retailer
Saryn: Integra is a question that has not been examined

Titania: Is the queen of fairies in William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream
Titania: Aurai is Greek, meaning "atmosphere, lighting, breeze". Also, the Aurai were nymphs of the breezes
Titania: Unseelie is a classification or fairy in English and Scottis folklore. Seelie fairies must be angered for them to assault one, while unseelies are inherently evil beings

Trinity: Pertaining to the holy trinity, which is the concept of Christianity's God being 3 entities, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
Trinity: Merridian is a circle of longitude passing through a given place on earth's surface and terrestrial poles
Trintiy: Messia is the promsied deliver of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible
Trinity: Aura is an atmosphere that seems to surround and be generated by a person, or thing
Trinity: Strega is an Italian word for "witch"
Trinity: Knightess is a knight but female
Trinity: Ancyra, or Ankara means anchor in Greek

Valkyr: In Norse mythology, Valkyries were warrior maiden beings that brought the chosen up to Asgard with the gods.
Valkyr: Kara is is Italian foe beloved, while also meaning to recieve from something in Japanese
Valkyr: Gersemi is a version of the norse word gorsimi, which means "jewel"
Valkyr: Bastet is the ancient Egyptian goddess who took the appearance of a cat
Valkyr: Cheetah is a large wild cat who can run really fast
Valkyr: Delusion is holding onto a belief while evidence directly contradicts it

Vauban: Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban was one of the best French military engineers, born in 1633, his concepts were used as the basis for seiges for a following century.
Vauban: Esprit is the quality of being lively, and witty
Vauban: Gambit is a device that is used risklely, but calculated to gain an advantage
Vauban: Chapelon is the last name of Andre' Chapelon, a famous French mechanical engineer who worked on advanced steam locomotives. Also, Chapeau is a French style of flat hat
Vauban: Armstice is an agreement by both sides to stop fighting for a certain time
Vauban: Suppressor one who silences others

Volt: The SI unit of electromotive force.
Volt: Storm is type of weather where rain and lightning are present
Volt: Relay is an electric device, used with electromagents, and is activated by circuits
Volt: Arrester is a device that prevents or stops a circuit
Volt: Thales was a Greek philosopher who sought out explenations to Greek Myths
Volt: Amp is short for ampere, which is a unit of electric current equal to a flow of one coulumb per second
Volt: Pulse is a steady vibration of short pulses
Volt: Zener diode is a type of diode that allows current to flow from its anode to its cathode and also in the reverse direction
Volt: Capacitor is an electrical componenet that allows the storing of electricity

Wukong: Sun Wukong was the monkey king born from stone who gained powers through Taoist practices in Chinese legends
Wukong: Xingzhe is Chinese for traveller, walker, or monk
Wukong: Dasheng is the name proclaimed by Wukong when he was the god's equal
Wukong: Auman is a surname in France that was one of the first used, giving it an ancient standing
Wukong: Macak refers to the Six Eared Macaque, which is a creature that took the place of Son-Wukong when he was away.

Zephyr: Means a soft and gentle breeze
Zephyr: Tengu is a legendary creature from Japanese culture, who take the forms of birds
Zephyr: Monsoon is a seasonal wind in Southern Asia, which brings a ton of wind
Zephyr: Migisi is a name of Native American origin, which means Eagle
Zephyr: Hagoromo means "wing robe" in Japanese. The person who ears the robe dances to get it back after it is stolen
Zephyr: Skeiron is the Greek god of the northwest wind, who is associated with Winter
Zephyr: Cierzo is a strong, dry, and usually cold wind that blows from the North to Northwest

[Fishyflakes]

This was an interesting read; thanks for putting this together

[Cam]

Originally posted by Fishyflakes:

This was an interesting read; thanks for putting this together :BUDlove:

I had a lot of fun making it :)

[[88th] ColPresumptuous]

Just a note, For Mag with the Coil helm... a tightly wound coil of copper wire becomes a magnet when a current is passed through it.

Cholra is more likely from Chloraphil(?) ie what gives plant leaves their green color and helps them to use sunlight as an energy source... Given Chlora is a genus of plant as well (granted the helm has moth like qualities, although sayrn is more a plant styled frame than insect).

Jotun while norse giants are also aptly... 'Frost' giants.

Atlas Tarturus helm, Tartarus was the place the greek gods imprisoned the Titans (basicly primordial pregenators of the gods), Atlas was himself a Titan... instead of being imprisoned, he was made to hold up the world as punishment.

Robin in the Hood's name was Robin of Loxley (hence the architypical robin hood look to that helm)

Vaubans Chapelon could also be based on Chapeau, which is a French style of flat hat (which the helm has, kinda).

[Cam]

Originally posted by 88th ColPresumptuous:

Just a note, For Mag with the Coil helm... a tightly wound coil of copper wire becomes a magnet when a current is passed through it.

Cholra is more likely from Chloraphil(?) ie what gives plant leaves their green color and helps them to use sunlight as an energy source... Given Chlora is a genus of plant as well (granted the helm has moth like qualities, although sayrn is more a plant styled frame than insect).

Jotun while norse giants are also aptly... 'Frost' giants.

Atlas Tarturus helm, Tartarus was the place the greek gods imprisoned the Titans (basicly primordial pregenators of the gods), Atlas was himself a Titan... instead of being imprisoned, he was made to hold up the world as punishment.

Robin in the Hood's name was Robin of Loxley (hence the architypical robin hood look to that helm)

Vaubans Chapelon could also be based on Chapeau, which is a French style of flat hat (which the helm has, kinda).

Changes have been made, thanks for the additions!

[radualexgeanta]

Hello, great work you put here, i love symbols, but may i note something:

Chroma: drac is romanian word for a generic demon (not the devil himself)

Equinox: solstice is when is the longest day (summer solstice 21 july) and the longest night (winter solstice 21 december)

["The Glue"]

i'm pretty sure that auman deals nothing with some French surnames, it is rather something consonant with Indian god Hanuman. Domina means "mistress" and deals nothing with Russian bands and Vojnik is not a Russian word, however it really has Slavic origin and is translated as warrior. That was just a cursory look before i've stumbled

[Gerbera_Tetra]

Dasheng in this context doesn't mean loud or 大聲. It's 大聖, short form of 齊天大聖，which is Wukong's self proclaimed moniker when he believed he was the gods equal.

[Aerond]

No offense, but you should have just ignored the community-made cosmetic for this topic, because they are not really canon...

[Novoke]

What about Nidus Phyrke and his other alt-helmet that splits in two, Myxini? According to the wiki Myxini is the class Hagfish belong to. Also, the Nyx Carnifex skin is based on the Tyranid Carnifex from Warhammer 40k

[Fat_French_Fries]

A 2-year Necro'd thread




mkey

[Nisei]

I feel like this would be best on a guide or somethin'.

[Cam]

Originally posted by radualexgeanta:

Hello, great work you put here, i love symbols, but may i note something:

Chroma: drac is romanian word for a generic demon (not the devil himself)

Equinox: solstice is when is the longest day (summer solstice 21 july) and the longest night (winter solstice 21 december)

Added

[Cam]

Originally posted by Khan Nerevar:

i'm pretty sure that auman deals nothing with some French surnames, it is rather something consonant with Indian god Hanuman. Domina means "mistress" and deals nothing with Russian bands and Vojnik is not a Russian word, however it really has Slavic origin and is translated as warrior. That was just a cursory look before i've stumbled

added, and I can't remember where I got that definition for Vojnik but I slided in the Slavic one

[Cam]

Originally posted by kcnerv:

Dasheng in this context doesn't mean loud or 大聲. It's 大聖, short form of 齊天大聖，which is Wukong's self proclaimed moniker when he believed he was the gods equal.

Thanks for the clarification. Your post makes a lot more sense than what I put down so I changed it

[Cam]

Originally posted by Profanity 101:

No offense, but you should have just ignored the community-made cosmetic for this topic, because they are not really canon...

Ya, I made this thread in high school when I had a lot of free time so I didn't doing community stuff. I especially like researching mythology and since so many frames are based off folklore or culture it was really interesting for me even if it meant a lot of work.