What does Adeptus and Astartes mean seperately in "Adeptus Astartes"? Are those two made up words from GW?

[fierypeaNUTS]

Anything related to the topic is really appreciated

[Crappy]

Well Adept is a expert in some field,and adding the us makes it Greek IG lol

Astarte i believe is a Greek way of, And tell me the actual name of the god: i don't know names exactly lol, saying the a old Middle Eastern God of War.

So basically Experts in War, But thats just my way of viewing it and the real term can be different from person to person.

[Kindly Steve Brule]

Space Marines essentially. Astartes is stars I believe and Adeptus is expert/adept. "Adepts of the Stars"

[Kindly Steve Brule]

Its not real latin, btw. As far as I know. At least not "correct"

[Sceviour/Faksa]

Astarte was the god of fertility, sexuality and war. Awesome, right? Basically make babies, have lots of sex and kill everything

[FULLCOMMUNISM]

Translating the "Gothic" Pseudo Language is hard, as it is only loosely based on Latin

(this is my memory of the old Rogue Trader book)

Adeptus Astartes = Expert of the Stars
Adeptus Ministorum = Expert of the Administration
Adeptus Mechanicus = Expert of the Machines
Adeptus Astra Telepathica = Expert of Space Mind Reading
Scholastica Psykana = Psyker School

♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Rotundus = Squats
♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Gigantus = Ogryns
♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Minimus = Halflings

[Starbreaker Zed]

Originally posted by The Proletariat Revolution:

Translating the "Gothic" Pseudo Language is hard, as it is only loosely based on Latin

(this is my memory of the old Rogue Trader book)

Adeptus Astartes = Expert of the Stars
Adeptus Ministorum = Expert of the Administration
Adeptus Mechanicus = Expert of the Machines
Adeptus Astra Telepathica = Expert of Space Mind Reading
Scholastica Psykana = Psyker School

♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Rotundus = Squats
♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Gigantus = Ogryns
♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Minimus = Halflings

Be careful. Squats are redacted. :p


An adept is an individual identified as having attained a specific level of knowledge, skill, or aptitude in doctrines relevant to a particular author or organization.

The word "adept" is derived from Latin adeptus 'one who has attained'.


Astarte or Ashtoreth (Greek: Ἀστάρτη, Astártē) is the Hellenized form of the Middle Eastern goddess Ishtar, worshipped from the Bronze Age through classical antiquity. The name is particularly associated with her worship in the ancient Levant among the Canaanites and Phoenicians. She was also celebrated in Egypt following the importation of Levantine cults there. The name Astarte is sometimes also applied to her cults in Mesopotamian cultures like Assyria and Babylonia.

Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. She has been known as the deified evening star.

[Brother PaciFist]

Hello, Astartes means Stars, Adeptus means the ones that get hold of something. So the Adeptus Astartes means literally those who conquer the stars aka Space Marines.

Adeptus Mechanicum. Holder of everything that has to do with mechanic. Those who hold and further the knowledge of technology and use it.

Adeptus Custodes. Custodes means Guardians, caretaker, protector. The personal guard of the emperor and terra. the praetorian guard of the imperial palace. And the most handsome males in all humanity, we have to train those abs. They fight naked to attune for their sin of not protecting the emperor proberly during the horus heresy.

Adeptus Terra, Holder of Terra aka the Earth. central bureaucracy and priesthood that rules Earth.

Adeptus Arbites. Arbites means judge in latin. So Adeptus Arbites, is the justice department of the empire, police and judge in personal union like Judge Dredd.

Adeptus Administratum The paper warriors of Terra, the central bureaucracy, it is part of Adeptus Terra.

Adeptus Ministorum, the priesthood of terra, part of Adeptus Terra also known as the Ecclesiarchy.

Adeptus Sororitas, the fighting arm of the Adeptus ministorum. the Ecclesiarchy is not allowed to field male soldiers, because sometime in history the adeptus ministorum tried to ursurp the power of the Adeptus Terra, which lead to a civil war on Terra. So those cunning bastards try to circumvent the legalese limitation by fielding female elite soldier, the sororitas. Sororitas means sisterhood in latin.

edit.
Departmento Munitorum: The logistic department of the Empire of Man. Those guys ship around the supplies and reinforcements for the imperial army and the adeptus astardes.

Astra militarum, astra means stars, militarum = warfare, the department of star wars of the empire, the imperial army.

the emperor protects.

[Withywarlock]

I thought I was knowledgeable about the Adeptus Astartes but I've learnt quite a bit! But yes, essentially Adeptus would be "an adept" or "school of adepts" and Astartes is more formal name of Space Marine. it's interesting that the term "Space Marine" isn't used so much in the Horus Heresy novels, preferring Astartes.

Other words of interest are Officio Assassinorm - The Office of Assassins, esentially secret servies, MI5 (only with a lot more emphasis on killing rather than intelligence gathering)
Ordo Xenos - The Inquisition Order of the Culling of Xenos.
Ordo Hereticus - The Inquisition Order of the Cleansing of Heretics.
Codex Astartes - The Teachings and Ways of the Astartes (their bible and rulebook, essentially)


Adeptus Videogamun - The Adepts of Videogames, searching human colonies for ancient relics of video games past. That one's not considered canon, but it is real 'cause I made it, and I lead its game crusade.

There's loads more out there, and the different Imperium codexes will provide you with many more fluff terms. Or you can check out the Lexicanum, which is brimming with fluff gathered from various sources.

[Brother Nemiel]

Originally posted by The Proletariat Revolution:

Translating the "Gothic" Pseudo Language is hard, as it is only loosely based on Latin

(this is my memory of the old Rogue Trader book)

Adeptus Astartes = Expert of the Stars
Adeptus Ministorum = Expert of the Administration
Adeptus Mechanicus = Expert of the Machines
Adeptus Astra Telepathica = Expert of Space Mind Reading
Scholastica Psykana = Psyker School

♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Rotundus = Squats
♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Gigantus = Ogryns
♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Minimus = Halflings

Space Marines are also known as ♥♥♥♥ Sapiens Astartes

[rainman [scout marine]]

Originally posted by The Unrelenting Troll:

Well Adept is a expert in some field,and adding the us makes it Greek IG lol

Astarte i believe is a Greek way of, And tell me the actual name of the god: i don't know names exactly lol, saying the a old Middle Eastern God of War.

So basically Experts in War, But thats just my way of viewing it and the real term can be different from person to person.

One of the worst items of retardation is believing that the meaning of words can vary "from person to person".

[Vrakos Anthrakir]

Originally posted by It's OK to be white:

Originally posted by The Unrelenting Troll:

Well Adept is a expert in some field,and adding the us makes it Greek IG lol

Astarte i believe is a Greek way of, And tell me the actual name of the god: i don't know names exactly lol, saying the a old Middle Eastern God of War.

So basically Experts in War, But thats just my way of viewing it and the real term can be different from person to person.

One of the worst items of retardation is believing that the meaning of words can vary "from person to person".

good job dreadging up this nearly two year old dead thread to insult someone though

[cleric66]

well I learn something new everyday. I just thought it meant "Good at wearing Big Pant's".

[Formous]

Adeptus Astartes is exactly as mentioned above, but it's also a organizational term in the Warhammer Universe. You can see a Adeptus Astartes, or a Astartes for short, you can call them Space Marine, or you can reference all Astartes in the Imperium as the Adeptus Astartes.

[cleric66]

Well if they ever had a faction category like " Imperial Heroes", Adeptus Arbites could fill 3 or 4 slots, Power Armour, They Had Shields could Use boltguns, The Shotgun And Remember they had the original power Maul, so tactical and melee they could cover, I don't remember them with heavy weapons, but they certainly were implied.

[@#$%in' Terrence!]

Adeptus is Latin, not Greek. Astarte on the other hand is Greek, and was the name of a Goddess. I believe the 's' at the end of "Astartes" was intended to pluralize "Astarte". So it would seem that "Adeptus Astartes" is implied to mean "Those who have obtained Godhood" or more simply "Godlike", which seems to fit in line with W40k lore more than any other explanation here.