On The Alpha Legion's Germanic Influences

[Ryltar Thamior]

What follows is a somewhat lengthy post detailing a perhaps surprising pattern in the influences of the Crusade/Heresy era XXth Legion which I noticed awhile back. Namely ... that they're very heavily /Germanic/ inflected .. despite all the pseudo-Greek stylings and aesthetic. 

It was originally posted in one of my project-log threads on another forum; however, following the pretty positive reception which it [and uh .. a few other lengthy  thoughts I was having in the same thread] received, I figured that it might also be of interest/use to the Age of Darkness frater of B&C. 

I haven't altered it from its original form, except in the form of the post-script addendum covering Hengist in England. 


------------

Now as applies the XXth Legion ... 

You may be familiar with a certain Alpha Legion character by the name of Armillius Dynat. His namesake appears to be a German chieftain by the name of Arminius [funny that] who lead the Germanic tribes to a massacre victory over Augustus' legions at Teutoburg Forest [this basically causes Augustus to have a bit of a mental breakdown and start wandering his palace screaming "VARUS - GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS!!!"] [cunning chap's subtly changed his name to "Armillius" to reference a certain figure from Jewish myth to throw us off the scent (wile also getting across an additional layer of connotation)! In true Alpha Legion fashion!] 

Now how this relates to our friendly Alphas ... is that the chap in question attained his stunning success against the Romans not simply through ambush ... but his application of the knowledge he'd picked up /while training as a Roman military commander/ in Imperial service. Or, in other words, while hie mgiht not have "infiltrated" in the conventional sense .. he still nevertheless managed to join Roman society, work his way up [being given citizenshp and Equestrian caste rank] ... and then "betray" his former side in a bloody manner by turning their own knowledge against them. 

It is *particularly* Alpha that the way in which Arminius was able to lure three entire legions into the forest in question through the production of a *fake* report suggesting a rebellion which required urgent putting down by Roman forces in order to lure Varrus into the trap. 

Now, the etymology of "Arminius" is itself rather intriguing for these purposes - the standard approach links it to the Her , the "warriors" .. so would simply be a "Her Man", a Fighting Man. However, as it's unlikley to have been his *actual* name amongst his own people, but rather one adopted for the purposes of his operation in Roman society at his citizenship ... i suppose you could look upon it as a Nom-De-Guerre in at least two senses of the term http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/18.png 

[there's also, iirc, an "ermena" root in Proto-Germanic which owrks out as "universal" ... which while not directly relevant, amuses me because of the implication "I am everywhere!"] 

Although that's not the "intriguing" bit. Instead, I suspect that a linkage to the "Irmin" may also be in evidence - although this is my own theorizing rather than anything I'vve picked up from academic sources. Which, apart from being part of a cluster of words in Germanic that i've briefly mentioned above , relating to "great" or "large" [or, potentially, "Arya(n)"] , *also* turns up in connectoin to Germanic [particularly Saxon/Continental-Germanic more so htan Nordic, so much] figure connected to "Odin". 

More on that in a moment; as it's just re-entered my memory that the same root , in the form of "Jormunn" is the first half of the name "Jormungandr" [which uh ... well, it's a kenning - "Great Staff" , for .. well, you know] - which again has some rather interesting implications as applies the Alpha Legion. 

ANyway. Irmin is linked to Odin, like I said earlier. Which ... is often misinterpreted/misremembered in modern culture fo a number of reasons. Work we have done [and which, to be proper, has also beend one by a number of other academics over the decades, however it's fallen by the wayside a lot these days for a number of reasons] links Odin/Wotan and such ... to Vata [also known in Vedic Sanskrit as "Vayu" ] , with the Indo-European linguistics involved hinging around a "Va-" particle that works out as Wind. 

Why does this matter? Weeeelll .. the "winnowing wind" is a pretty apt descriptor for the Alpha Legion, imo - particularly in light of a quotation by a Scythian [there I go again...] leader during the course of a Persian invasion of his lands, taunting the latter that they were the wind .. and good luck attempting to catch the wind! 

Wind wanders, and as anybody who's spent awhile in an older house of wood or wicker will note .. it's interminably hard to keep out the wind...

Further, and going back to Odin ... we see quite some emphasis upon Odin adopting various disguises, running under assumed names, cyphers, riddles - taking quite a delight in such, in fact [and we see in the i think third Black Book the Alpha Legion doing exacty this in rather amusing fashion to the Sons of Horus following Paramar V or whatever it was [thanks /tg/ for tracking down where the quote came from as well as its salience http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/18.png ] . Literally a defining feature of the deity in question. 

It gets additionally intriguing when we consider how the Interpretatio Romanum attempted to account for Odin [i uh ... I won't go into a discursion around Greco-Roman religions being the Odd People Out as applies a conflation of Dumezilian 1st and 2nd function deities and hte folding of Sky Father into Storm Lord , in contrast to both Nordic and Vedic systems of belief ... but you get the idea] - by connecting Odin to Mercury/Hermes. 

After all, what's the Staff of Hermes look like http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/2.png [and c.f also what I said earlir about "Jormungandr" - a great staff, a staff being of potenetially magical import [as well as the whole 'staff of office' angle, ] .. a serpent-staff .. , although this is me being "poetic" so to speak" ... and leads me off in another direction with the Baltic/Slavic "Veles" ...] In addition ot the connotations of the possessoin of secret knowledge, the liminal, and psychopomp[ous] roles ands uch. 

[relating to Armin .. making a note to potentially incorporate an "Ariobarzanes" .. but again, side-issue] 

But anyway, lest I be accused of making far too much out of a single name and letting my imagination run wild [spoiler: I am http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/18.png ] ... there are other points of coterminity which must be considered also.

For a start, consider the Alpha Legion's use of the term "Harrow". This is, once again, a Germanic-origin term. And you can see a similar derivation in English in the term "harry" [also, potentially, "Harass" .. see where i'm going with this?]. Both have their partial origins in the word "Her" I've mentioned earlier [see, for example, th same word turning up in "Einherjar" - variously translated by scholars as "One Man Army" or a sort of army of one (purpose) from many, or possibly a force meant for a single purpose/time/combat .. but I digress] [antoher more modern example being the German word "Heer", that'll be familiar to our WWII-aware types]; but it goes bigger and deeper than that in terms of connotation. Specifically, the way in which it came to mean to "plunder", or to "overrun" - to subjugate, in other words, with overwhelming force or via other means, to the point that they'd be in ur supply-linez raidin ur stuffz. 

Hence the various mentions about the time [a thousand years ago or more] wherein you see mention of the Germanic peoples "harrying" as raiders and such http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/18.png - finding weak-points, turning up, plundering, etc. then withdrawing before strong resistance could be organized. 

As a point of interest, "Herzog", today a German (sur)name, and in the Heresy the surname of at least one Alpha Legionnaire ... welllll, it originates from a Proto-Germanic "Harjatugo: which translates as "Harrow-Master" 

Now, [forgot what i was putting here] 

But back to Odin ... 

There is a figure by the name of Herla; again, with etymology tied up with "Her" , in the sense of "Warrior" or "host" - and if i recall, linking closelywith a Theonym of Odin as the "Lord of the Host" [Harjan] , as well as "Hari". I mention him for two reasons - first up, this is speculated t obe an etymological origin-point for "Harlequin" [yes, *those* Harlequins .. by way of Hellequin]. Or, phrased another way ... 'trickster' types .. wearing masks [or half-masks, in some tellings - potentially, and potentially also etymologically linking to "Hel" in the Germanic senses] .. who may be diabolic emissaries , actors [and in a dramatic context, often 'self-aware', dancing atop fourth wall, and with an intriguing linkage to "politics"]; but also, second, due to the suggestion that the figure in question may mythically speaking have been the Devil or Odin. [ther's also a few historical figures of the Hellequin and related names who may further be of use]. "Devil" and "Odin", well, you can see how that's relevant to the XXth. Particularly given, iirc, the connection to a certain "off-greenish colour" of this Hellequin figure. 

[although interestingly, in at least one of hte old Herle myths, it's *this* figure that is the victim of subterfuge and trickery rather htan other way around...]

[as a brief side-note, there's a related set of Germanic terms which work out more as "Elf-King" and such .. and connect to, well, "Elf" spirits, which may or may not also be trickster, kidnapper, hidden, illusion-weaving etc. .. but I digress. It's Alpha Legion relevant but also Eldar relevant - just as Harlequins, i guess, should be. 

Hmm, i should probably look into "Alb" etc - the idea of Elves in Nordic myth being .. actually, i'll get on to that later. ONWARD!] 

Probably also worth noting the potential connection with the Wild Hunt - you know, ghostly apparitions in the sky sweeping with the force of the wind and supernatural import. 

But where I was *actually* going with the above was with the "Harii" talked about in Tacitus. Why? Well, take a look at how they're described in said work. We'll leave aside the fact they're literally described as [using] "black shields" , but n.b how they deliberately work to obscure their appearance by painting htemselves all-over in black - the better to avail their night-attacks and subterfuge [the better to facilitate their precision-strikes of significant force and such] .. quoth Tacitus - "in every battle, the eyes are the first to be conquered". 

But where it gets *particularly* intriguing is the description, also in Tacitus, of these guys as a "ghost army" [partially, iirc, in reference to their use of terror and the sowing of panic as weapons themselves and sudden apparitions and hte like from outta nowhere, to quot the meme].

Although I should probably mention at this juncture, an associate's pointing out that it's rather unlikely there was actually a Germanic tribe called the "Harii". Instead, what is possible to have happened is that Tacitus or some other Roman got the wrong end of the stick about some German he was talking to; and so we have this relic of a group of people who may very well have self-identified hwen asked as "warriors" [Herii] , being instead described as a tribe of the same name. 

[The uh .. the mind boggles as applies the Bastarnae acquiring *that* as an ethonym] 

Or, in true Alpha Legion style, it's a false-name deliberately given, perhaps because identifying *your entire people* as being warriors is an intimidation-factor. 

Particularly if they're, you know, GHOST-WARRIORS apparently. 

I would also note that in, i think it's in the Lay of Rig [Rigsthula] there's an attestation for Jarl having "eyes like a serpent shon" - the idea being both that he's in possession of much knowledge [consider dragons in, like Tolkien etc. ] and cunning. 

There is additionally, now that I look through my notes on the subject, an ancient Nordic kenning-ish "joke" which uh ... let me put it this way - it involves the strike of a serpent, and something like the modern ENglish idioms of being "caught with one's pants down" or "bite us in the arse". This connects with the Icelandic "Hoggormr" - a "serpent['s] strike", which iirc is a proscribed conduct in hte law-code in question as undignified, ungentlemanly etc. 

Oh, another side-note - the Ursinus character ... again, Germanic, despite Latinization. Both in terms of its use as a Germanic name in the (Post-)Medieval period; and its name relating to "Bears". Now, Bear-warriors, of course .. again, Ber-Serkers - Bear-Skinned [i wonder if the idea of Alpha Legion adopting the "skins" of others may be relevant ... ] . [although the Echion surname - well, take a quick google. Another few very apt connotations and connections http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/7.png ] 

Also, a *bit* of a loose one ... Autilon Skorr - weeell, you might have heard of one Otto Skorzeny http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/18.png not least due to this chap's various conduct both during and after WWII that was straight-up XXth Legion. I mean, hwere to begin. Not just hte commando raids and stuff like Operation Longjump [the attempt to assassinate the Big Three Allied leaders all at once], the daring rescue of Mussolini or Operation Panzerfaust [the abduction of a Hungarian VIP to attempt to assert political leverage on the regime in question], the stuff around Operation Greif [skorzeny et co - comprised of volunteers capable of speaking excelleng [indeed, American-Idiomatic] English and wearing captured Allied uniforms, driving vehicles ['Panzer Brigade 150'] that had been "disguised' as American etc. hardware [somewhat .. haphazardly, admittedly] .... BUT ALSO , the post-War incident wherein he wound up working for Mossad, assassinating German targets in Egyptian etc. employ by using his reputation and familiarity with the high-value individuals in questiion t oget close and 'betray' [from their perspective] them in Israeli service. 

There's also, now that I think upon it, been a number of mentions in recent scholarship of Viking and other Germanic peoples making quite a point of employing "unconventional" for hte time military approaches, including outright deception or betrayal [of non-Germanics] as necessary. I'm trying to remember the Anglo-Saxon incidence of this which first got me thinking about "Harrow" in the first place. Will maybe write it up if/when I do. 

Oh, and finally ... what is a "German" - well, there are a number of etymologies .. but one which is rather directly relevant here is the implication of them being a "man of the spear" ['Ger' as 'Spear'] ... now what's Alpharius armed with http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/18.png 

Anyway, there are no doubt more connections that could be made; and while I'm not for a moment claiming that the Alpha Legion are *exclusively* Germanic in origin ... I do think that there's quite some Germanic influence going on with them that gets a bit 'lost' under all the Classical/Greek aesthetic, the mythical serpents, and the Greco-Roman naming bits and pieces.

I should probably tidy all this up and write it as a proper article rather than "here's a rant I penned in the last hour for some reason about a Crusade/Heresy era thing in the Unification Wars thread" http://b1.ifrm.com/static/emo/18.png 

If you've made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. 


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Addendum: I went back and asked our research institute's resident  Germanic expert about the Anglo-Saxon incident briefly mentioned above. His reply: 

"Hengist employed the original "Night of the Long Knives" in his conquering of Britain. 

The nutshell version is that he feigned peace with his enemies, married his daughter to the rival general and had his warriors sit around the campfire and feast with the soldiers. 

Except his daughter was in on it, promptly slit her new husbands throat and opened the gates to the complex, where the germanic feasters employed the use of the Sax Knives to kill their erstwhile allies."

 

[Lucerne]

Mind crossposting this in the new alpha legion subforum? It's a nice bit of analysis. :p

[Marshal Vespasian]

My Favorite German AL Name is Ingo Pech though. Ingo is a normal german Name, maybe a bit of an 'old guy name' and Pech means Bad luck.

[Marshal Rohr]

This is a pretty cool breakdown. One of the things that’s always made the Heresy so cool is the way you can conceivably trace most legion themes and aesthetics to European folklore and history. It’s one of the things that make 40K such a distinct and unique IP. Most IP’s will expand their cultural aesthetic out too far, but even the ‘eastern’ aesthetic influences in 40k are more tied to the historical context of those cultures in the classical world than true extrapolations of those cultures. Lenses upon lenses.

[Noserenda]

I suspect you are very much on Alan Bligh's wavelength there with the references, it sparks a lot of familiarity with a conversation i had with him about why Harrows were used as a name, though a lot of the detail is lost (Yay brain damage) i distinctly remember some of those points and him wanting to use some Anglo Saxon. 

[Leif Bearclaw]

Eh, I'd entirely disagree. This is just conspiracy theorising to fit a preconceived notion imo. Namely, that having noticed the Armillius/Arminius similarity (which I agree is probably intentional) and then jumped on anything you could possibly connect to Norse/Germanic influences, rather than taking in the entire picture. Arminius is most likely being referenced because of his individual history as a traitor/deceiver/sneaky , rather than as a Germanic figure. Alpha Legion naming conventions seem to be more in the 'sneaky sod', 'ironically prophetic' or just 'it's a name' camps than specifically Norse/Germanic.

 

Examples:

Sheed Ranko. Ranko being of slavic origin (orginally meaning 'early'), and Sheed is either a made up word or might be derived from the arabic Shahid/Shaheed, literally meaning 'witness' but also used for martyrs. So his name boils down to 'early martyr'.

 

Kel Silonius. The surname appears to just be a latin name, and obscure enough that internet searches predominantly return the AL character. Whereas Kel appears to be a really old language fragment of proto-Indo-European origin meaning either 'to cover/conceal/save' or 'to be prominent'.

 

Archontas Origo. Implied to be the general name for AL Dreadnoughts. Archontas is just the Greek for Archon, a general word for ruler/leader (which has been used to refer to different levels of seniority at different points in history). Origo is latin, meaning origin. So this name is basically 'original leader'.

 

Is Ursinus Germanic? Seems to be entirely a Latin word from what I can tell. Fairly simple Latin term combining ursus (bear) with -inus (of/pertaining to) to make a noun an adjective. End result ursinus meaning 'bearlike'. Going from that to 'changing skins' because some Norse wore bear skins is precisely the sort conspiratorial overreach that suggests massive amounts of overthinking and seeing spurious connections that aren't really there. Then of course, the Echion part of that guy's name is 100% Greek.

 

To compare quickly to another Legion. The SoH. While their Primarch is obviously Egyptian their ranks include Hebrew (Ezekyle Abaddon), Hebrew and old english (Loken, with his first name seemingly derived from the hebrew Gavriel), Latin and Lovecraft (Hastur Sejanus), Bosnian Arab (Tarik), French/Latin (Luc, Verulam), English (Tybalt), Irish (Moy), Scottish (Marr), the list goes on. I guess what I'm getting at here is 'don't read too much into a name'.

 

Then there's legion terms/units like Lernaean (literally a Greek Hydra reference) and Effrit (probably derived from Ifrit, evil Islamic demon entities). Very like Germanic influence there.

 

As for harrow. I don't know where you're getting your etymology from, but it doesn't match what I can find. Harrow appears to come from old english hearwe/hearge, and is thought to share the same origin as harvest. Which makes sense, as a harrow is a type of plough used to break up and scatter soil, with the more destructive uses of the term seemingly coming from this 'we are harrowing you because we're doing to your people and organisation what a harrow does to the soil'. Harass is a completely different root, ultimately taken from French, not Germanic languages.

 

Basically, the AL are a hodge podge of 'sneaky' and 'anonymous/hydra' references. Sure, some are Germanic in origin, but I think you've overly focussed on them, especially as there is already an overt 'Germanic' Legion, the VI.

 

Hope this doesn't come across as combative, it's not my intention.

[Fajita Fan]

 

 

Basically, the AL are a hodge podge of 'sneaky' and 'anonymous/hydra' references. Sure, some are Germanic in origin, but I think you've overly focussed on them, especially as there is already an overt 'Germanic' Legion, the VI.

Now there's a lot of smart stuff being thrown around in this thread but I would agree here.  When you're from everywhere you're from nowhere.

[MegaVolt87]

Mods change OP"s user name for their safety, they know too much! ;)

[Unknown Legionnaire]

 

 

 

Basically, the AL are a hodge podge of 'sneaky' and 'anonymous/hydra' references. Sure, some are Germanic in origin, but I think you've overly focussed on them, especially as there is already an overt 'Germanic' Legion, the VI.

Now there's a lot of smart stuff being thrown around in this thread but I would agree here.  When you're from everywhere you're from nowhere.

 

 

 

Very much this. The XXth Legion is hard to pinpoint or focus down upon for a reason (or several).

 

Also  Armillus (Dynat)  =/=  Arminius  =/=  Armilius.

 

But nice write-up by the OP anyways.

[Ryltar Thamior]

Oh wow; I hadn't been expecting this post, which I wrote a year and a half ago, to turn back up again - but I'm glad it's getting more engagement, and blown away by some of the positive comments that Frater have left. [particularly the suggestion of being "on Alan Bligh's wavelength"]

I also hear many of the criticisms, and shall endeavour to respond in more depth and detail to everybody a bit later. And also expand upon a few points I made in the OP with information we've since come into over the previous eighteen months. 

It's important to note two things, however. 

First up - whenever I do these 'deep-dive' fluff analysis posts, I rarely intend them to be prescriptive, but rather descriptive. As in, I put out concepts that I've found personally useful or inspirational when thinking of the faction or figure or engagement in question, on the basis that others may also find something cool in it - rather than it being a 'be-all and end all' 'final word' upon a subject. 

I mention this because it's possible my intent has been a bit misread. I did not mean to imply that the *only* influence going on with the Alpha Legion was the Germanic, and attempt to shove out other areas. 

And in fact, if there's interest, I may go off and do a further round of 'deep dives' on other potential areas of influence ... or things that can serve as strongly resonant sources of influence/inspiration for the XXth .. drawn from other historic cultures and mythoreligious complexes. [(Balto-)Slavic is definitely on that list; as is Greek] 

And second - 

I wrote the OP, I think from memory, over a rather short period of time during a bit of a hypomanic phase. This ... partially explains why there's a lack of coherent formatting, and a certain array of rather wild hair-trigger associations made, all in some kind of mad stream-of-consciousness rapid-fire barrage of verbiage. 

I am frankly a little embarrassed that the prose and organization is not up to a better standard in the OP. For which I apologize. 

Anyway, thanks again for all the responses - positive and critique. I will go through and reply more individually, and add more depth/detail where I can. 
 

[Zuvassin]

A lot of 40k's original inspiration was WWI, hence the design of a lot of tanks and the commonality of siege warfare and such, and pre-WWI Germany was obsessed with ancient Greece. There's been articles and books written on this:

 

https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736119.001.0001/acprof-9780199736119-chapter-1

 

https://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/the-greek-ideal-and-the-making-of-modern-germany

 

I'm lazy and am just linking two easy examples, but it was well known enough that IIRC the Germans' obsession with the ancient Greeks was sometimes lampooned in the rest of Europe. I would not be surprised if Alan Bligh and others hadn't picked up on that and included it. I think it's also natural (and best) for 40k's background to blend multiple inspirations instead of trying to adhere to overly-simplistic "Army X are the Space _____".

 

Hence the 30k Iron Warriors also blending elements of Ancient Greece (Olympia) and WWI (siege/attritional warfare).

[Ryltar Thamior]

A lot of 40k's original inspiration was WWI, hence the design of a lot of tanks and the commonality of siege warfare and such, and pre-WWI Germany was obsessed with ancient Greece. There's been articles and books written on this:

 

https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736119.001.0001/acprof-9780199736119-chapter-1

 

https://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/the-greek-ideal-and-the-making-of-modern-germany

 

I'm lazy and am just linking two easy examples, but it was well known enough that IIRC the Germans' obsession with the ancient Greeks was sometimes lampooned in the rest of Europe. I would not be surprised if Alan Bligh and others hadn't picked up on that and included it. I think it's also natural (and best) for 40k's background to blend multiple inspirations instead of trying to adhere to overly-simplistic "Army X are the Space _____".

 

Hence the 30k Iron Warriors also blending elements of Ancient Greece (Olympia) and WWI (siege/attritional warfare).

Legit  material there around the Greek influence upon early-modern Germany; and yup, definitely the case that it's often if not always multiple influences rather than highly specific fantasy counterpart cultures .. er .. recycled in space. I just felt that there was a lack of awareness of the Germanic bits and pieces as part of that, in favour of focusing on the more obvious Greek visual style elements. 

 

Now in terms of the IVth ... I actually did have a few posts somewhere that sought to draw out some of the 30k Iron Warrior influences, mostly in a Unification Wars context. Some of it is more speculative [as in "here's some cool stuff you can throw in for fleshing out your project, that's immediately adjacent to stuff we *do* have solid attestation for], but even the elements that are inferential [like the location of Sek Amrak etc.] are still closely built from what's actually in Bligh's work. 

 

The long and the short of it is that while yes, yes there is a Greek influence going on - it's better understood in the context of the post-Macedonian conquest *Persian* Empire. Which brought together those Greek elements with a lot of other things to produce almost a thousand years worth of Wall-Building, Heavily-Armoured, Siege-Crafting, war-effort. This is again what's directly in the relevant Black Book material, and logical interpolations thereof. 

 

If there is interest, I may go off and dig it out again, maybe tidy it up a bit.  

 

Eh, I'd entirely disagree. This is just conspiracy theorising to fit a preconceived notion imo. Namely, that having noticed the Armillius/Arminius similarity (which I agree is probably intentional) and then jumped on anything you could possibly connect to Norse/Germanic influences, rather than taking in the entire picture. Arminius is most likely being referenced because of his individual history as a traitor/deceiver/sneaky , rather than as a Germanic figure. Alpha Legion naming conventions seem to be more in the 'sneaky sod', 'ironically prophetic' or just 'it's a name' camps than specifically Norse/Germanic.

 

Examples:

Sheed Ranko. Ranko being of slavic origin (orginally meaning 'early'), and Sheed is either a made up word or might be derived from the arabic Shahid/Shaheed, literally meaning 'witness' but also used for martyrs. So his name boils down to 'early martyr'.

 

Kel Silonius. The surname appears to just be a latin name, and obscure enough that internet searches predominantly return the AL character. Whereas Kel appears to be a really old language fragment of proto-Indo-European origin meaning either 'to cover/conceal/save' or 'to be prominent'.

 

Archontas Origo. Implied to be the general name for AL Dreadnoughts. Archontas is just the Greek for Archon, a general word for ruler/leader (which has been used to refer to different levels of seniority at different points in history). Origo is latin, meaning origin. So this name is basically 'original leader'.

 

Is Ursinus Germanic? Seems to be entirely a Latin word from what I can tell. Fairly simple Latin term combining ursus (bear) with -inus (of/pertaining to) to make a noun an adjective. End result ursinus meaning 'bearlike'. Going from that to 'changing skins' because some Norse wore bear skins is precisely the sort conspiratorial overreach that suggests massive amounts of overthinking and seeing spurious connections that aren't really there. Then of course, the Echion part of that guy's name is 100% Greek.

 

To compare quickly to another Legion. The SoH. While their Primarch is obviously Egyptian their ranks include Hebrew (Ezekyle Abaddon), Hebrew and old english (Loken, with his first name seemingly derived from the hebrew Gavriel), Latin and Lovecraft (Hastur Sejanus), Bosnian Arab (Tarik), French/Latin (Luc, Verulam), English (Tybalt), Irish (Moy), Scottish (Marr), the list goes on. I guess what I'm getting at here is 'don't read too much into a name'.

 

Then there's legion terms/units like Lernaean (literally a Greek Hydra reference) and Effrit (probably derived from Ifrit, evil Islamic demon entities). Very like Germanic influence there.

 

As for harrow. I don't know where you're getting your etymology from, but it doesn't match what I can find. Harrow appears to come from old english hearwe/hearge, and is thought to share the same origin as harvest. Which makes sense, as a harrow is a type of plough used to break up and scatter soil, with the more destructive uses of the term seemingly coming from this 'we are harrowing you because we're doing to your people and organisation what a harrow does to the soil'. Harass is a completely different root, ultimately taken from French, not Germanic languages.

 

Basically, the AL are a hodge podge of 'sneaky' and 'anonymous/hydra' references. Sure, some are Germanic in origin, but I think you've overly focussed on them, especially as there is already an overt 'Germanic' Legion, the VI.

 

Hope this doesn't come across as combative, it's not my intention.

What I would say, is that it's definitely the case for any Legion's portrayal to grow and develop over time, with a given author's impact upon its characterization often being either subtly or less subtly different to what another chooses to emphasize. So, as applies the Germanic influences, this appears to be something Alan Bligh was quite keen on - and we can infer this based not only upon the fact that much of what I'm referencing is FW material rather than novels, but also what Noserenda's said about personal conversation with the Great Man upon the subject. 

 

Now, as I've said earlier, my intention was never to deny that there's a swathe of *other* influences going into the Alpha Legion - just to draw out something that's subtly there, but often overlooked. 

 

But I do disagree with the implication that there's a 'one Sven limit' in terms of "overt Germanic Legion"s - and we can demonstrate this via recourse to the Imperial Fists. Admittedly, they've gone down a somewhat different flavouring of Germanic than the Space Wolves, but it's difficult to draw another conclusion from the Huscarla, figures like Fafnir Rann (or Sigismund), and the descriptions of Innwit. Again, definitely not the only influence that's gone into the VIIth; and it's definitely worth noting that while there's some coterminity with the VI's 'Germanic'-ness, the VIIth also encompass the different and subsequent Christian-era developments as well; but I digress. 

 

As applies "Harrow" ... yup, I was fully prepared to scratch my head and chalk that up to some sort of over-exuberant hypo-manic interpolation on my part, which would be embarrassing, as this is an area germane to my professional field, and I'm not usually given to making things up - mistakes, of course, being something that do happen from time to time; and somewhat speculative inferences being part of the nature of the job. 

 

But having just taken a quick google, it appears there is *some* support for it - linking Harrow to Harry, Hergian, etc. First link on the search , fourth heading. While I don't know that I saved research notes for a forum-post a year and a half ago over on Ammobunker that was typed up spur of the moment (and therefore don't quite remember where I would have gotten the original inference) ... I'm somewhat relieved that it appears that I didn't just conjure it up out of thin air. [Also, while it's not directly relevant, I did just briefly re-check "harass", and it does appear that there's scope for Germanic etymological underpinnings to this term, underlying the French one. Which should not be surprising - while French is a Romance language, the Franks were a significantly Germanic people [hence Charlemagne - Great Karl], and there was much other scope for Germanic influence upon especially the French elements which turned up in later English, not least due to the 'French' in question often being a bit more more Germanic again - Normans, and such, I mean] 

 

As applies Ursinus - yes, I am not disputing that it is a Latin word, but the concept it is signifying is not so directly Latinate. Bear-warriors, while not *exclusively* Germanic, are prominently associated in that direction, and with the addition of the changing-skins element, I thought it went rather well with the XXth. I am not denying there are other possible interpretations for the name; only suggesting that it seemed a logical inference which logically fitted with the rest of the corpus and theme. 

 

Which is, again, not to deny there are an array of *other* influences that have gone into the Alpha Legion, and which are frequently more immediately prominent.

 

In fact, it is a good thought around Sheed Ranko - I would have possibly thought that 'Sheed' was supposed to resonate with "Shed", as in "Shedding", which is a pretty serpentine thing to do; but you have reminded me that there's a rather significant sphere of influences people *could* draw upon for their own spins on the Alpha Legion from Slavic mythology that I had meant to write up something on sometime [you can see where my chain of thought was starting with the "Veles" mention in the OP]. And this, too, becomes a bit of a 'convection zone' with the Germanic area of things due to the cross-over amidst the Baltic and other such peoples in direct Germanic contact or proximity at the time. [Which, lest I be misinterpreted, is not me suddenly attempting to claim Slavic mythology as "Germanic", nor the Alpha Legion as having a significantly salient "Slavic" influence ... just observing that there's an under-tapped area that would/would have been cool to draw from] 

 

Also, you are likely correct about "Kel" - that's exactly what I would have connected it to myself ... and have done similar things in some of my other 40k-related projects elsewhere which have an XXth relevant twist, although often linking more directly to the Sanskrit derivation, "Kaal" [yes, like the Goddess], meaning "Black/Time/Death[/Night]" (and a few other related concepts), and in at least one instance that I can recall, making it into something of a pun on "Karl" [as in, the Germanic term for "Man"]. But that is another story for another time. 

 

Now to be sure, I *do* appreciate what you have said bout not over-reading into names ... 

 

... but while I can well see how that is prudent when speaking of the often more brutally *direct* legions and legionaries like the XVIth whom you've cited by way of example - I cannot help but feel that it is significantly less appropriate when we are speaking about certain of the other legions. The XVth in particular, are so steeped in esoteric trivia that many names are quite intentionally meaningful ones [although given it's esoteric trivia of the (post-)Renaissance Hermetic Grab-Bag variety at least some of the time, this may mean that the meanings don't *quite* play out as intended]; and I would also point to the VIth as a Legion where names are understood to have power and purpose a fair amount of the time [including where they might otherwise seem pretty ordinary nouns - "Bear" springs to mind :P ] - which is also partially why Kennings are so vitally important [and funnily enough, there's a further bit here around the development of terms for "Bear" in various Indo-European languages as being ways to *avoid* saying the *actual* PIE word for "Bear", lest you attract its attention ... but I digress] 

 

But the XXth themselves, seem to take a *delight* in such things. As do the chaps writing them, when they do so well. Codenames and cyphers have ever been the author's (not-so-)subtle joy. Although I did find, for instance, the operative called Mendacs [as in, Latin for liar, falsehood - whence modern English "Mendacious"] to be ... a bit on the nose. There's hiding in plain sight, and then there's refuge in audacity, I guess.  

 

And Ursinus Echion is a good example of this, as you have pointed out - the "Bear" part, is adjoined by a Greek term close to that for "Viper" ... which, in addition to being one of the hidden warriors of the Horse of Troy, and also one of the surviving 'Serpent's Tooth' soldiers produced by Cadmus [and, on a bit of a tangent, one slain iirc by Odysseus at Ithaca for a certain misdeed], is *also* the name for a certain figure with power over the winds. Given the story in which Ursinus Echion turns up in - I think that this is pretty intentional. 

 

I have a few more thoughts that I'll add a bit later. 

 

[And thanks for the clarification of intent - it hadn't come across as 'combative', but it's sometimes good to make these things explicit