Etymology of terms.

So one thing that interests me is looking up the proper meaning of words that don't seem to make much sense at first. Whether it's something archaic, part of an enemy name that's usually ignored, or something that has a more specific meaning than what is generally assumed, I like that this game generally has meaning behind such words.

For starters as I haven't done much specific research yet here are some that I've noticed in normal play.


The word Chiurgeon is used a number of times in cutscenes, it took me a while to notice that it's a variant on surgeon, but instead of cutting into people, they manipulate the person's aether (or chi) to bring about healing instead. (especially relevant as in FFXIV, there seems to be little difference between organic matter and aether)

One of the bosses in Hauke Manor is the Manor Claviger. Looking up the term it appears to be an old term for a doorman, meaning "keeper of the keys" or something to that effect. In time it came to also refer to the warden of a jail. Fitting as not only would he have keys to the rooms in the manor, but has the key leading to the dungeon.

The area where you fight Ozma in the lost city of Mhach is referred to as the gloriole. Looking it up gives the definition of the radiant light surrounding the head of a saint in religious iconography. Basically a halo, though it's usage seems to prefer a kind of glow instead of the solid ring usually associated with a halo, it also seems to have a more specific religious context as it literally translates to "A small glory"

Keeping in mind the meanings of historical significance of certain words can also serve as a quick clue to the job that an enemy has. A quick example would be recognizing that garlean units that end in sagitarrus are archers due to the constellation associating. One a bit more obscure is the barbers in Pharos Sirius. The seafaring nature of the enemies brings to mind the age of piracy. In those times barbers doubled as surgeons, making them the medic class among the enemies.

For future replies or topics I think I'll try delving more deeply into specific matters, specifically dungeons and the place, enemy, and ability names.

The word is chirurgeon, not chiurgeon, and is an actual word. It's an old-timey word for a surgeon basically.

In Thousand Maws of Toto-rak the place where you fight the final boss is called the Abacination Chamber.

Abacination is a medieval form of torture used to punish heretics. They would heat up a metal plate to red hot then hold it in front of the heretic's face. The heat radiation would cause the heretic's eyes to boil and burst.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

The word Chiurgeon is used a number of times in cutscenes, it took me a while to notice that it's a variant on surgeon

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Chirurgeon is the real-world archaic English term for a surgeon.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

garlean units that end in sagitarrus are archers due to the constellation associating.

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There is an association, but they're not named after the constellation; the constellation is so named because it's an archer on horseback. The Garlean soldiers are named for Roman gladiatorial styles and army terms.

Eques (pl. equites): cavalryman with a sword or spear
Hoplomachus: sword and round shield
Laquearius: lasso and dagger, variant of the retiarius (net and trident)
Sagittarius: cavalry archer
Secutor: sword and tall shield, anti-retiarius
(more about gladiatorial styles)

Centurion: army officer
Decurion: cavalry officer
Evocatus: retired soldier who has been voluntarily reactivated
Signifer (pl. signiferi): standard-bearer (carries the banner that identifies who your army is fighting for, so people can decide whether or not to shoot at you)

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

One a bit more obscure is the barbers in Pharos Sirius. The seafaring nature of the enemies brings to mind the age of piracy. In those times barbers doubled as surgeons, making them the medic class among the enemies.

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See From Haircuts to Hangnails -- The Barber-Surgeon for more information about the role of barbers during the middle ages. Some of these responsibilities persisted in America as late as frontier times, when the nearest doctor might have been a week's stage coach ride away.

Cool idea, very nice seeing someone looking into this and sharing it with us.

As a Blm, I'd be interested in the meaning of Apocatastasis and Enochian ;)

Apocatastasis is a doozy. Initially meaning the return to a primordial form, essentially if a hypothetical catastrophe were to occur and return the earth or universe to a much earlier state.

It also has been used in many religious contexts to convey a similar notion in a more personal scale regarding individual spirituality or faith.

The biblical flood could be considered an apocatastasis for civilization where it was reverted to an earlier time and had to rebuild from there.

Enochian was supposedly the language of Angels as purported by a 16th century medium who claimed that the language was what Adam spoke in the Garden of Eden and the language in which he named all of the animals.

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Originally Posted by Ferth

Enochian was supposedly the language of Angels as purported by a 16th century medium who claimed that the language was what Adam spoke in the Garden of Eden and the language in which he named all of the animals.

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To build on that, "Enochian" comes from the name "Enoch", the great-grandfather of the Biblical Noah. Enoch is pronounced ee-naak or ee-nock, and the BLM ability is pronounced ee-naak-kian or ee-noc-kian. Just a friendly PSA, as I've noticed a lot of people reading it as eno-chain instead. :p

There is such a thing as Enochian magic in real life. As Ferth explained, it's supposed to allow the occult practitioner to invoke and command spirits.

Here are my contributions to the arcane terms used in FFXIV:

(1) Noumenon is an actual concept that featured heavily in the epistemological philosophy of Immanuel Kant.

The German thinker was a giant of his time, and among his greatest contributions were his musings on the nature of knowledge. Basically, he's one of the strongest proponents of the "two worlds" of things, phenomenon and noumenon. Phenomenon describe things as we perceive them to be, while noumenon are the true nature of the things we perceive.

In Kant's view, phenomenon are the "wrappers" around the black box that is the "thing-in-itself". As human beings, limited by our physical senses, we will never be able to perceive the "thing-in-itself". What we know about the objects around us are limited to what we can perceive them to be.

(2) This view is, interestingly, an echo of the ancient Greek concept of Mimesis (MAI-mee-sis). Mimesis derives from the Greek word for imitation, and Plato used the concept to criticise poetry as an imitation of reality, twice-removed from the truth of what things really are.

Plato argued that an idea exists in its truest form as something in the mind of God. Take the divine idea of a chair. A carpenter is inspired by this divine idea to create the object that we know as the chair. An artist comes along and is so impressed by the chair that he makes a perfect painting of the chair. But, despite the painting's perfection, it remains no more than an imitation of an imitation of the true idea of a chair as it exists in God's mind.

The point that Plato was trying to make is that artists have a duty to be as good as they can be, because while they help to spread knowledge through their creations, they are already two steps removed from the "truth", and can risk further distorting knowledge if they aren't as accurate as possible in their depiction of an idea.

Being a summoner main, it shouldn't be surprising that I'm intrigued by the choice of "Mimesis" as the name of the i270 summoner relic. It references, I think, the idea of egi being "imitations" of the real thing, the primals, who are in turn imitations of beings that once existed in Hydaelyn's history. :)

The word miasma (summoner skill) means "bad air" generally thought to cause disease when direct contact didn't account for the spread of sickness.... what's funny is when people use bio, bio2, miasma, miasma 2 as shorthand when needing a break in a party (#1, #2, cigarette, weed respectively)

Firstly, I think this an excellent thread. :)

Secondly, two names that are important aspects of FFXIV's story, Ascian and Eikon, are actually Greek words.

'Ascian' loosely means 'shadowless', they were supposedly a race of people who were believed to exist in Africa, which Eorzea is very loosely based on, and being in the Tropics, they would literally 'cast no shadow' when the sun is directly overhead (which near the equator happens twice a year), with the word entering English-language popular culture with Gene Wolfe's famous science fantasy novel series The Book of the New Sun (where the Ascians were actually humans of a far future Earth). In regards to the FFXIV version, the name had more importance in the original version of FFXIV where the few Ascians that actually were seen on screen (the now decanonized elezen Ascian Travenchet and a nameless wraith like 'bestial' Ascian seen in Thanalan) indeed did not cast shadows (in fact, Michael Christopher Koji-Fox even played into this by telling players to "find more Ascians in 1.0 by looking for people who didn't have shadows!" ;)).

Naturally though, this idea seems have been quietly dropped as the Ascians in ARR seem to cast shadows, so their name no longer really rings true, sadly (another reference to them not having shadows is their leitmotif composed by Nobuo Uematsu is literally called Without Shadow. ;))

As for Eikon, which here in FFXIV is the Garlean word for Primal, in the real world 'eikon' is actually the Greek word from which the English word 'icon' is derived, and means 'image' (the true meaning for 'icon' is an image of a religious figure or deity.) Which makes sense given that Primals are 'false gods' created from a strong will or idea, an image given flesh so to speak.

Paladin - origins from Mount Palatin in Rome and the housing of the roman emperor. Paladin were the royal guard of the palace on Mount Palatin and also the personal guard of the roman emperor.

Some more tidbits:

Free Companies and Grand Companies are actually taken from real world history - ironically they actually referred to the same thing, organized groups of mercenaries who operated independently of governments in the Middle Ages (roughly analogous to modern day 'independent military contractors') - where as in FFXIV only FCs are actual 'mercenary groups' with GCs the volunteer military forces of each citystate. This explains why during the 2.X storylines when FCs are mentioned by npcs, they're referred to in less than shining terms and are regarded as little more than groups of sellswords and ruffians.

Limsa Lominsa is referred to officially as the 'Thalassocracy'. A thalassaocracy is a system of government which is essentially a state that holds power over the oceans - in the strictest sense, it is one where all their 'territory' is maritime and not land based, which definitely suits Limsa to a tee (not surprisingly, the word thalassocracy is again a Greek word, the Greek citystates after all were strong maritime powers in the Ancient world and actually Eorzea's citystates are very loosely based on).

Pugilist is another word for boxer - the actual origin of the world pugilism is somewhat unclear, but at it's basic it refers to bare-knuckle fistfighting (as opposed to modern boxing which uses gloves that cover the fists), somewhat ironic given the PGL class in FFXIV is forced to use brass knuckles, cesti and other hand weapons. ;)

The Scholar ability Adloquium is Latin, and means an exhortation or encouragement. The verb form (one of them, anyway) is "adloquor", which means to speak to, to address, or to exhort. It is alternatively written as "alloquium" and "alloquor".

A further root is "loquor", which just means to talk or speak. It's where we get the words "loquacious" and "eloquent" from, for example. Star Trek fans might also be familiar with "locutus", meaning having spoken.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

The area where you fight Ozma in the lost city of Mhach is referred to as the gloriole.

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I remember first hearing about this on the UK panel show QI. Being QI, they promptly tittered about the pronunciation of "gloriole".

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Free Companies and Grand Companies are actually taken from real world history

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Interesting; I knew about "free companies" referring to mercenary groups (commonly used in SF&F fiction with the Such-and-such Free Mercenary Company), but didn't know about "grand companies" being the same thing.

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Originally Posted by Legion88

Paladin - origins from Mount Palatin in Rome and the housing of the roman emperor. Paladin were the royal guard of the palace on Mount Palatin and also the personal guard of the roman emperor.

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Not quite. While the word Paladin does ultimately derive from the Palatine Hill in Rome it does so more indirectly.
It originates from the word palatine or palatinus which was used to denote high-ranking officials in Rome due to their association with the imperial palace there.
The bodyguards of the roman emperors were called the Praetorian Guard.


Later the French word paladin was first used for describing the (semi-legendary) knights at the court of Charlemagne and has also been used for the knights of the Round Table from Arthurian mythos.
In both cases the word paladin was not really used until several centuries after the actual events - and entered English even later.

Vorpal Thrust was taken from FFXI, where it was a mid-level Polearm weapon skill counterpart to Vorpal Blade (Sword skill) and Vorpal Scythe (Scythe Skill). Vorpal Sword was mid ranked sword found in FF1.

The word Vorpal comes from the poem Jabberwocky from "Alice and the Looking Glass"

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He took his vorpal sword in hand,
longtime the manxsome foe he sought
So rested he by the Tum-Tum Tree
And stood awhile in thought.

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One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

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It's sort of a non-sense word, in that the author made it up and it has no meaning. From the context, one can glean that it is an adjective that may mean sharp/deadly. The author said he can't explain Vorpal Sword, but said the word Vorpal can be obtained by alternately picking letters from the words: "verbal" and "gospel".


Chaos Thrust is reminiscent of Cherry Blossom from FF9 (Freya's Skill). In Japanese poetry, Cherry Blossom petals are often a big metaphor for blood/life, as blood spurting out from a fine cut with a sword resembles Cherry Blossom petals in the wind. So, the animation of Chaos Thrust showing petals is a metaphor for blood.

Geirskogul is a spear-wielding Valkryie from Norse Mythology. It was also DRG's ultimate weapon skill in FFXI when wielding the Gungnir relic weapon. Its animations of shooting forth a blast of white energy is reminiscent of a re-occuring skill Dragoons have throughout the FF series: Holy Breath

The origin of many AF, Myth, and Esoteric equipment comes from FFXI's Artifact/Relic/Empyrean equipment.

http://ffxiclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/C...Artifact_Armor
http://ffxiclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Relic_Armor
http://ffxiclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/C...Empyrean_Armor


That said, the new DRK AF, since it's a new job in XIV, will likely have its next AF set have the adjective "Abyss" in its name, e.g. Abyss Flanchard.

Weapon trivia! (Cuz I'm bored.)

If it's not named, I either don't know or it's a unique term to the game, or didn't show up on a quick Google / Wikipedia search. I'm not listing franchise history of weapons either.

RELIC WEAPONS
Curtana: the "Sword of Mercy," named after the sword used during the coronation of British Kings and Queens. First appeared in the Song of Roland.
Sphairai: a form of himantes used during ancient Greek boxing.
Gae Bolg: weapon of Cuchulainn from the Irish Ulster cycle mythos. Originally wielded by Scathatch.
Thyrus: a form of staff. Favored weapon of the Greek god Dionysus.

ZODIAC WEAPONS
Excalibur: King Arthur's legendary sword, gifted to him by the Lady of the Lake after Caliburn was broken. (Everyone knows this... or should.)
Aegis (Shield): A form of protection, either a hide or shield, used by Athena and Zeus in Greek mythology.
Ragnarok: the end of days in Norse myth. Literally translates to "Twilight of the Gods."
Longinus: spear used to pierce Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Yoichi (Bow): a legendary (but real) Samurai renowned for his skill with the bow.
Lilith (Rod): Adam's first wife in Bibilical apocrypha, who chose to consort with demons instead of bowing to her husband.
Apocalypse: lit. "an uncovering," as in "of knowledge." Typically used as a portent of doom and destruction thanks to its use in the Bible.
Nirvana: state of enlightenment according to Buddhism, where one has purged oneself of all worldly desires, preventing reincarnation.
Sasuke('s Blades): a legendary ninja.

ANIMA WEAPONS
Almace: sword of Turpin from the Song of Roland.
Ancile: a divine shield said to have fallen from the heavens during the reign of the second King of Rome. Twelve copies were made to confuse thieves.
Verethragana: Persian god of victory.
Ukonvasara: hammer of the Finnish god of thunder, Ukko.
Rhongomianat: spear of King Arthur. (Yep, he had one of those too.)
Gandiva: bow of Arjun, hero of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.
Hvergelmir: a spring (i.e. fountain) in Norse myth. Said to sustain Yggdrasill, as well as house Nidhoggr.
Draconomicon: play on the Necronomicon, a mysterious book from H.P. Lovecraft's works.
Tetrabiblos: lit. "four books." A text on the philosophy and practice of astrology.
Majestas: a Roman term for crimes committed against the Roman people and/or their safety. (Ironic.)
Kannagi: central character of the Tamil epic Silappatikaram.
Nothung: another name for Norse hero Sigurd's sword, Gram.
Deneb: brightest star in the Cygnus constellation. Forms the head of the Northern Cross.
Armageddon: another term for the end of the world from Christian religion. Derives from "Har Megiddo," the valley where the final battle foretold in the Book of Revelation will supposedly take place.

COMPLETE ANIMA WEAPONS
Aettir: a mythic substance in Norse mythology. Said to be the source of all life, but very poisonous.
Priwen: King Arthur's shield (yep, he had one of those too...), or perhaps his boat. Or both. (Arthur had a lot of stuff, mmkay?)
Nypel: a fighting bracelet from central and northern Africa.
Minos: first King of Crete, who oversaw the famous Minotaur sacrifices. Cast as the judge of Hell in Dante's Inferno.
Areadbhar: a spear requested for and wielded by Lugh, an Irish god, that had to keep its tip immersed in water or it would ignite in flame.
Terpander: Greek poet. Invented Greek music, or formed a cohesive system for it anyway.
Kaladanda: the staff of Death from Hindu mythology. Said to be able to kill anyone struck by it, no matter what.
Mimesis: a critical term with a wide array of meanings, from acting to mimicry.
Anabasis: the most famous book of Greek soldier / writer Xenophon. An autobiographical tale of military adventure.
Sindri: the name of a character and a hall in Norse myth, in which the virtuous dead will reside after Ragnarok.
Sandung: ossuary of the Indoneisan Dayak people.
Cronus: Zeus' father in Greek mythology. King of the Titans.
Canopus: brightest star in the Carina constellation and second brightest star in the night sky. Named for a navigator from Greek myth.

... lots and lots. There's more. Maybe I'll get to Gerolt's Masterworks tomorrow...

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Originally Posted by Jonnycbad

The word Vorpal comes from the poem Jabberwocky from "Alice and the Looking Glass"

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Indeed it does, and an addendum to that, the Bandersnatch enemy found in the Chocobo Forest in the Dravanian Forelands is also from the same source (it was also a weird dog-like enemy in FFIX) - the 'bandersnatch' was a monster mentioned in Jabberwocky as a mysterious yet ferocious and dangerous beast - indeed, two of the FFXIV enemy's attacks, 'Fulminous Jaws' (a fire-like attack), and 'Catching Claws' (a swipe attack), are named after lines about the Bandersnatch in Jabberwocky: specifically, "with fulminous jaws" and "claws that catch". When I first saw that I smiled wryly immediately picking up on the reference. :)

While we're going about terms from the Jabberwocky. The adjectives used to describe the bosses of Wanderer's Palace Hard also come from the poem.

OK, here we go.

GEROLT'S MASTERWORKS
Burtgang: Better known as "Blutgang." Sword of Heime, a legendary Germanic hero.
Glanzfaust: "Shining Fist," roughly translated from German.
Rosenbogen: "Rose Arch," roughly translated from German.
Yagrush: Mace of the pagan god Baal.
Laevateinn: an obscure weapon from Norse mythology. Believed to be a staff.
Vajra(s): means "thunderbolt" or "diamond" in Sanskrit. A type of weapon, as well as the name of a mythical king in the Mahabharata.
Arondight: Lancelot's sword from Arthurian mythos. (It's just an oversized Burtgang, c'mon SE...)
Sirius: the brightest star in the night sky.

Additionally, a lot of bosses and flavor for the "Shadow of Mhach" line borrows from the Ulster cycle of Irish myth, though not exclusively.

SHADOW OF MHACH
Cuchulainn (Cu Chulainn): a hero of the Ulster cycle. Originally named "Setana," he took the name "Cu Chulainn" (Culann's Hound) after killing... Culann's hound and taking the position in penance, until a replacement could be raised.
Echidna: a half-woman, half-snake monster from Greek mythology. Mate of Typhon.
Arachne: a woman from Greek myth turned into the first spider by Athena for her hubris.
Forgall: a character from the Ulster cycle. Suggests Cu Chulainn go train under Scathach to prevent him from marrying his younger daughter Emer while the older is still unwed. When Cu Chulainn returns he still refuses to allow him to marry Emer, leading to Cu Chulainn storming his fortress; Forgall falls off the ramparts in the attack and dies.
Dun Scaith: fortress of Scathach from the Ulster cycle.
Ferdiad: Cu Chulainn's foster brother from the Ulster cycle. Possessed an impenetrable hide as a counter to Cu Chulainn's Gae Bolg, but was nonetheless slain with the spear. (Don't ask how.)
Scathach: warrior woman from the Ulster cycle who trained both Cu Chulainn and Ferdiad. Presided over Dun Scaith and the original owner of the Gae Bolg.
Connla: Cu Chulainn's illegitimate son, raised by his mother alone. Killed by his father, who learned his identity shortly after Connla's death.

... and...

Cait Sith: a type of fairy from Celtic myth. Also believed to possibly be a witch capable of transforming herself into a cat nine times.

Echidna is also known as the mother of monsters in a lot of references I've seen.

Also, theory on how Ferdiad died. His hide may not be penetrated, but he could still be beaten to death.

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Originally Posted by Jonnycbad

Geirskogul

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Just a small note on this one, because I often see people mistakenly abbreviate it "GK": it should be parsed geir skogul, not geirs kogul.
As for its pronounciation, r+s in Norse-based languages become "sh", even when separated by a space, so something close to "gish-kugl" is a far better approximation for it than "geer-sko-gool". If you're interested in hearing a native speaker of Icelandic and Norwegian speak it, this YouTube user says it while reciting part of the Völuspá, about 12 seconds in.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

Echidna is also known as the mother of monsters in a lot of references I've seen.

Also, theory on how Ferdiad died. His hide may not be penetrated, but he could still be beaten to death.

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Well, yes... Echidna was the mate of Typhon, a beast so terrible Zeus had to personally step in and defeat him. The two spawned many of Greek myth's horrible monsters.

As for Ferdiad... it's not that it's unknown, just kind of... err... takes context and is a bit gruesome.

In mythology, the Gae Bolg is super deadly not because of its quality as a weapon, but because it could kill from a single scratch. After piercing the opponent, the Gae Bolg would spread no less than thirty barbs through its victim, killing them instantly. (Could also only be thrown with the toes, but I digress.)

Since Ferdiad's hide was impenetrable, Cu Chulainn instead gave his foster brother an unwanted rectoscopy - he shoved the Gae Bolg up Ferdiad's ass, triggering its enchantment and killing him.

Let's continue, ehh...

PRIMALS
Ifrit: high-ranking, dangerous djinni from Arabian myth.
Titan: progenitors of the gods from Greek myth.
Garuda: avian creature (bird, birdlike creature, or humanoid bird) that serves as Vishnu's mount.
Leviathan: a sea monster from the Bible. Identified as the patron demon of the sin of Envy in some works.
Ramuh: unknown, possibly derived from Rama, hero of the Ramayana and incarnation of Vishnu.
Shiva: creator and destroyer deity of Hinduism.
Ravana: ten-headed demon king of Hindu myth. Could not be killed except by mortal hands, which is why Vishnu incarnated into Rama.
Bismarck: named after Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian statesman who was instrumental in unifying Germany, or the World War II era ship which bore his name and was sunk after only one offensive operation.
Lakshmi: Vishnu's wife in Hindu myth; goddess of wealth.
Susano (Susano'o, Susano-o): Japanese god of storms. Full name "Takehaya Susano'o no Mikoto." One of three gods born along with his sister Amaterasu and brother Tsukuyomi when Izanagi cleansed himself after journeying into Yomi, the underworld.

Manipulator: a robotics term for a device used to move things without direct contact.
Brute Justice and components: a big shout-out to Transformers, specifically the Decepticon combiner Bruticus. Each component of Brute Justice uses a slightly modified name of one of Bruticus' components and assembles exactly the same way (Onslaught is the head and torso of Bruticus, Onslaughter is the head and torso of Brute Justice, etc); Brute Justice is stated to "lack autonomy" by his Triple Triad card, much like Bruticus is very dumb.
Cruise Chaser: designation Blassty. A reference to an early and obscure Squaresoft game, Cruise Chaser Blassty, which was also the inspiration for IX's Ark summon, hence why the two share many moves.
Arrhidaeus: half-brother of Alexander the Great who went with him on his conquests. Became a figurehead king after Alexander's death.
Alexander: Macedonian king who conquered a massive empire, which largely fell apart after his death. Literally means "protector of man," which likely contributed to his depiction as the "Holy" summon in the franchise and status as the sole unambiguously benevolent primal in-story.

Sephirot: emanations of the Kabbalah.
Sophia: lit. "wisdom" in Greek.
Zurvan: creator god of an extinct branch of Zoroastrianism, who came before Angra Mainyu and Ahura Mazda.
Bahamut: gigantic fish that supports the Earth in Arabian myth.
Odin: a major deity of the Norse pantheon.

CRYSTAL TOWER
Thanatos: Greek god of death. Generally peaceful despite contemporary depictions.
(King) Behemoth: another gigantic monster from Christianity.
Acheron / Phlegethon: rivers that flowed into Hades, the Underworld, in Greek myth.
Scylla: a sea monster from Greek myth, situated opposite her counterpart Charybdis on a narrow naval channel, making approach extremely hazardous.
Glasya Labolas: one of the 72 demons from the Lesser Key of Solomon.
Amon: patron deity of Thebes, and a major god in Egyptian myth. Alternatively, another of the 72 demons from the Lesser Key.
Angra Mainyu: essentially the Zoroastrian equivalent to the Devil.
Cerberus: Hades' guard dog from Greek myth.

CELESTIAL DRAGONS
Midgardsormr: "Midgard Serpent." One of Loki's three children from Norse myth. A serpent so massive it is capable of encircling the Earth (Midgard) and biting its own tail; archenemy of Thor.
Hraesvelgr: "Corpse Swallower." A giant from Norse myth that took the form of an eagle, who caused the wind to blow when he beat his wings.
Nidhogg: "Malice Striker." A dragon from Norse myth who lives beneath Yggdrasill, the world tree, and gnaws at its roots.
Ratatoskr: "Drill Tooth." A squirrel from Norse myth that carries messages between Nidhogg and an eagle perched atop Yggdrasill.
Bahamut: see Primals.
Tiamat: a primordial sea goddess from Mesopotamian myth.

For a more general appearance...

Atomos: Greek for "undivided." Likely a reference to atoms, the building block of real-world matter.

Aether: the "fifth element" in some ancient alchemical beliefs. Believed to be the air the gods breathed, associated with the heavens and emptiness.

Einhander: German for "one-hander." A reference to a PS1 era Squaresoft game of the same name, this boss uses a gimmick similar to that game's.

Just a few corrections/expansions to Cilia’s overview (and some of the others, and some from myself):

Arjuna (not Arjun, I realize I’m being pedantic) holds the Gandiva, which is indestructible and has 108 strings (108 being a “holy” number in Buddhism and Hinduism).

Longinus is mostly referred to as the name of the roman soldier that pierced Christ, which then became confused with the name of his spear (Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis plays with this with the Longicolnis, supposedly meaning “long horn” …it doesn’t mean that), it is also known as the Spear of Destiny.

Necronomicon means “Book of the Death” so of course “Draconomicon” means “Book of the Dragons.”

Ragnarok is a little more confusing as it can mean (from old norse) Doom of the Gods, the most generally accepted translation IS “Twilight of the Gods”, helped by Wagner’s Gotterdamerung (literally "Twilight of the Gods" in German).

An Ifrit is specifically a Fire djinn, the arabs believed the four elements were represented by different djinn (or genies), the Ifrits holding fire, the Marids water and the Djinni Wind, Humans were the earth genie, who unfortunately don’t have shape-shifting powers like the other 3.

Ramuh could be Rama, or he could be Lahmu from Akkadian myth (beardad man with a staff and and a red sash); or it could be an amalgam of Rama and Vishnu.

Sophia, besides meaning wisdom in greek is also the Gnostic goddess of, well, wisdom.

While Bahamut does indeed come from Babylonian myth, his appearance as a giant Dragon can be chalked up to D&D, where he appears as the Silver God of Good Dragons, FFI rolled with it and a dragon he stayed.

Sephi’s attacks are also emanations of the sephirotic tree (Yesod, Da’at and Tif’eret) while Ein Sof is the name for The Infinite (God, so to speak).

Durandal was Roland’s sword, with which he attempted to break so it wouldn't be taken from him after his death…and he ended up cutting a boulder in half instead.

Joyeuse HASN’T appeared, but has been mentioned as one of the first Sultansworn’s weapons. Joyeuse was Charlemagne’s blade, which, if I’m not mistaken, was said to change colors “30 times a day”.

Not sure if someone’s mentioned it but Benediction also comes from Latin, pretty much means “Good saying” or “Speak Well” but its actual meaning is “Blessing”.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Indeed it does, and an addendum to that, the Bandersnatch enemy found in the Chocobo Forest in the Dravanian Forelands is also from the same source (it was also a weird dog-like enemy in FFIX) - the 'bandersnatch' was a monster mentioned in Jabberwocky as a mysterious yet ferocious and dangerous beast - indeed, two of the FFXIV enemy's attacks, 'Fulminous Jaws' (a fire-like attack), and 'Catching Claws' (a swipe attack), are named after lines about the Bandersnatch in Jabberwocky: specifically, "with fulminous jaws" and "claws that catch". When I first saw that I smiled wryly immediately picking up on the reference. :)

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Slight correction to this, the word is "frumious" and is another of Carroll's nonsense words. In the words of the author himself (via Wikipedia) - "[T]ake the two words 'fuming' and 'furious'. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards 'fuming', you will say 'fuming-furious'; if they turn, by even a hair's breadth, towards 'furious', you will say 'furious-fuming'; but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say 'frumious'."

Frumious also the only term used to describe the bandersnatch in the poem. "The jaws that bite" and "the claws that catch" are both attributed to the Jabberwock itself:

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

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Another random item: Tetragrammaton, the WHM lv.60 skill is a Greek word literally meaning "composed of four symbols" and is a name given to the name of God in ancient Hebrew, which is written without vowels (and thus is of uncertain pronunciation) YHWH. You may notice that the skill animation involves a circle of four orbs, presumably in reference to this.

Ah yes, I really should have not relied upon my terrible memory for that and verified the attack names! :p Thanks for clarifying that Singularity. :)

Now for more FFXIV terms and concept origins! :3

Two FATE NMs in Heavensward are taken from Australian Aboriginal mythology - firstly the FATE 'Run, Run Away' in the Chocobo Forest in the Dravanian Forelands against a vingaroon NM named 'Yowie', and the FATE 'Waugyl, Waugyl, Waugyl' at the Monsterie in the Churning Mists against.. a puk NM named "Waugyl', both are creatures from Aboriginal mythology.

The Yowie is a mysterious humanoid monster (somewhat like Australia's version of Bigfoot or the Yeti) found in Aboriginal myths across Australia and the Waugyl is a serpent deity from the Aboriginal Noongar tribal group from the South West area of Western Australia. When I saw both these NMs in FFXIV I smiled and was pleased that SE are drawing from myths from all countries, including Australia. :)

The glyph for the god Nald'thal the Traders is a cowry shell. Cowry shells were actually used as currency in ancient times (due to their beauty and rarity), a cowry being a type of sea snail, and thus this makes a lot of sense for the mark of a deity associated with trade, commerce and yes, money and it's acquisition. ;)

I also would like to make an addendum to the info that Cilia has generously provided.

Titan: The second generation of gods in Greek mythology. The Titans themselves are gods, and are the pregenitors of the Olympian Gods most people are familiar with. The first generation being the Primordial Gods or as ironic as it might sound the Primal Gods, lol
Titan's connection to the element earth most likely stems from a modern interpretation of the origin of the name coming from the greek word τίτανος which mean white earth, clay, or gypsum. This interpretation stating that the Titans were "white clay men" or men covered in white clay for their rituals.

Eos: Titan Goddess of the dawn, sister of Helios and Selene
Selene: Titan Goddess of the moon, sister of Helios and Eos
Helios: Titan God of the Sun, brother of Eos and Selene
Hyperion: One of the first generation of Titans and the father of Eos, Helios, and Selene

And here is a nice tidbit, that might be more unintentional than intentional.
Aether: A Primordial God, the personification of the upper air, and in some stories the father of Uranus. Aether in ancient Greek means light, and the upper air he "governs" is the air only the gods breathe. So basically the Primals are sustained by Aether, sounds a bit familiar.

One more thing. Regarding Shiva in the FF series and why it is so different from the Hindu Shiva. Apparently the katakana used in FFIII were supposed to be read as "Shiver" but FFIV put it as Shiva and it's been kept ever since.

Also, more info on Glasya Labolas, referred to as the president (or earl) of hell, the author and captain of bloodshed and slaughter, tells all things past and future, knows all sciences, gains the love of all who know him, can incite homicide and make people invisible. Appears as a dog with griffin wings.

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Originally Posted by Shadotterdan

One more thing. Regarding Shiva in the FF series and why it is so different from the Hindu Shiva. Apparently the katakana used in FFIII were supposed to be read as "Shiver" but FFIV put it as Shiva and it's been kept ever since.

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That's actually inaccurate, the katakana for Shiva is シヴァ, which would only be read as Shiva. The whole Shiver thing came about because of peoples misunderstanding of the Japanese writing systems and Shiva's ice element. True the words would look similar シヴァ(Shiva) vs シヴァ-/シバ-(shiver). But there was no mistranslation, the name has always been Shiva.

Many thanks to those who provided additional info. It's not that I didn't know or couldn't be bothered to look it up, but just wanted to keep things pretty concise since I tend to infodump. (Also Bahamut does owe his modern depiction as a dragon to D&D, but he is the platinum dragon god of the good metallic dragons. Likewise Tiamat owes her modern depiction as a dragon to D&D, where she is portrayed as a five-headed evil dragon goddess, with one head representing each variety of chromatic dragon - red, blue, green, black, and white.)

Enough showing off my nerdiness. A few more things:

Hecatoncheires: three giants from Greek mythology stated to have a hundred hands and fifty heads. Sealed in Tartarus until Zeus freed them to help with the Titanomachy, after which they became the guards of Tartarus. Among their number were Kottos and Gyges, the two hecatoncheir bosses in Copperbell Mines. The third named hecatoncheir, Ouranos (final boss of Copperbell HM), is another name for Uranus, Greek god of the sky and, as in-game, father of the hecatoncheires (but not one of them himself).

Vidofnir: a rooster said to sit atop Mimameior, a tree similar to Yggdrasill, in Norse myth.

Vedrfolnir: a hawk said to sit between the eyes of the nameless eagle perched atop Yggdrasill.

Vishap: a dragon from Armenian mythology, said to live on Mt. Ararat.

Rangda: demon queen of the Leyaks, floating heads with entrails hanging out behind them, in Balinese mythology. Opposed by Barong.

Gyascutus: a mythical beast with longer legs on one side for traversing hills, also known as "sidehill gougers." Also a genus of beetle.

Macuahuitl: a weapon traditionally from Mesoamerica before the European conquest of the continent. A wooden sword using embedded obsidian shards to create a blade keener than steel.

Irminsul: a sacred, pillar-like object in Saxon pagan religion. Its exact purpose remains unknown.

The third hecatoncheir from the myth, Briareos (also called Aigaion) does also appear in the game. He's a FATE boss that spawns in the tunnel between Vesper Bay and Parata's Peace.