Etymology is a section of coverage and namespace on the Final Fantasy Wiki. It is used for the etymology - the study of the origin of words - of terms in the Final Fantasy series, to explain where the names of terms in the Final Fantasy series originate and show where influences are drawn from. As the Final Fantasy series draws inspiration from various cultures, mythologies and religions, Eastern and Western alike, it provides interesting coverage for terms which are not common in English.
The aims of the Etymology namespace is to give minor coverage to the origins of names that are used in the Final Fantasy series. Coverage on Etymology pages extends only to an out-of-universe explanation without reference to its use in the Final Fantasy series. Pages in the Etymology namespace also list articles whose subject's name is derived from the name origin. Etymology covers all translations of the game, including names exclusive to the English version and those only in the original Japanese.
In addition to the Etymology namespace, articles feature Etymology sections. These give the origins of the component parts of the name and in the many different versions, and also may give additional commentary on how its name origin has influences on the appearance, personality, or story of the subject in question.
Etymology pages[]
Creation[]
Each name origin that Square Enix or the translation team would have taken from an existing concept (such as mythology, authors, or real world things) warrants an Etymology page. Word play such as puns and portmanteaus only deserve a page if the name is used multiple times; otherwise, it can be put directly on the subject's article. Simple adjective-noun type-combinations like with Red Dragon do not need etymology pages, only "Dragon" would have an etymology page.
Name[]
Etymology pages are all written in the Etymology namespace, and as such, use the "Etymology:" prefix followed by the name of the subject. If two words have the same spelling but with distinct origins, a tag may be used. There are no set tags, they must simply remove ambiguity between the terms. For example, "Greek" and "pun" would be suitable examples.
The name of the page need not be based on the name in the Final Fantasy series, but instead based on the most common name for the thing in the real world. Alternate names will be clarified in the content anyway. This also means that creatures with different names but drawn from the same creature, such as Midgardsormr and Jormungand, would still share the same page. An Etymology pages does not have to encompass a thing's entire name; for example, Etymology:Kaiser, Etymology:Omega, and Etymology:W all focus on parts of the name and their origin.
Structure[]
A page in the Etymology namespace has the etymology content wrapped in
<onlyinclude> tags, and is tagged with the {{etym-page}} template. Other features of Etymology pages are added automatically.
<onlyinclude>[Etymology content]</onlyinclude>
{{etym-page}}
One can also use the {{etym-origin}} template to link an etymology page back to its section in Etymology:List of etymologies by origin.
Content[]
The content of the Etymology section should typically be between a sentence and a paragraph in length. The opening sentence should start with the name of the thing and have the term link to an external website, preferably a Wikipedia article (using [[wikipedia:<article name>|<Article name>]] links) and/or to a Wiktionary article (using [[wiktionary:<article name>|<Article name>]]; please note that articles on Wiktionary are case-sensitive).
The content should not make reference to how the name is used or the thing portrayed in Final Fantasy titles, Etymology pages only focus on the origin of the word.
With words from languages using different writing systems, the roman form should be followed by the original form in brackets. E.g. 'Shinobi (忍び?)', or 'vodyanoy (Russian: водяно́й, lit. "watery")'.
Etymology sections in articles[]
Etymology sections in namespaces should transclude relevant etymology with use of the {{etym}} template. The template has a parameter that grabs the content from the page in the Etymology namespace. Connections drawn from etymological roots and the subject in question can be written following the transclusion.
Multiple Etymology pages can be embedded in one section. This is typically done by putting them in new paragraphs. The etymology section does not need to state where the subject is given that name if it is already made clear elsewhere in the article. Foreign language names usually are not mentioned elsewhere and therefore should be stated here. For example, an Etymology section may look like this:
==Etymology==
{{Etym|[name 1]}} This relates to the enemy's affinity with the Fire element.
{{Etym|[name 2]}}
This enemy is named [name 3] in the French version. {{Etym|[name 3]}}
Most pages will require no more than a single use of the {{etym}} template.
Because of the nature of the series, where references to certain terms remain vague and not clarified by the game developers, the content should not imply that the developers indeed refer to the terms as reference to their ideas, unless this can be clarified, with reference to an interview or published material in the section (and not on the Etymology page).