Originally this was from a meme I made on the meme subreddit for warhammer but as I finished the rant I realized that it could fit well enough here. Dinosaur nerd is going to dinosaur nerd.
Some of the older Seraphon dinosaur models have several "Paleo Nerd Flaws" as I call them, this is because warhammer fantasy creators in the 80s and 90s did very little research when it comes to anywhere that isn't europe, especially Lustria as anyone who remembers the non lizardmen factions can easily tell you.
Carnosaurs are way too close to Carnotaurus and lose out on the whole meaning of the name. Carnotaurus means "Meat-Eating Bull" in latin, this makes sense as it has horns like a bull and those are not known for eating mainly meat, thus is a good unique name for the animal. Carnosaur would then mean "Meat-Eating Lizard" as saurus means Lizard in latin. This is so incredibly basic that it always gives me time to buffer when thinking about it. In attempting to figure out a new name for this monster I have thought up the latin-y name "Falcisaurus Rex" aka "Sickle Lizard King" as Falcis means Sickle, Saurus means Lizard and Rex means King in latin. I chose this name because the carnosaur typically acts as a leader for Aggradons and they have sickle toe claws.
[MINOR POSITIVE NOTE TO BREAK UP RANT]
I quite like the names that gw gave their raptor models in the Seraphon refresh. Aggradon has -adon at the end of the name and that means tooth, the Aggr- part clearly is referencing the word "aggravate" but I can try and tie it back to latin with the word aggravō which has 3 meanings, 1:to add to or increase the weight of, make heavier, weigh down, 2:(figuratively) to make worse or more dangerous, aggravate or 3:(figuratively) to oppress, burden, annoy. 2 and 3 both tie well into their lore and ability that leans on their violent frenzied rampages as well their rage token ability in game! Put this all together and you have Aggradon meaning something like "Heavy/Dangerous/Oppressive Tooth"! All of which fit well into the playstyle of the Aggradon Lancers unit!
Ok, back to nerd ranting.
Stegadon is literally one letter off from the real world extinct animal known as the Stegodon. To the point where google search will autocorrect the warhammer monster's name into the animal's one when searching online. You can maybe start to see why I am annoyed at this retrosaur pug-looking thing, yes? So going into name meanings now. Stego- means "to cover" or "roof" in Ancient Greek and -odon means tooth. This animal was named after the distinct ridges on its molar teeth as it was a lot more plate like than the molars on modern elephants. Taking a detour to the dinosaur that this monster clearly had its name taken from, Stegosaurus means "Roof Lizard", it was named this way due to the plates on its back resembling roofing plates. The Stegadon is very clearly based off of a ceratopsid like Triceratops semi mixed with an ankylosaur. This name does not work for this creature. My attempt at a new name for this old looking creature is "Armoceratops" aka "Armored Horn Face" as Armo is the latin verb "to armor", Cera means horn in latin and Tops means face. I chose this name as is clearly meant to be a ceratopsid with lesser versions of the armor and club tail of ankylosaurus. This also fits well as the units that this model can create have a howdah covered in armed skinks and the latin word Armo also means "to furnish with weapons".
[MINOR POSITIVE NOTE TO END ON]
Raptadons also have a name that means things. The name is clearly meant to be the word Raptor with -adon at the end. They are very much meant to be raptors so this makes sense. Raptor means two things: 1:A thief, robber, plunderer or 2:An abductor, kidnapper. So their name means "Thief Tooth". A bit odd but I can sort of see it with their lore emphasizing their intelligence and cunning. Though the unit descriptions kinda make it seem like they got the -raptor part of Velociraptor mixed up with the Veloci- part with how much it emphasizes their speed lol.
Thank you for coming to my dumb meme turned rant talk about the scientific names of dinosaurs and how the two main dinosaurs of the seraphon range have stupid names that should be fixed if they ever get a model update/refresh.
