Regarding titles of magicians.

So I use the little spare time I have at the moment to do some research regarding various aspects of my work of fiction.

And I have always been interested in the title of arch-mage.

Now, what I've found out is that Merlin, as well, is a title -- and not a name -- originating from the Middle English and means eagle. Supposedly it's a title like Lion.

My question is, would it be odd if it was used as a title alongside arch-mage?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clich%C3%A9

I was half expecting that link to be action=logout

Originally posted by Astner
So I use the little spare time I have at the moment to do some research regarding various aspects of my work of fiction.

And I have always been interested in the title of arch-mage.

Now, what I've found out is that Merlin, as well, is a title -- and not a name -- originating from the Middle English and means eagle. Supposedly it's a title like Lion.

My question is, would it be odd if it was used as a title alongside arch-mage?

Originally posted by Omega Vision
IIRC, Merlin's original name was "Myrdin" or something along those lines but the author of the popular King Arthur story changed it to Merlin because the original name sounded too close to the French word for shit.

Some would argue that Merlin was a name inspired by Myraddin while others -- like Marion Zimmer Bradley -- would argue that it's a title, based off of the Middle English word for eagle.

Like all decisions in personal writing, you'll have to choose which you like the best, or maybe mix a bunch of origin stories up that make sense to you.

Originally posted by siriuswriter
Like all decisions in personal writing, you'll have to choose which you like the best, or maybe mix a bunch of origin stories up that make sense to you.

Regardless I've come up with another name for the title that sounds better in my mind.