Origin of Words (Classic Edition)

A lot of words in the World of Darkness (and often in VtES as well) stem from greek or roman mythology or biblical references. Here's list of words that are used in VtES and a short explanation of their meaning and origin. The texts for the explanations are taken from Wikipedia.

• "Anathema" -- Anathema (Greek) meaning originally something lifted up as an offering to the gods; later, with evolving meanings, it came to mean:
  1. to be formally set apart,
  2. banished, exiled, excommunicated or
  3. denounced, sometimes accursed.
  
• "Alastor" -- In Greek mythology, Alastor (English translation: "avenger") was the personification of familial feuds. He was also associated with sins that pass down from parent to child. As a genius, or spirit of the household in Roman mythology, he incited people to murder and other sins.
  
• "Archon" -- Archon is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem a??-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch and hierarchy.
  
• "Antediluvian Awakening" -- The word antediluvian (syn.Prediluvian) (Latin for "before the deluge") is used to describe a period of time that preceded the Great Flood of Noah as related in the Book of Genesis in the Bible.
  
• "Auto-Da-Fe" -- The phrase auto de fé refers to the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates that took place when the Spanish Inquisition or the Portuguese Inquisition had decided their punishment (that is, after the trial). Auto de fé in medieval Spanish means "act of faith". The phrase also commonly occurs in English in its Portuguese form auto-da-fé.
  
• "Camarilla" -- A camarilla is a group of courtiers or favorites which surround a king or ruler. Usually, they do not hold any office or have any official authority but influence their ruler behind the scenes. Consequently, they also escape having to bear responsibility for the effects of their advice. The term derives from the Spanish word, "camarilla", meaning "little chamber" or private cabinet of the king. The term also entered the German language and is used in the sense given above.
  
• "Cunctator Motion" -- Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (ca. 280 BC-203 BC), called Cunctator (the Delayer), was a Roman politician and General, born in Rome around 280 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC. He was consul five times (233 BC, 228 BC, 215 BC, 214 BC and 209 BC) and was twice dictator in 221 and again in 217 BC. He reached the office of censor in 230 BC. His epithet Cunctator (akin to the English noun cunctation) means "delayer" in Latin, and refers to his tactics in deploying the troops during the Second Punic War. His cognomen Verrucosus means warty, a reference to the wart above his upper lip.
  
• "Curse of Nitocris" -- Nitocris (Greek ??t?????) has been claimed to have been the last pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty. Her name is found in the Histories of Herodotus and writings of Manetho but her historicity is questionable.
  
• "Gehenna" -- Gehenna (hebrew) is the Jewish hell or purgatory. In Judaism hell is a place of purification and fire for the wicked, most being punished there up to a year but some for eternity.
  
• "Herald of Topheth" -- Topheth (to´feth; ?????; ha-topheth; etymology uncertain) most probably is connected with a root word meaning "burning" - the "place of burning"; the King James Version, Tophet, except in 2 Kings 23:10. The references are to such a place: "They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire" (Jeremiah 7:31). On account of this abomination Topheth and the Valley of Hinnom should be called "The Valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury," the Revised Version margin "because there shall be no place else" (Jeremiah 7:32); see also Jeremiah 19:6, Jeremiah 19:12, Jeremiah 19:13, Jeremiah 19:14. Josiah is said to have "defiled Topheth" as part of his great religious reforms (2 Kings 23:10). The site of this shameful place would seem to have been either at the lower end of the Valley Of Hinnom, near where Akeldama is now pointed out, or in the open ground where this valley joins the Kidron Valley.
  Also see this website which explains how this valley was renamed Gehenna, meaning hell. "Then it became the place of abomination, the very gate or pit of hell."
  
• "Hierophant" -- The role of the Hierophant in religion is to bring the congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy. The word comes from Ancient Greece, where it was constructed from the combination of ta hiera, "the holy", and phainein, "to show." In Attica it was the title of the chief priest at the Eleusinian Mysteries. A hierophant is an interpreter of sacred mysteries and arcane principles.
  
• "Kaymakli Barrier" -- Kaymakli Underground City is contained within the citadel of Kaymakli. First opened to tourists in 1964, the village is about 19km from Nevsehir, on the Nevsehir-Nigde road. The ancient name was Enegup. The houses in the village are constructed around the nearly one hundred tunnels of the underground city. The tunnels are still used today as storage areas, stables, and cellars. The underground city at Kaymakli differs from Derinkuyu in terms of its structure and layout. The tunnels are lower, narrower, and more steeply inclined. Of the four floors open to tourists, each space is organized around ventilation shafts. This makes the design of each room or open space dependent on the availability of ventilation.
  
• "Tithings" -- A tithe (from Old English teogoþa "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a (usually) voluntary contribution or as a tax or levy, usually to support a Jewish or Christian religious organization. Today, tithes (or tithing) are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes could be paid in kind, such as agricultural products. Several European countries operate a formal process linked to the tax system allowing some churches to assess tithes.