I hope this fluff post will be allowed if I actually share some facts about DnD and etymology

Balders Gate is named after the Norse god Baldr/Balder/Baldur

Baldur in DnD is named after a legendary explorer Baldurian from Faerûn, name obviously inspired by the norse god’s name.

The word Gate means street in Norwegian, as well in Swedish/Danish/Icelandish but its spelled differently in those languages

The word Gate in English is a cognate with the word Gate in Norwegian, meaning they stem from the same root word, incidentally they are also spelled the same way today, which is not a requirement to be a cognate, Gate in English is also a cognate with the word for street in other nordic languages even though they spell it differently.

Swedish still spell it the same as in Old Norse, Gata, which at the that point meant path, road, or way, which is how it is used in current day nordic languages, but you can see how the English word Gate is now used for an entrance with a door of some kind. Other English definitions for the word gate, like a manner of walking or even a path, among others also stem from the same root word.

    • @zigguratOP
      link
      31 year ago

      Fun story, when I was younger I was out with a guy called Balder, and he was messing around with his skateboard, and he broke, I think it was his collarbone, He said his mother was at work and not at home, so I helped him get to the ER… His mother was a nurse attending the ER. She wasn’t surprised about her son, but she was thankful I had helped him.

      well guess I lost track of that guy even before the corona times