In my Dark Fantasy setting the church has a symbol that will be mentioned several times throughout the story and I don't want to just refer to it as "symbol of the church" and thought it would add to the "immersion" if it actually had a name. The symbol looks like this: http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b548/Safety_Turtle/Untitled_zpsztlrj6v0.jpg It's supposed to be a simple representation of a rising sun but is also used to tie people to in order to "bleed out their madness" (very much like crucifixion). Because of what it symbolises I've considered naming it something like "Solar-something-or-other",
Wot I reckon: come up with some criteria to help narrow the possibilities down. Are you looking for an English phrase, or would you create a whole new word? If the former, what feel should the phrase have? Easily understood, cryptic, foreboding? If the latter, what language would you want it inspired by? Latin, as per 'crucifix'? Who is responsible for coming up with the term? The church? The people the church prosecutes? What sort of feel would those people go for? E.g. the church might find an alliterative term too jocular for a serious symbol. Would the church avoid or embrace the torturous implications of the symbol; i.e. would they go into euphemism territory, or give it a dangerous name to promote fear of it? For what it's worth, I love the wordplay in @I.A. By the Barn 's Breaker of Dawn (as in 'breaking dawn', and also the act of breaking people via torture), although I'd probably shuffle it to Dawn Breaker. If you want a straightforward phrase, I like @OurJud 's Dawn Cross - very concise. Trying to think of a Latin-y single word for you, maybe something like Semisol or Semisolis? (Latin grammar's not my strong point, so I don't know which is more appropriate.) Or taking that idea into English, something like the Half-Sun Cross?
Wheel of Rising Blood or Rising Wheel of Blood. The thing reminds me of a wagon wheel, which reminds me of the wheel of the year, which reminds me of the cycle of seasons, which reminds me of death and rebirth, which reminds me of blood.
I was thinking that its more a wheel than a cross the earlier point someone made about who is naming it is a good one too , because the church might give it a poetic name, like "the wheel of truth" or such, but those whoare punished on it might create darker slang " I see oswald is going to the spoked bastard agauin"
I did consider either "sun cross" or "dawn cross" myself, though I think some latin or bastardised latiny word may work better for the setting. Did a quick google translate and came up with the following: Sun Cross: sole crucis (thinking Solcrux as a bastardised version) Wheel Cross: rota crucis (Rotacrux perhaps) I've started to learn towards something like that...people in the world refer to being tied to it as being "cleansed", as that is, according to the church, the purpose of the ordeal.
Sanguis enim Stellam de Sanitate (Blood Star of Sanity) Astéri Aíma tis Logikís (Same thing but in Greek)
