Hidden Beasts/Mysterious Creatures

[WinterSoul]

Hello,

I’m an artist who is planning a series of stories where a character discovers mythical creatures which are a combination of spirits and animals. The idea of the project centers around the concept of a Bestiarum, so it is a gathering of information and lessons about these various creatures. I have come up with a few phrases myself, but I don’t feel that I have the experience to correctly translate, and since this is a business project, I would like to make sure I’m not accidentally saying something which I’m not intending. Hidden Beasts or Mysterious Creatures is what I’m aiming for.

Just for reference, here is what I’ve come up with so far, (again, this is not something which I have much experience doing, so I apologize for any glaring mistakes!).
1. Mysterium Bestiarum
2. Anima Arcanum

A couple of notes on what I’m aiming for:
-“Hidden” - Undiscovered, unseen, mysterious. I’m thinking along the lines of what is on the edge between the physical and spiritual realms. Maybe even something which hints at a greater mystery which is conveyed in the stories.

-“Beast” - I don’t mean mundane animals, I’m thinking about mythological animals, spirits, and creatures. I like that “anima”, for me, brings up images of life both physical and etherial.

Phrase #2 brought up the other challenge that I’m facing, I’d like to avoid overlapping names with other projects or common phrases/names. Anima Arcanum seems to be already in use, so if anyone has any alternate ideas, the help would be much appreciated!

 

[Big Horn]

This website offers a good bit of information.

http://bestiary.ca/intro.htm

 

[WinterSoul]

Thank you for the link, that looks like an interesting site!
Unfortunately not what I'm looking for though, I know what a bestiary is and have already read a lot of info on them. Right now, I'm looking for a name for my own bestiary.

 

[Dantius]

1. Mysterium Bestiarum
2. Anima Arcanum

Neither of these mean "hidden beasts" or "mysterious creatures".
The first means "mystery of the beasts". The second is ungrammatical but means something like "secret soul/breath of life".

anima doesn't seem to really work; it mainly means "soul", "spirit", or "life", rather than "creature"/"beast".
However, if you want to use similar-sounding words, I suppose you could use animal, meaning any kind of living being, or animans.

In that case, you could say animantia arcana meaning "secret/mysterious beings" or "animantia occulta".

 

[WinterSoul]

Ah, I'm extra glad that I double checked this before committing to a name! Thank you so much for your help, the extra suggestions definitely give me a better direction.

In that case, you could say animantia arcana meaning "secret/mysterious beings" or "animantia occulta".

Animantia arcana keeps the feel of some of the previous ideas, plus I like that it points a bit more directly to a being/creature, (after all, that's what the project is dealing with!). Again, your help is much appreciated.

 

[Big Horn]

Egypt has animal gods. I wonder if there's a collective name for them—possibly in Greek which could then be Latinized. I don't, however, have an English-Middle Egyptian dictionary. There are several, but the translation is into hieroglyphics. I did find one which I assume is demotic, but I'm not qualified to have an opinion. I don't believe that Latin is the best choice.

http://karathutmose.tripod.com/dictionary/dictionary1.html

 

[WinterSoul]

Egypt has animal gods. I wonder if there's a collective name for them—possibly in Greek which could then be Latinized. I don't, however, have an English-Middle Egyptian dictionary. There are several, but the translation is into hieroglyphics. I did find one which I assume is demotic, but I'm not qualified to have an opinion. I don't believe that Latin is the best choice.

Thanks, I do appreciate the suggestion. I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to disagree with going down the Egyptian route, and am unclear why it would be suggested. This brings up a great question, however, (which I really do appreciate, I think it's an important question). Why would I want to go with Latin for the name of the book when there are so many other options out there? Why not just use straight up English, the language most of my audience speaks?

There are certainly various bestiaries around the world and in multiple cultures. Inspiration could easily be drawn from a Japanese Yokai collection, or from images of creatures on an ancient temple wall, and yes, I do draw inspiration from those sources for this project.

For me, the seed of inspiration for this story came years ago, specifically from the popularized bestiaries in the Middle Ages. I loved the way these particular books made an effort to observe the behaviors of animals, linking behavior with symbology and allegory. Moreover, I’ve always enjoyed how mythical animals were placed right beside real living animals, there wasn’t a distinction between the mundane and myth. These characteristics get at the spirit of this project. Many of these books were either written in Latin, or translated into Latin. Yes, some were in Greek, German, French, and various other European languages, and perhaps one of those languages might provide even more alternate routes. I’ve written the characters with this cultural context in mind, and removing the characters from that cultural context just because another culture also depicts animals would not be a wise choice for the purpose of the story, in my eyes.

Long explanation short, I’m choosing Latin for a particular reason, not because it sounds “cool”, and I feel confident Latin will be a decent choice for a possible name.