why do they call them minotaurs when the reason the minotaur

What's next? Complain about Medusa?

>>53604847
It's a convenient shorthand that many people are familiar with.

mino-taur
mino's taurus(bull)

?

>>53604847
What >>53604926 said.

Also, there's some evidence that the Minotaur's proper name was Asterion, because of Cretean coins and also his paternal grandfather.

>>53604876

They're called Gorgons. Don't tell me you call vampires Draculas, too?

>>53604847
>mino's bull
Really makes you think.

>>53604847
Why did the minotaur eat human flesh? It had a bull head and a human digestive system. It should be herbivorous or at least vegetarian

>>53609836
Human digestive system means omnivore. Humans don't have enough stomachs to be straight up herbivores.

>>53604847
Woah, you're stupid, it comes from minus, less in Latin, minotaur is "less bull", because is half human half bull, not full bull. Think before posting.

>>53604876
Yes, because she's a Gorgon you fucktard

>>53604847
They call them minotaurs because that's what they're called.
They also call pegasi as such even though the Pegasus was a singular example of a winged horse.
And as mentioned by another poster, we call medusa as such for the same reason, even though Medusa was again a singular example of a particular being.

In other words, we call them minotaurs because "half bull half human with the arms of the human but the legs and head of a bull like" takes too long to say

>>53609849
It was named after Minos and the Minoans you fucking spastic

>>53604847
They don't call them Minotaurs. They don't even speak English! And Crete doesn't exist!

It's a translation convention. WE call them Minotaurs because they're like Minos's mythological bull. Meanwhile, they have a different name for them, in whatever language the setting uses.

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>>53604847
> Not providing evocative descriptions of monsters in your game and having your players name them.
>Just saying 'a minotaur attacks you'

>>53609922
No, it isn't

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>>53604847
>CenTAUR
>not related to cattle at all

wtf greeks?

>>53609959
Proofs???????
Seems like everything points to it being the bull of Minos, not the minus bull from a language that had nothing to do with it you cunt

>>53609991
>Latin not being the language spoken by Greeks
Get a load of this dude

Isn't that a type of metonymy?
"The" minotaur is so iconic and widely known that even generic half man half bull monsters got that name by proxy even if it doesn't strictly apply.
Aren't there quite a few cases where a product was so successful that its name became synonymous with the product itself, like bandaid.
It's just how language evolves, my dude.

>>53610015
Neck yourself you dribbling retard

>>53608668
Yes ;_;
You're not going to bully me now are you?

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>>53608668

>>53608668
Unless it's a female vampire. Then it's a Draculina.

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>>53608668
I specialize in hinting black vampires. I don't know what the PC name for that is.

>>53609986
taur means 4 legs

>>53604847
Watergategate

>>53610157
DY-NO-MITE

>>53604847
wait

does that mean centaur means "horse-bull"?

>>53610106
wonder why this didn't get a buzz lightyear-style animated series

>>53610963
Yeah, taur is tauros which is bull.

Maybe in whatever language that world speaks Mino just means bull and Taur is a term for animal person. Would explain settings that have tons of "tauric" creatures.
I kind of used that once in a game where I had an imp named Nyarlathotep. Player had to resist meta gaming and later it turned out that its just a common demon name in that world.

>>53610963
Here you go my dude
The Greek word kentauros is generally regarded as of obscure origin. The etymology from ken – tauros, "piercing bull-stickers" was a euhemerist suggestion in Palaephatus' rationalizing text on Greek mythology, On Incredible Tales (Περὶ ἀπίστων): mounted archers from a village called Nephele eliminating a herd of bulls that were the scourge of Ixion's kingdom. Another possible related etymology can be "bull-slayer". Some say that the Greeks took the constellation of Centaurus, and also its name "piercing bull", from Mesopotamia, where it symbolized the god Baal who represents rain and fertility, fighting with and piercing with his horns the demon Mot who represents the summer drought. In Greece, the constellation of Centaurus was noted by Eudoxus of Cnidus in the fourth century BC and by Aratus in the third century.

Because that's what the monster's manual and the mythology book they found in 3rd grade called them. The etymology of a word is not the same as its various meanings and common use. It does provide insight and flexibility in how to use those meanings.

>>53610177

I'm sure it means bull anon
>t. i am greek

>>53609893
>we call medusa
>>53609946
>Crete doesn't exist
>>53610043
>Getting baited this hard
>>53611221
>equating Lovecraft beings with demons
>>53611602
>am greek and thus an authority on the language spoken in my general living area thousands of years ago

Wew lads.

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>>53611698
>quoting multiple anons for no reason

>>53611698
That was the whole gag. Lovecraft stuff was not in the setting in any capacity (I knew he didn't) and the name was just to see if the player would resist meta-gaming as his apprentice mage fell for every lie the imp told before it revealed its name to be something significant IRL.

>>53608668
Alucards

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>>53608668
>They're called Gorgons.
[game show "fail" buzzer noise]