In the WH40K universe, a lot of High Gothic is depicted as Latin. E.g. the different branches of government: Adeptus Administratum (administro, latin for minister), Adeptus Munitorum (munitio, latin for fortification), Adeptus Ministorum (ministro, latin for serve), Adeptus Sororitas (soror, latin for sister), Adeptus Astartes:
"Aster" meaning "Star" or "The Stars", as in "Asteroid" (resembling a star), "Theaster" (God star), etc. and also found as "Astro-" in many instances. "Astar" is a peculiarity of spelling, but that's High Gothic for you.
"-tes" as a suffix is probably an irregular spelling of the suffix "-tas" which refers to a state of being, where "liber" (free) and "-tas" (being) combine to libertas (freedom, liberty), or "difficultas" (difficulty) from difficulis (difficult) + tas.
Inasmuch to our low gothic, there isn't an exact translation of "Astartes" but it functionally is the state of being among the stars; "stellar" is maybe the closest word I can think of. Though to be honest, "Space Marine" maybe makes sense- "Marine" could be said to be the state of being of the sea, related to the sea. "Astartes" is to the stars as "Marine" is to the sea.
From this Reddit response.
So, English is used to represent Low Gothic, while Latin (and AFAIK sometimes Greek) is used to represent High Gothic. Looking at the Names of the Legions:
- Dark Angels
- Records have been purged of this Legion
- Emperor's Children
- Iron Warriors
- White Scars
- Space Wolves
- Imperial Fists
- Night Lords
- Blood Angels
- Iron Hands
- Records have been purged of this Legion
- World Eaters
- Ultramarines
- Death Guard
- Thousand Sons
- Luna Wolves
- Word Bearers
- Salamanders
- Raven Guard
- Alpha Legion
So, there is the Alpha Legion and the Luna Wolves but no other Latin or Greek words. This made me wonder if these are the Low Gothic names of the Legion and if there's a High Gothic name for them?
Back when the Legions where active, there was no Low Gothic as the 40k High Gothic was the common tongue back then:
High Gothic is also known as "Tech" as it is a version of the language in which technical rituals and ancient works are recorded. This developed during the Dark Age of Technology. It derives from the common tongue of the time, in the Merican/Pan-Pacific region. This was the universal medium of written record until the Age of Strife, and was spoken as a first language by many and as a second language by almost everyone.
From the Lexicanum article on High Gothic
Just makes me wonder why every official name has a High Gothic representation (in Latin) but the Space Marine Legions.