Deus Vult! Allahu Akhbar! Santiago! Ahoy!

[Osceola]

WAR CRIES!

Thats right! The slogans of battle! I was researching war cries on wiki and it suddenly became apparent that this mod desperately needs them...

The following were used by French speaking armies, and crusaders. Also English.

- The Normans' cry at the Battle of Hastings was "Dex Aie!" (Norman French, "God aid us!"). This was last used by the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry during the First World War.

- The French knights of the Middle Ages used to cry "Montjoie! St Denis!", calling upon the patron saint of France.

- The Crusaders used the cry "Denique caelum!" (Latin, "Heaven at last!"). The Crusaders, especially the religious orders, also used "Deus vult" (Latin, "God wills it").

And one for the English..

- At the Battle of Hastings, Wace records that the housecarls of the Saxon army cried "Olicrosse!" and "Godamite!" (Old English, "Holy Cross" and "God Almighty", respectively), while the fyrd cried "Ut! Ut! Ut!" ("Out! Out! Out!").

And here are some unique unit specific ones..

- The Almogavars used to cry "Desperta ferro!", which translates from Catalan as "Awake the iron!". They used to cry this shout the dawn before a battle, while they beat their swords on the nearby rocks to keep them clean from the rust. In the dim light many sparks were lighted, which scared the enemy watching them, as explained by Ramon Muntaner.

- The Vikings screamed and imitated animal sounds during battle to intimidate their enemies. One of their cries was "Ahoy!". This has since become a peaceful greeting used by sailors of many nations, but at the time it was considered to be extremely warlike.

- The various Gaelic-speaking peoples have a long tradition of employing battle cries. One used by the Irish people is "Faugh a Ballaugh!", Irish for "Clear the way!" The O'Neill family motto is the Irish "An Lamh Dearg Abú", in English "The Red Hand" — the heraldic symbol of O'Neill and Ulster — followed by "Abú," which is phonetic and can only be translated at high volume.

Heres some for Spain and Byzantine Empire..

- In Spain, during the Reconquista (718-1492 AD) and the conquest of America, they cried "Santiago", looking for holy protection from St. James, the patron saint of Spain.

- The late Roman and Byzantine empires used "Nobiscum Deus" (Latin, "God with us"), as their battle cry.

And of course the Islamic and Turkish factions..

- "Allahu Akbar" (the Takbir) meaning "God is the greatest" in Arabic — was common in Muslim armies or commonly used by Muslim warriors such as Cheemas in battle, and is still heard today by soldiers throughout the Muslim world.

- The Ottoman Turkish armies used to cry out "Allah! Allah! Allah!" when charging foes.

And there is of course "INSHALLAH!"

- Also, the "URAH!" cry of the Russian red army is derived from the Turkish word for "KILL!" Definately wanna use that one?

So Xenophonia guys, what do you think?

[Thanat0S]

Thanks for the help! These phrases will be very useful for our project!

I hope that your contribute don't stop here! Ciao!

[NIKO_TWOW.RU]

- Also, the "URAH!" cry of the Russian red army is derived from the Turkish word for "KILL!" Definately wanna use that on

Uurraaaaa ! - this not only RED army battle cry - this ancient slav (and not only slav)) (!) battlecry !!!
This not one version i know about same
1) Ra - name ancient slav god ( pagan ) RA = sun
2) hurra - german word Forward!
3) urah - mongol word - Forward!
4) urarga - tatars word - To beat, destroy
5) hurrai - turks (mongol) word - To beat, destroy, kill

Anyway rus must use this battlecry ))

[Beiss]

Awesome. Could we get some sources for this information, though?

- The Vikings screamed and imitated animal sounds during battle to intimidate their enemies. One of their cries was "Ahoy!". This has since become a peaceful greeting used by sailors of many nations, but at the time it was considered to be extremely warlike.

- Also, the "URAH!" cry of the Russian red army is derived from the Turkish word for "KILL!" Definately wanna use that one?

"Hurrah" is also believed to be of Norse origin. It definitely sounds like a battlecry - I wonder if it has the same history as "Ahoy"... interesting how a very similar word "urah" reoccurs in another language.

As for more Viking stuff - "Till bardaga!" means "To battle!". It sounds pretty inspiring when you shout it out loud...

[bibbledy]

Given the width of the Eurasian steppe on which ancient nomadic Indo-European, Turkic and other tribes fought each other (and the incessant nature of strife in that area), it's not surprising that "ura" has one deeply-ingrained meaning from Germany to Mongolia.

[Giorgos]

Byzantine/Greek soldiers had a battle cry that went "Ιησούς Χρηστός Νικά" or "Jesus Christ Wins". In fact, that's the cry with which they fought(and lost) the fight against the crusaders outside Constantinople in 1203/4. In english the phonetic translation would be. ee-ee-ssooss Hreesstoss Neekaaaa

[Beiss]

Nika as in Nike? Cool. Thanks!

[Giorgos]

that's right Nika as in Niki(victory). glad to help Beiss, if you need people to record phrases in Greek, let me know.

[Beiss]

I was thinking about the goddess of Victory... wasn't her name Nike? Maybe it's just a matter about how you transcribe νικη into roman letters.

Anyway, we definitely need people to record phrases in medieval Greek, but we need to get the translation down first.

[Giorgos]

very well. Anthing else you need, let me know. I'll be checking your part of the forum regularly.

[yxc qwert!]

hungarians: utá(=aa)nam!!!!! ( =follow me!)

[Sanskrit_Bandit]

Polish knights were known to shout out their crests or a motto that each coat of arms had. Also the Bogurodzica was sung before battle.

[Basilakes En Strategoisin]

I was thinking about the goddess of Victory... wasn't her name Nike? Maybe it's just a matter about how you transcribe νικη into roman letters.

It's not the transliteration, no. νικη is simply the Greek word for "victory", it's usually transliterated "nike" as per the presumed ancient pronunciation, or "niki", as per the modern (and byzantine) pronunciation.

"nika" is spelled νικά and it's the verb "to win" in the present tense, meaning "He/she wins".

As for the goddess, well many ancient greek words were used as the names of those gods and goddesses that were a personification of some abstract concept, like "victory". So νικη = victory, Νικη = "Victory", or "the goddess of victory".

[Beiss]

That pretty much sums it up, I gather. Thanks, Basil.

Keep the war cries coming, people!

[Germanicus75]

WAR CRIES!

- At the Battle of Hastings, Wace records that the housecarls of the Saxon army cried "Olicrosse!" and "Godamite!" (Old English, "Holy Cross" and "God Almighty", respectively), while the fyrd cried "Ut! Ut! Ut!" ("Out! Out! Out!").

Hmmm...Olicrosse looks like a pseudo-modernized form. Halig cros would be closer.

Godamite > God ælmihtig.

[Beiss]

I, too, thought the spellings there seemed a little strange.

[NoRbAk]

Hi!

Great job... just wanted to point out that the fiersome almogavers said "Desperta, ferro" which means AWAKE, IRON... not awake the iron...

But it is great that you point it out...

[daryush]

Not sure if its applicable (for Timurids or anyone else) but the Persian language versions are: yalğâr and hamle (both mean: Charge! / Attack!)

[DarkReborn]

the spanish also cried in battle ''¡Dios ayuda a Santiago!'' wich means ''God helps Santiago!''

[Jan Taihwo]

As for more Viking stuff - "Till bardaga!" means "To battle!". It sounds pretty inspiring when you shout it out loud...

And as to show the similarities between Icelandic and old norse, then I can say that "Till Bardaga!" is "Til Bardaga!" in Icelandic Not much difference in those.