French issue: the Outlands and the Underdark

[Millstone85]

So, the Outlands and the Underdark, two things that have nothing to do with each other.

Except here in France, where both have been translated to l'Outreterre. Which is obviously a problem.

The translation most closely matches the Outlands. Indeed, it is made of "outre", a dated term for "beyond", and "terre", meaning "earth" or "land". However, my friends, and perhaps most people, are more familiar with the land of dark elves than with the true-neutral afterlife, and have long been using l'Outreterre for the former.

I am going to play a character whom I am considering making either a native or long-time resident of the Outlands. How should I introduce her?

Some solutions I see:

• She will insist that the name truly belongs to the plane, and that the tunnels should be called something else. Maybe something like:
  
  • Les Profondeurs Obscures, the Dark Depths. More a description than a name, though.
  • L'Ombreterre, the Shadowland. Might sound too much like the Shadowfell, which in French is la Gisombre.
• She will have no knowledge of this meta issue, and know the plane by another name. Maybe something like:
  
  • L'Opposition Concordante, the Concordant Opposition (obviously). Again more a description than a name.
  • L'Entreterre, the Betweenland, for a "not to be confused with l'Outreterre" lean on the fourth wall.

The last one is my favourite so far. But I would like to know what the good people of the forum, some of whom I know speak French, think of this.

[SquidFighter]

You could have her deride the Underdark in a silly play on words. I'm thinking «sous-sombre».

[Tvtyrant]

The obvious solution is to play up the mistake so she is constantly confused when someone talks about the Underdark. Depending on her personality she might try to play along to fit in, and get increasingly confused details. "Ah, yes, I do seem to recall squid headed monsters being involved in the Guild Wars now that you mention it???"

Or plays it up to make fun of the yokels, which is also perfectly viable.

[Spiderswims]

Well, I know a little French...

Why not use sous-terrains for underdrak? Below/under ground works just fine.

How about 'outerlands' for outlands, extérieur?

[MoiMagnus]

Some suggestions for the neutral afterlife:
+ "l'Outremonde". That's already a word used to talk about the afterlife.
+ "la Nonterre" for a name that emphasis the contradictions of this plane.

[Seto]

I like L'Entreterre as well, it's pretty poetic! And I think it makes sense that inhabitants of the Outlands wouldn't think of their plane as "outlands", per se.

As for your second route, finding an alternative translation for "the Underdark"... L'Ombreterre is historically accurate, as it's apparently the outdated translation from older editions. You could also conflate it with terminology from different settings: in Eberron, the Underdark is called Khyber, which also works in French. Pathfinder's equivalent, the Darklands, is translated as "Les Terres Sombres", which I'll admit is very plain.
What's interesting with this approach is that your character will go through the same thought process you currently are: when she first hears of the Underdark during an adventure, she'll get confused, then discover that it bears the same name as her plane, then look for a more appropriate name. She doesn't even have to come up with a good name. "That's not l'Outreterre! L'Outreterre is wild, beautiful and impossibly vast, truly out of time. This is tortuous, dank and dark! This is... a basement! An oversized, glorified basement is what is is!" And then she might, to the annoyance or amusement of her companions, take to calling a trip to the Underdark "descendre à la cave".

If you do take the indignant route, don't forget to mention that she's outraged by the Outreterre confusion (...outrée, of course)

[Millstone85]

"l'Outremonde". That's already a word used to talk about the afterlife.

Oooh, I hadn't thought about that!

A possible issue would be with it just being a synonym for the afterlife in general. But there are multple interesting answers to that:

• So is Hades in some cultures, which are thankfully wrong. Though a region of Hades, the Fugue Plane, is the default afterlife of those poor Torilian souls.
• It is short for L'Opposition Concordante de l'Outremonde, where indeed all of the afterlife is at a tense equilibrium.
• Many, including my Jazirianite character, believe that all the Outer Planes originally grew from the Outlands.

It even keeps the confusion with the Underdark/l'Outreterre, but in a way that feels natural in-universe. Especially when some primes mistake the Underworld, le monde souterrain, for the afterlife.

Yes, I like l'Outremonde a lot!

Thank you. And my thanks to everyone else, of course.