In a new blog post, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate localization director Andrew Alfonso shares some keen insights into the thinking behind the Insect Glaive weapon’s English name.
The Japanese name for the Insect Glaive is “Souchuukon,” which roughly translates to “control insect cane”. While thinking up an English name for the weapon, the localization team spent nearly two weeks discussing its properties with director Kaname Fujioka who provided them with a long list of concepts and images he wanted the name to embody.
Some of these included: absorption, suction, enhancement, strengthening, artisan, falconer, hunting, enhancing extract, and organism. With these ideas in mind, the localization team came up with names like Swarmstaff, Hunting Bug, Leechstaff, Pherocaster and Augmentor Staff.
Ultimately, those names were considered too complicated, given that the other weapon classes in Monster Hunter all have fairly straightforward names. Fujioka himself felt that the name needed to be simpler, and eventually the list was whittled down to a list of other ideas that included Bug Bo, Insect Staff, and Insect Glaive.
“Glaive” was chose as the final name for the weapon due to its properties. (The fact that it is capable of severing tails, doesn’t do blunt damage, and there are more variants that look like glaives than staves.) As for the insect that is part of the Insect Glaive weapons, Alfonso says that “Kinsect” (Kinship + Insect) was the only name ever considered.
