NOTE: Some of the groups listed in this section may be affiliated with and/or be part of royalty or nobility.
Magic Tower
Magic Tower – 마탑
(Romanized: matap)
Used to refer to the organization where most mages reside in.
Magic Tower Master – 마탑주
ALSO: Tower Master, Master
(Romanized: matap-ju)
Used to refer to the person who leads the mages who live in the tower. This authority can sometimes extend to include all mages of the land.
Magic Society – 마법회
(Romanized: mabup-hoe)
Archmage – 대마법사
ALSO: Arch Mage, Grand Wizard
(Romanized: dae-mabupsa)
Mage – 마법사
ALSO: Wizard
(Romanized: mabupsa)
Dark Mage – 흑마법사
ALSO: Dark wizard
(Romanized: mabupsa)
Used to refer to a mage who researches and dabbles in dark arts, magic that is sometimes forbidden. In cases where black magic is considered taboo, dark mages can be affiliated with the underground scene.
Witch – 마녀
(Romanized: manyeo)
Used to refer to someone who practices magic. They are generally women, though there are cases where male witches have been mentioned, and they follow their own sets of rules and customs distinct from mages.
Prefixes Used for People from Temples, Knight Orders, Magic Tower
–클래스
English: nth–Class
Used to refer to someone’s standing on a numerical scale. First Class typically denotes the lowest, while Ninth Class is the highest.
–급
English: x –Rank
(Romanized: geup)
Used to refer to someone’s standing on an alphabetical scale. A-Class typically denotes the strongest, while F-Class is the weakest. In some rofans, as well as non-romance stories, there are cases of an S-Class or undetermined class to describe a character who is stronger than the traditional system in place.
Elders
Council of Elders – 원로회
ALSO: Senate
(Romanized: wonro-hoe)
Used to refer to a group of individuals who play an advisory role to a family, society, organization, etc.
Elder – 원로
(Romanized: wonro)
Used to refer to someone who plays an advisory role to a family, society, organization, etc. Elders are typically older in age (i.e., many of them are former heads of their respective families and/or organizations they are affiliated with and are older than the protagonists; sometimes even older than the protagonists’ parents).
They can wield immense powers as an elder’s vote may be necessary to install the next head of a family or organization. In some cases, the family or organization may defer to the elder rather than the actual sitting head, illustrating the power imbalance.
Merchant Group
Merchant Group – 상단
(Romanized: sang-dan)
Merchant – 상인
(Romanized: sang-in)
Guild – 길드
Administrator – 관리자
ALSO: Manager, Supervisor
(Romanized: kwanri-ja)
Refers to someone who manages a branch of a merchant group or guild.
Branch – 지부
ALSO: Chapter
(Romanized: jibu)
Refers to a small, local office of a merchant group or guild.
Free Company
Free Company – 용병단
ALSO: Mercenary Group, Mercenary Crew
(Romanized: yongbyung-dan)
Refers to the group in which mercenaries operate.
Mercenary – 용병
(Romanized: yongbyung)
Refers to someone who works based on a commission basis.
Slave King – 노예왕
(Romanized: noyae-wang)
Refers to a title someone is given, typically one who has assumed some sort of leadership over slaves.
Fist King – 권왕
(Romanized: kwon-wang)
Refers to a title someone is given for their prowess in using their hands.
Foreigners
Clan – 일족
(Romanized: il-jok)
Migrant Tribe – 이민족
(Romanized: imin-jok)
Migrant – 이민자
(Romanized: imin -ja)
Other
Tower – 탑
(Romanized: top)
While not often seen in rofans, it is used to refer to the building structure.
TIP: Machine translators will mistranslate this word by using the romanization instead. This is seen in the mistranslation from a LINE Webtoon series:
- 나 혼자 탑에서 농사
The Top Dungeon Farmer (via LINE Webtoon)
The English translation should be something along the lines of “Solo Farming in the Tower” or “Solo Tower Farming”. However, LINE Webtoon’s translator(s) and quality control team have mistranslated the title to, “The Top Dungeon Farmer”, using a machine translation rather than looking up the actual translation.
Considering how LINE Webtoon often tries to stay close to the Korean version of the title as much as possible, this may have been a machine translated mistake rather than a choice.
tags: glossary, rofan glossary, romance fantasy glossary, ropan glossary, manhwa notes glossary, translation, translations, manhwa notes translations, manhwa notes translation, korean, english, romance fantasy, rofan, ropan, January 28, 2024, manhwa notes, manhwanotes
