A talentless bard called Cacofonix (people have a really difficult time when he sings as in it’s a cacophony), a dog called Dogmatix, an elderly person Geriatrix (the association with geriatics) the druid who mixes up a magic potion that makes his villagers invincible is called Getafix. The star of the story, why, Asterix!
A few more notables are Crismus Bonus, Fuliautomatix, Vitalstatistix, Psychoanalytix, Orthopedic, Impedimenta, Bacteria and more. There are around 400 characters in all the Asterix books and taking a good look at the names is the first thing I do.
Clever names are just one part of the charm of Asterix comics. The puns and the jokes are another level and have a lot of cultural, artistic and political allusions. When you get the joke, well, you feel smart and superior to those who didn’t get them. The Latin is another matter though. Knowing the literal meaning of phrases doesn’t help, you have to understand the grammatical nuances (of Latin, yes huh is my reaction all the time), know the context in the story and tie up the dialogue of the characters to see how the joke/pun is ‘closed’.
Written in French originally by Goscinny and Uderzo, the writer and illustrator team, Asterix has now been translated to more than 100 languages. Translator Anthea Bell has been responsible for bringing these delightful books to English readers.
Coming back to the names, Asterix, the star is also a typographical symbol used to denote a footnote. Obelix, his side kick, meaning a large monument, alluding to his size, denotes another typographical symbol, used when there is a second footnote. From this, you can get an idea of the layers of meaning in everything in the series. There is a challenge in keeping the wit alive as the books are translated to other languages.
The dog in the books is simply called Dogmatix, which is a play on the word ‘dogmatic’ or maybe it’s just because it has the dog in it? In Hindi, Dogmatix changes to ‘Kutta Bhaunkix’ (don’t cringe, I am sure it’s all very funny).
Even though the story revolves around the Romans determined to conquer a little Gaulish village (most of Gaul has already been conquered – the time is 50 B.C.) and even when there’s the army and ambushes in plenty there’s no real bloodshed. The battles are not gory; rather they are funny by virtue of the cleverness of some characters and utter stupidity of others.
The battles, ludicrous challenges and laughter inducing situations all end with a feast under the starry night where wild boar is eaten and Cacofonix is ‘usually’ tied up after he plays a few notes.
I am now (re)reading ‘Asterix the Gaul’, the first in the series. If you an Asterix fan, maybe you can tell me what do people do with the menhirs that Obelix keeps delivering?
This post is part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.
Read Write Live 
TinTin and Asterix were inalienable parts of my childhood. I have a collection of both, although it has been repeatedly plundered by unscrupulous modern day Gaul and Roman equivalents not to speak of thom(p)sons, and it still offers me a getaway from the crazier times we are in. Thank your refreshing the memories.
I do remember a booming trade in menhirs once. Mostly though, they were modern art equivalent of the average Gaulish household. Apparently, the flaunt quotient of menhirs was high.
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I have always leaned more towards Asterix. These comic books need to be hoarded and hidden away from those who want to borrow 😉
And may your menhir trade bloom 😀
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They put them in their gardens or throw them at each other! x
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The brilliant part about Dogmatix’s name is that the original French name is Idéfix, meaning “fixed idea.” So it means close to the same thing with the bonus that the English version actually has “dog” in a dog’s name. Genius!
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It really is genius, the way the character names are decided in Asterix comics. Thanks for stopping by!
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