How does the adjective 'obsolete' differ from other similar words?
Some common synonyms of obsolete are ancient, antiquated, antique, archaic, old, and venerable. While all these words mean "having come into existence or use in the more or less distant past," obsolete may apply to something regarded as no longer acceptable or useful even though it is still in existence.
// a computer that makes earlier models obsolete
When could 'ancient' be used to replace 'obsolete'?
The synonyms ancient and obsolete are sometimes interchangeable, but ancient applies to occurrence, existence, or use in or survival from the distant past.
// ancient accounts of dragons
When might 'old' be a better fit than 'obsolete'?
Although the words old and obsolete have much in common, old may apply to either actual or merely relative length of existence.
// old houses
// an old sweater of mine
I’ll often come across words in names of places or people in fantasy works that are based around an archaic or uncommon word, often used to “secretly” hint at the deeper meaning. An example that comes to mind is “Iudex Gundyr” from Dark Souls 3; you can take iudex to mean judge.
I want to do something similar. I have a particular theme in mind, but I don’t know any fitting words and most thesaurus just give a few common responses, which brings us back to the title. Does anyone have any suggestions?