The game's name reminds me of the Russian word for state/district/region. I was right. It's an intended pun. The game's title screen on the screenshot in the article has Russian on it.
Would be nice to have the AI visualize all those words to their pre-zodiacal origin on a landscape wireframe diagram with popup points of interest and water surface tension effects showing affinity and uses among various cultures.
edit. I should also point out that it's the same word in Ukrainian, for the record.