Re: Arthropoda

Carlos Eugenio Thompson Pinzón
Datacom Support Engineer
Ericsson de Colombia (EDC)
Tel:    +571 623 9405
Fax:    +571 623 9314

> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Campbell [SMTP:james@ZOLID.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 02:17
> To:   CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Subject:      Arthropoda
>
> In my relentless pursuit of realism (!) for Jameld, and real-life concepts
> to translate into it, I realized this morning as I was binning a dead
> bluebottle that I have no term for creepy-crawly.
>
> So, a Request For Information:
> What terms exist in your nat- or conlangs as a generic for arthropod
> creatures? Please specify whether the word is considered childish, or
> colloquial or whatever, and please provide a literal translation in
> English
> if possible.
>
Well, for Cheweyish I've borrowed {biccyo} for any small legged animal that
you have a despreciative feeling for, usually includes all creeping insects
(not usually those flying) and other arthropoda, mice and rats.  Anyhow you
usually don't use {biccyo} on animals you would eat like lobsters, rabits or
guinea pigs.  You would't use it for pets also.  Flying insects would be
{feyga} as peyorative term.  Unlegged creatures like worms or snakes would
be {gagasya} you would also use {gagasya} for caterpilars.

> So far I have:
> "Standard" (i.e. Dictionary) German: Krabbeltier [crawling-animal]
> Dutch: (eng) beestje [animal-DIM; _eng_ = narrow, "creepy"]
> ...but for these too, I'd like to know how they "feel" to a native
> speaker.
>
Well, Spanish has _bicho_, usually translates as bug but beware because in
some dialects (not mine) it also means male genitals.  Anyhow in _bicho_ you
would include insects (flying or creeping), worms, mice, rats... but also
any kind of creature you don't like.

Another word is _alimaña_.  Well, alimaña can also be used for unwanted
people.

> I feel this is exactly the sort of concept we should be able to express
> conlinguistically if our languages are to be fully prepared for real-world
> use :)
>
> TIA
>
> James
>
> ==========================================================================
> james@zolid.com  James Campbell  Zeugma--Our Life Is Design  www.zolid.com
> ==========================================================================