Re: Arthropoda

On Wed, 31 May 2000, James Campbell wrote:

> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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 :)
Tepa has a recurring combining form _-ppi_ which seems to mean
something like 'small buzzing creature (usually a pest)'. Some
examples are:

huppi   'gnat'
lauppi  'yellowjacket'
pippi   'fly'
qeppi   'mosquito'
sappi   'cicada'
tippi   'hummingbird' (also tiwippi, from tiwi 'bird')

(<q> is the velar nasal; <e> is high, central, and unrounded)

With one exception, the forms to which _-ppi_ are attached are
not independent stems and don't seem to exist elsewhere in the
language. The exception is _tippi_ 'hummingbird'. The stem _ti-_
is the combining form for 'bird' used in compounds; the full
stem is _tiwi_. _tiwippi_ 'hummingbird' is also attested.

Dirk

--
Dirk Elzinga
dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu