Re: Arthropoda

-----Original Message-----
From: James Campbell <james@...>
To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU <CONLANG@...>
Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 3:17 AM
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.
>
I'm all for the relentless pursuit of realism, especially since Cindu is an
alien world.  Lots of Engl. words have to be cited in quotes, since the Kash
or Gwr term is only an analog, "something like...."  There are, for
instance, no "birds", but plenty of generally harmless lizard-like things
that can glide from tree to tree, and "sing".  Unfortunately I never took to
biology, so the insect world has gotten short shrift.  However:

    yale _cici_ ri tuwimi!  There a bug in my soup!  _cici_ I'm sure refers
to relatively harmless small insects that may or may not fly.  It's probably
ult. a nursery/childish term-- the reduplication, the final /i/, or maybe a
base /ci..../ with the diminutive suffix /-ci/.  The same root seems to
occur in _ciyake_ (pl. /-sh/) "ant(s)" (pace Natalia), though /-ake/ seems
to be meaningless.  There will surely be some quite nasty bugs found in
jungle/uninhabited areas.  More research is needed.

Since both Kash and Gwr are furry, one would suppose they are subject to
various parasites, but I haven't had the heart to introduce "fleas".