Re: Arthropoda
| From: | Herman Miller <hmiller@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, June 1, 2000, 4:53 |
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On Wed, 31 May 2000 08:17:26 +0100, James Campbell <james@...> 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.
Gjarrda (Kayatal) and Tirelat both use the word "znal" for insects. "Znal"
is one of the few generic words in Gjarrda that refers to a category
instead of a particular kind of animal or plant. Unlike the English word
"insect", it isn't thought of as a basically foreign word, so it could
probably be translated best as "bug", not to be confused with the actual
Gjarrda word for "bug" (ghagh), which is a more specific kind of insect.
The Chispa word for "insect" is "kwich'ik", from the root "kwich'", which
most frequently refers to grasshoppers, crickets, and related insects. You
wouldn't expect "kwich'tip" (insect soup) to contain wasps or butterflies,
for instance.
The Zharranh word is "michka". I've only got one example of its use: "Mica
sartovash michka" (bat-dragons eat insects). I suppose a typical "michka"
(the Zharranh ch is a palatal fricative) is probably something like a fly
or a moth, something that a bat-dragon would be likely to eat.
Hmm, I can't seem to find examples of languages that have generic words for
larger categories, that might include millipedes or spiders for instance.
But there isn't a Chispa word for "spider", so perhaps it should be
included in the overall "kwich'ik" category.
--
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h i l r i . o "If all Printers were determin'd not to print any
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