Re: CHAT: Directions

Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> wrote:
>=20
> The cardinal directions in Watakass=ED:
> North: Wabiiput=ED - lit. "left place" (when looking eastward, north is=
 on
> left)
> East: Wabiikad=EDz - also means "sky", lit. "place of the sun"
> South: Wabiimunv=E1 - lit. "right place"
> West: Wabiigazl=ED - also means "shadow", lit. "place of dark"
>=20
> Left: Put=ED
> Right: Munv=E1
>=20
> What do you think of the ambiguities between "east" and "sky", and
> between "west" and "shadow"?  Does it seem realistic to have such an
> ambiguity?
>=20
It's interesting, provided the ambiguity doesn't cause a war or
some conflict of the sort. And extremely interesting (as a historical
anecdote) if it does. :-) I'd never thought of names like these for
directions in my conlangs. Except in Pantato, where _pyo_ means both
'south' and 'far', which is even more ambiguously dangerous. In
Drasel=E9q, I think I just rationalized the arbitrary names of the
cardinal directions with the 'borrowed-from-another-language-and-
irrecognizably-changed-by-now' argument.


--Pablo Flores