Re: self designations

On Fri, 18 May 2001, dirk elzinga wrote:

> What names do the speakers of your languages use to refer to
> themselves?
Well, they usually call themselves _rastin_ "people" (literally
"thinkers"), but they use that for all people in the world, even
those from Velihas who are perhaps technically a different species
(as different, I think, as dogs and wolves). To call them "the
Rastin" would be incorrect and feels patronizing to me.

To specify that someone is from Valdyas, one may say _Valdyis rastin_
"people from Valdyas", or _Valdyis salea_ "someone from Valdyas. This
is only relevant abroad; people tend to identify more with their
region or town than with the whole country.

> Are the names morphologically transparent?
Yes, obviously :-)

> How did these names come about?
The river that dominates the country is the Valda, and Valdyas means
"Valda-area". It may be cognate with the root /val/ "king, rule"
(_valan_ "king, queen").

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas