Re: New Arvorec words

Dan Jones sikayal:

> ceneyth "homosexual person" < Latin CINAEDU (no slur intended to any Kenneths on the list!)
> yngyl "poof" (pej.) < English "ingle"
> tryvaeth "lesbian" < English "tribade"
I hadn't had these in Yivríndil, so I made some up:

yísaon "homosexual man" < yísa-ano-n "man-love-AGT"
yísaoné "homosexual female" < yísayon-é "homosexual-FEM"

The second form is ironic since the first is historically transparent as
"man lover."  The second is literally "female man-lover", which should
apply to straight females, but the word's etymology was evidently
forgotten by the time the term "yísaoné" was coined.  I also made the
following perjorative terms:

datheto "gay person, dyke" < dath-et-o "little bird (f.)" (can sometimes
be used of males, but usually applied to females)
goson "faggot" (vulg.) < goso-n "anus-AGT"

Both of the above are insulting terms.  Yivríndil culture places heavy
emphasis on family and monogamy, so homosexuality is heavily discouraged
since it precludes reproduction (with the technology and social norms
of Yivríndil society).  Homosexuality is seen as an unnatural condition
akin to mental illness, and homosexual relationships are neither
recognized nor openly practiced.  The culture has no word or concept of
bisexuality.

I hadn't thought about much of this before this thread came up, but all of
these conditions are inevitable with the cultural foundations I've already
designed.  When your whole society centers around family, a lifestyle that
produces no children can hardly be tolerated.


Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu

"If you look at a thing nine hundred and ninety-nine times, you are
perfectly safe; if you look at it the thousandth time, you are in
frightful danger of seeing it for the first time."
--G.K. Chesterton

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