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Re: CHAT deities (was: Minhyan & the goddess of conlangs)

From:Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>
Date:Thursday, September 2, 2004, 19:28
On Thursday, September 2, 2004, at 01:39 , Jeffrey Henning wrote:

> Ray Brown comunu: > >>> Tolkien sometimes wrote about "discovering Quenya" rather >>> than inventing it. >> >> He did indeed - tho I doubt he ascribed the gift to any Muse. > > He clearly ascribed it as a gift from God the Father: > http://mercury.ccil.org/~cowan/mythopoeia.html#heartofman
Yes, that is what I would have expected.
> >>> It would be amusing (ahem) to have an agreed to Conlang Muse. >> >> Glossopoeia? > > Greek for "tongue maker"? I like that.
Yep - tongue-maker/ language-maker. But the ancient Greeks had more than one word for "to make". _poiein_ is the one that gives us 'poem', 'poetry' , 'poesy' - it suggests _creative_ making. [snip]
> Like you, I loved the Odyssey for Odysseus. Alas, though, I never cared > for > the Iliad. I re-read it last year and found that I didn't care which side > won. It made war seem awful and pointless not heroic.
I that was the point of the Iliad - the futility of war. It's surely not the fighting that's main theme of the Iliad (it focuses on only a very small part of the Trojan war) - it's the person of Achilles. I find the meeting of Priam & Achilles, when Priam comes to ransom the body of Hector, very moving. [snip]
>>> Minhyan sprang from my head about >>> as forcefully. So Minerva is the muse of Minhyan, if not the muse of >>> conlangers. >> >> Ah, I notice you go for the Roman name. Now the Romans had a very >> different attitude to their deities. There was genuine respect for >> Minerva. > > Sorry, I just liked the aliteration of Minerva and Minhyan.
:-) [snip]
>> (And despite temptations, I've stayed clear so far from the flag business >> in case I spoil someone's fun) > > I like the simple elegance of David Peterson's flag best, but I'd prefer > a > heraldic color scheme.
I agree on both counts. Ray =============================================== http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown ray.brown@freeuk.com =============================================== "A mind which thinks at its own expense will always interfere with language." J.G. Hamann, 1760

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>