CHAT: Day & month names (was: CHAT: Easter & the Saxon Calendar (was: Passover/Easter))

At 6:43 pm -0400 29/4/00, Nik Taylor wrote:
>yl-ruil wrote:
>> Old Icelandic replaced the god-names of the days of the week (Odhinn's day
>> etc.) with things like Firstday, Seconday and so on.
>
>Interesting, so has Portuguese, for Monday-Friday.  Sunday and Saturday
>retain the terms _Domingo_ and _Sabado_, or something similar.
So did the Greeks from the very beginning - the days are (transliterated):
Kyriake:  (he:mera) = Dominical day, the of-the-Lord day (Sunday)
Deutera (he:mera) = 2nd day (Tuesday)
Trite: (he:mera) = 3rd
Teterte: (he:mera) = 4th
Pempte: (he:mera) = 5th
Paraskeue: = Preparation (Friday - Preparation for the Sabbath)
Sabbato(n) = Sabbath

In the modern pronunciation: [kirja'ki], [Def'tera], ['triti], [te'tarti],
['pempti], [paraske'vi], ['savato].

The early Quakers also objected to the names of pagan deities being
enshrined in the weekdays and in some of the month names, and simply
numbered them.  But this didn't catch on.

Now to return to conlanging...  :-)

Dutton in his Speedwords does the same; thus the weekdays are from Sunday
through Saturday: D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7.
They are pronounced: ['de:Nu:], ['de:NdOs], ['de:Ntri:], ['de:Nkwar],
['dE:Nfun], ['de:NsEs], ['de:NsEp].
These words are not bimorphemic, however, but trimorphemic; thus, e.g.
[de:NdOs] <-- [de:] "day' + [N] (morpheme showing the the first is being
compounded with the second] + [dOs] "two".

Similarly the months are from Jan. through Dec.: L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6,
L7, L8, L9, L10, L11, L12.
Pronounced: ['lu:N:u], ['lu:NdOs], ['lu:Ntri:], ['lu:Nkwar], ['lu:Nfun],
['lu:NsEs], ['lu:NsEp], ['lu:NOto:], ['lu:Nnajn], ['lu:Ntaj], ['lu:Staju:],
[['lu:StajdOs]
The month names from Jan. through October are trimorphemic (see day names
above), but the last two are quadrumorphemic, e.g.
['lu:Staju:] <-- [lu:] + [S] (morpheme showing that the first is to be
compounded with two others which follow) + [taj] + [u:].

The Speedwords rules for pronouncing compound words are:
(a) if a bound morpheme is added, then it is added according to its own
rules of pronunciation without any other "joining morpheme";
(b) if two free morphemes are to be compounded, then [IN] or [N] is
inserted between the two ([IN] after a consonant, [N] after a vowel);
(c) if three free morphemes are to be compounded, then insert [IS] or [S]
between the first and second - no joining morpheme to be inserted between
the second & third. [IS] is used after consonants and [S] after vowels.

The "joining morphemes" ([IN]/[N], [IS]/[S]) are _never_ written - a bit
like  in Farsi.

But I don't think it was a dislike of pagan names that led Dutton to adopt
numbered names the week days & months, but rather for the same reason as
the Chinese do this.

Briefscript will also do the same as Speedwords & Chinese for the months.

However, it will not do so for the weekdays since, as we have discussed
before on this list, different communities have different numbering
systems: the traditional JudaeoChristian mode of reckoning is like Duttons
& ther Greeks, taking Sunday as the 1st Day and Saturday as the 7th.  But
the International Standardization Organization decided to make Monday the
1st day of the week, and this was, apparently, offically adopted by my
country in 1971; the Chinese weekday names number the days thus, as do
several other counties.  Although the Arabic weekday names show numbering
according to the traditional Jewish system, in several countries where
Islam has spread one finds Friday named 'juma' or something similar, and
the other days numbered from it, e.g. in Swahili:
Ijumaa - Friday
Jumamosi - Saturday (mosi = 1)
Jumapili - Sunday (pili = 2)
Jumatatu - Monday (tatu = 3)
Jumanne - Tuesday (nne = 4)
Jumatano - Wednesday (tano = 5)
Alhamisi - Thursday <-- Arabic: /al xami:s/ "the fifth"

I dare say there are also other numbering systems around. Since briefscript
will not want to reflect a particular cultural viewpoint (or offend
others), I shall not number the days of the week.  I may do something
similar to Japanese:
nichiyo:bi  (sun-day) - Sunday
getsuyo:bi  (moon-day) - Monday
kayo:bi     (fire-day) - Tuesday
suiyo:bi    (water-day) - Wednesday
mokuyo:bi   (wood-day) - Thursday
kinyo:bi    (metal-day) - Friday
doyo:bi     (earth-day) - Saturday

Ray.





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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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