Re: Basic vocabulary when starting a conlang

 --- "Thomas R. Wier" <trwier@...>
>
> Okay, whatever.  One does wonder, though, how long
> the language
> would exist in actual use without some such word.
>
well, as i've said, it might borrow terms from another
language. it could also paraphrase the idea ( which
would be useful in making it clear what is actually
meant by 'god' . . . cf the huge range of concepts
that can have the label attached to them in english,
from the olympian soap opera thro the monotheist
creator to some philosophical descriptions which focus
for example on first cause, perfection or
transcendence ). i don't see what's wrong about
talking about 'the creator' or 'the transcendental
being' or whatever if you want to refer to a
particular concept of 'god', but i'm not taking the
concept as primitive, as it isn't in my mind and i
don't see why it should be in my language

> > > > ( it borrows specific religions' terms when it
> needs to
> > > > refer to their deities, and would probably
> nick
> > > > the latin |deo| if referring to the western
> concept of
> > > > god
> > >
> > > Surely you mean "latinate", since the Latin word
> for
> > > "god" is _deus_ (_deo_ only in the ablative and
> dative
> > > singular).
> >
> > sorry to confuse you. i was quoting the stem form
> > rather than the nominative. bac borrows stems,
> rather
> > than dictionary reference forms, and in general i
> > prefer to quote these forms anyway
> >
> > i would have put a hyphen after it, but i thought
> it
> > was easier as the spelling is the same ( for once
> ) in
> > bac and latin to do without
>
> Okay, except that the stem is _de-_, followed by a
> thematic vowel -o-, which itself may be followed
> by the various declensional endings. (Or, the
> thematic
> vowel morph may be lost, e.g., in the genitive
> singular,
> _dei_, and the irregular dative plural _di:s_. In
> either
> case, the stem is _de-_.)
>
fair enough, except that the loss of the thematic
vowel is i think a bit of a distraction. i think
there's also a case that the _root_ |de| produces the
two noun _stems_ |dea| and |deo| with the thematic
vowels characteristic of the first and second noun
declensions integrated ( altho these vowels may be
lost or altered in certain circs ), and that if we're
picking out the western notion of a patriarchal
unideity ( or whatever the word is in a monotheistic
system ) it's appropriate to use the masculine stem

feel free to discredit my analysis. i'm sticking to my
guns on how i borrow words !

bn

=====
bnathyuw | landan | arR
stamp the sunshine out | angelfish
your tears came like anaesthesia | phèdre

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