Re: Beijing, Zhongguo, etc. (was Re: 'out-' affix in conlangs?)

> Eugene Oh <un.doing@...> wrote:
>
> What kind of benchmark do you with concultures use for determining
> the source language for a foreign country's name? I'm vacillating
> between a dose of realism and easy standardisation.
The Senjecans were the first loquent inhabitants of Earth.  As Humans
began to give names to their homes and to the physical features
around them, Senjecas developed four ways to adapt these names in
conformity to the sounds and pitches of the language.  Place names
are viewed as abstract nouns and, thus, end in -as.  And the earliest
known name of a place is used without change even though the name may
change later.

1. -as is added to the stem of the place name after palatalizing the
final consonant, e.g., ilîryas, i.e., Illyria, continues to be the
name of Albania.

2. Sometimes the final consonant is not palatalized, e.g., ámerîkas.

3. The word 'kûnyas,' country, is suffixed to the name of
the "original" inhabitants, e.g., bélgëkûnyas, land of the Belgians.

4. Sometimes the name is a literal translation, e.g., lhénapêras,
rich coast, i.e., Costa Rica.

Geographic features have the -os ending of concrete nouns, e.g.,
yhélïmôôros, i.e., the Greek Sea, or the Aegean Sea.

The -os ending is changed to -as if the geographic feature becames a
proper noun.  Thus, mhészyengôes, western islands, would refer to
any group of islands in the west.  But, mhészyengâes means the
British Isles.

Charlie

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