Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: OT Biblical Hebrew names Re: A question and introduction

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Wednesday, June 12, 2002, 3:52
Steg Belsky wrote:
> And then of course there's the mysterious name |eliyahu| (Elijah), which > tautologically means "God is God"...
I was under the impression that it meant "My God is the Lord", that is, not Baal or any of the other pagan gods.
> ObConlang: the Rokbeigalm don't have names like this. The > Judajca-speakers, on the other hand, most probably do.
Kassi given names generally consist of two morphemes, usually nouns. For example, the first Empress of the First Kassi Empire was named, in full, tIalanakiba, this consists of t(i)-, the gender 1 prefix, _ialana_ "flower" and _kiba_ "forest", i.e., "Flower of the forest" or "Flower in the forest". However, because these are usually quite lengthy, only one of the morphemes is used in normal contexts, so she was known as tIalana I. However, her great grand-daughter, who succeeded her to the throne had the same name, but was known by the second morpheme, i.e., tiKiba I. Some other names from Kassi history: tiNlasta: A rare one-morpheme name, means simply "Prophet". It is the name taken by the founder of their religion after the Revelation. tIaunnakan: Iaunna = death, -kan = child of; her mother died in childbirth; this is a name that is usually used in full; it is also the original name of tiNlasta tiKuiluila: Kuilu = river; ila = star; River of Stars, the name given to the Milky Way; would go by either tiKuilu or tIla tiKaliauva: Kali = fate, destiny; Iauva = happy; Happy Fate, Happy Destiny. A name likely to be used in full, but might also be shortened to tiKali or tIauva. Ironically, this was also the name of the shortest-reigning empress, as she was assassinated less than a month after succeeding her mother tiNikan: Ni = Iron (obsolete word); -kan = Child (of); Iron Child. A name that is always used in full. It's not clear why her mother chose such an odd name, but, perhaps befitting of an odd name, she herself was rather odd, she was known as the Mad Empress tLiibisaklas: Liibi = Bread; Saklas = Moon, month; Bread of the Moon, or perhaps Monthly Bread; another name of uncertain significance tiKibatiai: Kiba = forest; tiai = faith (obsolete noun); Forest of Faith, connoting great faith; this empress was known as tiKiba IV (the previous three were all tIalanakiba); could only be referred to as tiKibatiai or tiKiba; monosyllabic stems cannot be used as names tiVikludikau: Viklu = altar; Dikau = Goddess; "Altar of Goddess", known as tiViklu (that would be the only permissible contraction' tiDikau would be blasphemous) tLilazaamu: Lila = "wave", zaamu = "large"; "Large Wave", this was the name of the first Duchess of the Southeast, who went by tLila tLikankitani: Likan = daughter/son; Kitani = state/empire/etc.; "Daughter of the State"; name of the first Duchess of the Northeast, who went by tiKitani tLaanakitani: Laana = friend; "Friend of the State", name of the first Duchess of the South, who went by tLaana tiSagadlikan: Saga = word; Dlikan = fire; "Word(s) of Fire" tiDigapifi: Diga = shadow, pifi = small; "Small Shadow"; perhaps connoting noon-time, presumably metaphoric tiFitaggannuusi: Fitaggan = "young mouse" Nuusi = "morning", a child- hood nickname that stuck. Such a person would usually go by the second morpheme (tiNuusi, as did the empress by that name), but it's not entirely unlikely to imagine one going by tiFitaggan. It was also the name of the first Duchess of the Islands tiTluniikamini: Tlunii = Hand; Kamini = Iron; Hand of Iron tiNuianianisa: Nuian = Judge; Ianisa = People; Judge of the People (All are female because the Kassi are a matriarchal people, there aren't any historically significant men) -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42