Re: Pejorative words (was: Introducing myself, and several questions)

On Feb 19, 2005, at 8:50 AM, Jeffrey Jones wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 08:17:15 -0500, Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>
> wrote:
>> -Stephen (Steg)
>>  "i am the terror that flaps in the night."
>>   (oh no wait... that's darkwing duck!)
> Steg, while we're on the topic of potentially offensive conwords ....
> When the discussion of mythical beings (in conlangs) came up, I didn't
> have
> anything to contribute. Yesterday, however, your "gabwe" came to mind.
> I
> never remember how it's supposed to be pronounced, so I think ["ga.bwe]
> when I see it. If borrowed into 'Yemls, it would become ["gO.bwE:]
> (written
> {AbE}), which is awkward. Then I thought of metathesis: gawbe. The
> nearest
> adaptation would be ["g_j&O.bE] (written {GOP}). What do you (and
> Roger and others for that matter) think?
> Jeff
Cool, i'm honored :)
"Gabwe" - or more properly, Gáb-we - is pronounced /"ga:b.wE/ *all in
Creaky Voice*.  |Gáb| = "Goblin", |we| = adjective.
At least that's how it's pronounced in my main dialect, Standard
Tierean.  In Old Byronese it's pronounced /N&m.we/, and in Proto-Goblin
it seems to have been pronounced /Ng)a*mb).we*/, where /a*/ and /e*/
represent vowels at the midpoints of the bottom and front sides of the
vowel trapezoid, respectively.

So what are you borrowing it into 'Yemls to mean?  "Goblin"?


-Stephen (Steg)
  "you can confuse the enemy with syllogisms!"
      ~ what philosophy majors do in the army