Re: OT: Renaming the continents

--- Tim May <butsuri@...> wrote:

>  > "CONTINENTAL LANDMASS #4A"
>  >
>  > Totally divorced from politics. With a
> numbering
>  > system based on human migratory patterns;
> letters
>  > indicate primary/secondary plate types.
>  > Therefore, India is "#2D" because it's part
> of
>  > "#2A", Asia, but is techtonically
> independent.
>  >
> It's reasonable, and worthy of consideration,
> but my initial feeling
> is that it's not as much fun.
About now, it might be nice to hear what _you_
would call them. You don't seem to like any of
the proposed names or systems (many of which have
met your neutrality condition and your new
natural sounding condition); and you don't like
the "real" names and how they came to be. So,
what are _your_ solutions!

> Also, numbers can seem to imply rank,
To the contrary, this system doesn't imply rank
at all - it is fundamentally based on rank!:

Africa - 1
Asia - 2
Europe - 3
N America - 4*
Australia - 5*
S America - 6
Antarctica - 7

*Could be switched depending on which got people
first.

The ranking is based on the timescale of when
humans got to which continent - it too is totally
divorced from politics and the sticky situation
of "discovery".

>  > > As for the rest, the only serious problem
> is
>  > > Eurasia.  Europe just
>  > > isn't a continent in the same way that the
>  > > others are,
>  >
>  > But how are the others "continents"? Are you
>  > basing this solely on geology, politics,
>  > cartography, history or what?
>  >
>
> I'd say that the basic definition of
> "continent" in contemporary
> English, is "A landmass which is big enough*
> and is completely
> surrounded by water or is joined to another
> continent by a narrow
> enough* isthmus (unless it's Europe or Asia)."
How convenient for your pet peeve! How about we
try "One of the principal landmasses of the
Earth". Geology might add to that "...resting
upon one of the principal techtonic plates".
That's a little less antieuropean and displays a
little less "personal taste".

> *  How big a landmass has to be to qualify, and
> how narrow an isthmus
>    must be for the land at either end to be
> considered seperate
>    continents, is not a question which can be
> precisely answered.
Agreed. Then the definition will most likely
fail.

> This is the sense in which I'm using
> "continent" (without the Eurasian
> exception).
>
> Tectonic plates need names too, of course, but
> that's more technical
> nomenclature.
They have names. And you're in luck: several have
"Native" names - though you can most safely bet
your life that no Native ever had the concept
until science came up with it.

>  > > *  Which natives to take it from, of
> course, is
>  > > a difficult problem in
>  > >    itself.  But first I want to find out
> if
>  > > _any_ natives had an
>  > >    applicable term, before I start
> deciding
>  > > which to use, if any.
>  >
>  > You mean a term for "continental landmass"
> as
>  > opposed to "Earth" or "land"? Or a nebulous
> term
>  > that could mean "land within a short radius
> all
>  > the way up to every land on Earth"?
>  >
>  > A tall order indeed!
>  >
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by this.
You seem to want a Native name for "continent";
or else a Native name for any particular
continent - I'm not sure. Either way, I don't
think you're going to find one. That's why I
asked what I asked.

Are you looking for a Native name that equals
"North America"; or are you looking for a Native
word that directly translates "continent"?

> What I'm
> looking for is a name
> for their own landmass, or something which
> could be reasonably
> extended to take that meaning.
That's why I asked about a term that might answer
to anything from "land around here" to "all lands
in the Earth". The English word "land" is just
such a word: my "land" can be the bit of property
around my house, it can (especially antebellum)
be my state, it can be the whole country, or it
can be the whole continent or even every bit of
dry dirt on Earth. If the native word you find
has that range of meaning, then it will not suit
your purpose.

Padraic.


=====
fas peryn omen c' yng ach h-yst yn caleor peryn ndia;
enffoge yn omen ach h-yst yn caleor per la gouitha.




.

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