Re: Padraic's numbers (fi: JG's list of conlangs)

Jan van Steenbergen scripsit:

> Interesting. No, never seen it before. Who are these Giants of Kemrese legend?
> I don't think I have ever read about them.
> How come they speak a descendant of Old English (or perhaps Old Frisian?)
Well, Giants are traditionally stupid, and that's the Welsh view of the
English (broadly considered), so it's reasonable.  If the English
*here* can count their sheep (real sheep, not the kind you count when
you have insomnia) in slightly garbled Welsh ("Yan, tyan, tethera, methera,
pimp, sethera, lethera, hovera, dovera, dick" is the version I'm most
familiar with; many others have been collected), and one of their oldest
bits of fiction has devils who talk in the British tongue, it's not
surprising that the Kerno should return the (dubious) compliment.

> What exactly are the Daine? Another sentient humanoid species within The World?
It would be fair to say, I think, that the Daine (who have vestigial wings
and long life) are the dominant species on The World.  Humans mostly fit
into the cracks between the huge Dainish kingdoms -- Southern China is
all Daine, for example.

> > Only in Westmarche do the Daine count in Mannish
> > fashion:
>
> That's England, I suppose?
No, it's in northeastern Asia, just west of Auntimony.

> > The Dream Language numbers: [...]
>
> Hmm... Celtic impressionism?
>
> > Mentolatian, spoken by a curious people a ways
> > down the coast whose chief occupation is the
> > cultivation and export of medicinal herbs:
>
> Strange, I was always under the impression that Mentolatian was a Romance
> language. Well, clearly Indo-European, but I couldn't say which family. I see
> traces of Italic, Germanic, Tocharian, Indic...
> Please remind me: Mentolatian is also a language of The World, right?
>
> Jan
>
> =====
> "Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Want to chat instantly with your online friends?  Get the FREE Yahoo!
> Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/
--
Not to perambulate                 John Cowan <jcowan@...>
    the corridors                  http://www.reutershealth.com
during the hours of repose         http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
    in the boots of ascension.       --Sign in Austrian ski-resort hotel

Replies