Re: My coming out as a conlanger

En réponse à "Douglas Koller, Latin & French" <latinfrench@...>:

>
> I think all there is now in Géarthnuns are marital terms, so there
> are words for "gay husband" and "lesbian wife" for same sex couples;
> likewise there are words for "gay consort to the king" and "lesbian
> consort to the queen" for same sex royal couples. And that will
> probably trickle down (inconsistently?) through earls, dukes, and the
> like. At this point, I don't think there are any other extant words,
> but I can imagine that the notion of the "closet" and terms
> surrounding it may be understood by educated Géarthçins (oh, this is
> how English speakers describe the phenomenon), but it will definitely
> be recognized as an "anglicisme" and there will be a more appropriate
> indigenous term.
>
In a society which seems to accept homosexuality so openly that even
monarchical rulers can be openly homosexual, it would also be considered a
strange phenomenon ("Why do they hide their orientation?" and "Why would people
hate them because of their sexual orientation?"). Or at least I think so. That
would maybe account for the absence of a real indigenous term, the concept
itself being seen fundamentally as foreign (just like Chinese, at first, used a
phonetic borrowing of the term democracy, before developping an indigenous
coinage, since at first they didn't know what the concept of Western democracy
was - not that they were unable to grasp it. It's just that they hadn't ever
thought of it before ;)) -).

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.