Re: Elomi!

On 11/21/05, Herman Miller <hmiller@i...> wrote:

>So it might be an interesting or useful exercise to come up with a
>list of some common names (major cities, famous people, or
>whatever)
represented in Elomi, and see if they come out in a >recognizable
form.

Before the languages diverged, Senjecan had proper names for the
physical features of the Urheimat.  Some of them are (hyphens used
to
show morphemes):

ááus-tîîrton, east-ocean - Pacific Ocean
µes-tîîrton, west-ocean - Atlantic Ocean
süool-tîîrton, south-ocean - Indian Ocean

béðrë-môôron, center-sea - Caspian Sea
meÿ-môôron, great sea - Black Sea
mínü-môôron, small sea - Sea of Azov

énter-moor-mêênjon, between-sea-mountain range - Caucasus Mountains
vüeeþ-gúrnë-ÿâzdon, earth-spine-rod - Ural Mountains

As the humans began to apply proper names to countries, Senjecan
developed several ways to handle this, modifying the names to agree
with Senjecan phonology & pitch.  Place names belong to the -an
class,
since they are viewed as abstract concepts.

afrîcan, âsïan, éurôpan, éurâsïan.

Some names are literal translations of the proper name:
beðr-ámlë-rêµan, center-noble-country = China.
ááus-mórßë-ÿêðman, east-border-land = Austria.
cánp-uf-ÿêðman, hyrax-water-land, island of hyraxes, i.e., Spain.
énter-dâân-mïan, between-river-country = Mesopotamia.

Some names are compounds of the name of the people and the suffix -
mïan, meaning "country of":
angêlmïan, bangâlmïan, bavârmïan, bêlgëmïan, boîmïan, botîmïan,
cáledônmïan, dâxmïan, erênmïan (can you guess the countries?).

Some names are merely phonetic renderings:
bárazilïan (initial consonant clusters not permitted), bolîvïan,
bôsnïan, canâdïan, colômbïan, dardânïan (Kosovo).

In ancient times, arâmïan was Assyria.  Today it is the name for
Syria
and Assyria has become sénarâmïan, i.e., ancient Syria.

I am still struggling to find a prefix I can use to designate places
in the Americas.  Maybe "new" would be just as good as any, New
York,
New Jersey, New Hebrides, etc.

Charlie
http://wiki.frath.net/user:caeruleancentaur