limbs (was Re: Fluency Wish-List)

Matt Pearson <jmpearson@...> wrote:
>
> [concerning Tokana]
> I've never thought about what to do with animals.  I think what I'll
> do is adapt the words for human limbs to four-legged animals:  So
> "nalhie" means "pair of arms" when used of a person, and "pair
> of forelegs" when used of an animal, while "kalie" means "pair of
> legs" when used of a person, and "pair of hind legs" when used of
> an animal.
    All macrofauna on Gladilatia have six limbs, so Gladilatian developed
the following terminology:

hlemet    front leg of a hexaped (or arm of a gladifer)
malet     middle leg of a hexaped (or front leg of a gladifer)
mnolot    hind leg of a hexaped

    Gladilatian does not have gramatical number, but the attribute fsu
means "two", so a pair of front legs would be fsuhlemet.

    When gladifers discovered planets with quadrapeds, they called a quadra-
ped's front leg a malet and its hind leg a mnolot, regarding the hlemet pair
as the "missing" legs.  However, this meant that when they encountered
people, our arms were called fsumalet and not fsuhlemet, even though they
resemble a gladifer's fsuhlemet much more than they do a gladifer's
fsumalet.

 ===========================================================================

             Dennis Paul Himes    <>    dennis@himes.connix.com
             homepage: http://www.connix.com/~dennis/dennis.htm
        Gladilatian page: http://www.connix.com/~dennis/glad/lang.htm

Disclaimer: "True, I talk of dreams; which are the children of an idle
brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy; which is as thin of substance as
the air."                      - Romeo & Juliet, Act I Scene iv Verse 96-99