Re: OT Re: Old French

On Sun, 14 Jul 2002 10:43, Jeff Jones wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Jul 2002 14:42:26 -0400, John Cowan <jcowan@...>
>
> wrote:
> >Jeff Jones scripsit:
> >> Meeya Meefla in the Old South East, the only living city with a
> >> pre-atomic name.
> >
> >I never could figure that damn thing out!  What does C.S. mean by it
> >anyway?
>
> LOL -- "The lovely meaningless name was" /mi.a.mi.fla/.
> Or do you mean the whole story? It's a good one to write a thesis on. I
> myself have never figured out what number "Limaono" is. Or whether any of
> the numbers are supposed to have any significance other than names.
"Limaono" is Lima = Five, Ono = Six, in Samoan and probably other
Austronesian languages; Panch Ashash is Panch = five, ashash = six in Hindi,
I think; Veesey Koosey is Veesey = five, koosey = six in Estonian and
Finnish, though spelt rather better; Trece is thirteen in Spanish; Talatashar
is thirteen in Arabic if I remember correctly; Femtiosex is femtio = five,
sex = six in common scandanavian; etc.  Somehow 5 6 had significance for him,
or he wouldn't've used it so many times.  Precisely what significance I do
not know.

He certainly used some of the other numerical names as signifiers - the Lord
Sto Odin  - One Hundred and One - in "Under Old Earth", was a man who felt he
had lived past his full time of life and service.
>
> While we're on this topic (The Dead Lady, not Old French I mean), I have a
> question for the Chinese experts (if any are reading this):
> Besides being German for beginning, I've always wondered if "Anfang" could
> also be a Chinese word of some kind. C.S. knew Chinese (Mandarin I think)
> as well as German.
Of course he knew Chinese - he was raised there.

Wesley Parish
>
> Well, it's time to let the computer get back to work, while I get in some
> guitar practice.
>
> Jeff
>
> >--
> >John Cowan
> >        jcowan@reutershealth.com
> >                I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin
--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."