Re: CHAT: Conlang and Writers

On Sun, 14 Mar 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:

> Irina Rempt wrote:
> > I don't know (yet) why the Valdyans borrowed a word for such a common
> > and visible thing, and what their own original word was; there must
> > be a historical or religious reason, but I'm not working on early
> > history at the moment.
>
> Perhaps an old taboo?
It's not very plausible when I look at the rest of what I know of
Valdyan history and their mindset; there are very few actual taboos,
and the only word that is never used is the name of the god who was
cast out from Heaven (exceot by his followers). That *would* be a
likely candidate, come to think of it... but he's not a moon-god at
all. Perhaps the old word was very close to his name, and a "safe"
loan was made when people came into contact with the neighbours.

Thanks for putting me on the track!

   Irina

               ira@rempt.xs4all.nl (mailing list address)
                     irina@rempt.xs4all.nl (myself)
     http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/frontpage.html (English)
    http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt/irina/backpage.html (Nederlands)