Re: CHAT: Conlang and Writers

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 unusual for taboo words to be replaced
by borrowings, or new coinings.  Just look at how "gender" has replaced
"sex" (in the sense "male or female") in many people's speach, altho I
think that "sex" may also be a borrowed word, but probably older.
Indeed, "sex" itself has replaced whatever the original word for "sexual
relations" was.