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Re: Consistency in naming (was Re: creating words (was Re: "Language Creation" in your conlang))

From:Isidora Zamora <isidora@...>
Date:Friday, November 14, 2003, 20:57
At 11:11 AM 11/14/03 -0800, you wrote:
>--- Isidora Zamora <isidora@...> wrote: > > > Now the dumb thing is that I always say > > Trehelish, instead of the native > > Trehelo, which could refer to (probably) one > > person, many people, the > > people as a whole, or their language. > > > So I'm not a great one for consistency. > >Plus, you've got at least me thinking of them as >Cwendaso rather than the native name; and >Trehelish rather than Trehelo!
Some of that with the Tovláugad/Cwendaso is that, when I first started talking about them, I honestly didn't know what it was that they called themselves. First I had to decide what the name meant, then I had to translate it into Índumom Tovlaugadóis. Now that I've got that straightened out, I call them Tovláugad fairly often, and will work on doing it with more frequency (although I really hate having to hit alt+shift twice in the middle of typing it.) The Trehelish name for them is perfectly legitamate, as it means "the people of the Cwendas (Mountains)," and that is where they have lived exclusively for the last 400 years. (It's better than calling them "dusklings," which is a racial slur referring to their gray skin color. Any number of Trehelish refer to them as that.) Tovláugad is a better term, though, because it it can be used to refer to them during other historical periods when they did not live in the Cwendas, and it identifies the people with their religious beliefs. As far as "Trehelish" vs. "Trehelo," that is simply a difference in whether you want to use an English andjective/noun or a native one. I got used to using the English version, because the conculture existed for years before I knew the necessary morpheme to make the native term. (And even after I knew the correct morpheme, I didn't think to use it, because I was so used to calling them "Trehelish.") If you want even more confusion, I can try to find out what the Tovlaugadóis is for "Southerner" and start referring to the Trehelo by that name, since the Tovláugad have always called the Trehelo "Southerners." I wonder what the Nidirino call the Trehelo? Probably a lot of things, when they aren't listening. The Nidirino don't necessarily like being under Trehelish rule, but, if they tried to rebel, they'd be slaughtered. The Trehelo are far more numerous. As it is, the Nidirino have at least a small say in the running of the national government and a large say in the running of local affairs. They're the ones who got the religious freedom laws passed quite some time ago, because they weren't willing to accept the presence of Death temples among them nor the lotteries. The religious freedom laws are in effect throughout the entire country, not just in the Nidirino portions of Trehelan. What I am wondering is how Trehelan ended up as a united country and a representative democracy. During the Trehelo Conquest (I really am making an effort to use only the native terms, Padraic, and I hope you appreciate it :) ) and before, the Trehelo were governed more or less by competing warlords, each of whom tried to get the best warriors to swear allegiance to him. The oath of loyalty that was used back then (sorry, don't know the native term, but will need to soon) when a warrior swore allegiance to his warlord is still used today. All Trehelish soldiers take that oath. It's an oath of absolute obedience, and one of the interesting side effects of that oath is that a modern-day Trehelo soldier could, technically, be executed (by torture, even, which is not otherwise a legal means of execution today) simply for disobeying a single order. In practice, though, a soldier would be hanged for dessertion and simply disciplined for any lesser offence. Another interesting fact is that the National Council will soon have good reason to entirely ban the use of the oath outside of the govenrnment, but, at the present moment, Trehelish (I'm going to use the English form here out of native grammatical concerns) law still upholds that oath. If you swear that oath to someone, and then violate it, the person that you swore it to does have the legal right to kill you. This is one of those laws that never got taken off the books, even though it should have. It took a near-disaster of national proportions before the National Council understood why the swearing of that oath to anyone other than the government needed to be made illegal. In any case, Trehelo started out being ruled by competing warlords. The warlords made alliances among themselves in order to become strong enough to begin to conquer the surrounding country. They also built castles and walled cities in the days before the land was subdued. Sovchilen started out as a walled city in a loop of a large river. Sovchilen has grown immensely, and the original walled city is now the Fortress, the headquarters of the Trehelo military. The walls of the Fortress are octagonal, very thick, and go all the way down to the bedrock. I have no idea how many acres are enclosed within those walls; it's a very large enclosure. The Trehelo now reckon their years since the laying of the cornerstone of the Fortress. It's probably in the upper 500's or lower 600's, perhaps a bit higher. I'm not quite certain how they went from being ruled by indepenent warlords to becoming a united representative democracy. The origins of the National Council probably have something to do with independent warlords meeting in councils to decide on strategy, but how you get from there to Councilors being elected by the general population, I really don't know. And Trehelish women vote and hold office, too. Where that came from is something that I can't figure. The Conquest took about 150 years to accomplish, and a lot of cultural shifts took place during and after that era, but how I can't figure. Ideas will be entertained, since I am at a loss. Anyway, I will try to use the native terms from now on, when I know them. Isidora

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>Evolution of governments (was: Consistency in naming)
Isidora Zamora <isidora@...>Evolution of governments (was: Consistency in naming)