Re: Minhyan & the goddess of conlangs

On Sunday, August 29, 2004, at 08:04 , David Peterson wrote:

> Ray wrote:
>
> <<A flag & official bird, if you like (an official flower also) - but
> anthem?
>   In what language will the words be?>>
>
> English, of course: The language that Almighty God speaks.  ;)
Nah - English ain't a conlang.

> I was thinking it'd be like the motto, where it could be translated
> into any language, such that it (like the motto) wouldn't be in *any*
> language, but it could be *conveyed* using any language.
Yes, I'd thought of that. But the mottos don't have to conform to any
metric pattern. Presumably the anthem, in theory, be sung. I suppose it
would be a challenge to compose words that both fit the meter of the music
and conveyed more or less the same meanings   :)

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On Sunday, August 29, 2004, at 08:40 , Joe wrote:
[snip]
> Nonsense.  God speaks Welsh.
Well the Welsh claim that Welsh is the language of heaven, but they are, I
think, slightly biased. The same claim was often made in the middle ages,
both by Jewish & by Christian writers, about Hebrew. I dare say many other
natlangs have been claimed as the language of heaven/God/the gods etc.

In any case, *none* of these languages are conlangs.

> We know this because, Statistically, the
> Welsh have more religious experiences than anyone else.
Where is this statistical data?

> The only reason
> for this must be that it's easier for God to communicate in Welsh.
Why is this the only reason?

Indeed, according to St. Anselm, God is that than which a greater cannot
be thought. I can most definitely think of a being who doesn't need either
English or Welsh or any natlang in order to communicate. If any being
finds it easier to communicate in Welsh (or English) that being certainly
is not almighty.

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On Monday, August 30, 2004, at 02:08 , B. Garcia wrote:

> On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 19:16:30 +0100, Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>
> wrote:
>
>
>> A flag & official bird, if you like (an official flower also)
>
> Well, an easy solution if we want a Greek god would be Hermes,
Who says we want a _Greek_ deity? As I've already pointed out, the Greeks
simply divided the world into two camps: those who spoke a proper,
civilized language (i.e. Greek), and those who didn't. The latter were all
'barbaroi'. A conlang, as far these deities were concerned, would be
another barbarous tongue.

> since
> he was the god of Language.
Not the traditional Greek guy. I guess you're thinking of the "Hermes
Trimegistos" of the Neoplatonists who they equated with the Egyptian
'Thoth'. Now he really was a god of languages; indeed, he was the master
of writing, languages (plural), laws, annals, calculations etc. He acted
as the secretary of the gods, and when the dead were judged he weighed
their hearts. He was the patron of scribes and magicians.

So if a pagan deity is wanted, I guess the  Egyptian 'Thoth' is a suitable
candidate; but the original request, as the subject line shows, was for a
goddess.

> His flower was the crocus, and if we were
> to pick a tree it would be Arbutus (The strawberry tree, A. unedo,
> which incidentally has a close relative in California, A. menziesii).
> His bird was the hawk (if i am correct)
Thoth is normally shown with the head of an ibis (tho occasionally with
the head of a baboon).

But some of us may not go along with either a patron saint (Hildegard) or
a patron deity. It would surely avoid division if any emblems such as bird,
  flower, etc were chosen independently of any patron deity, saint,
bodhisattva or whatever.

Surely the bird has to a parrot - the African Grey is probably the best.

Why the Arbutus? The tree that actually 'speaks' is the Aspen, isn't it?
(called in Welsh "tafod y merched" - girls' tongue [sic] - 'cause it is
always chattering)

Ray
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"A mind which thinks at its own expense will always
interfere with language."         J.G. Hamann, 1760

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