Renaming tezenki to terZ2mja (was Re: RFC: Renaming 3B to Tezenki)

----- Original Message -----
From: Benct Philip Jonsson <conlang@...>

> Paul Bennett skrev:
> > What do you think, though, of "Tezenki"? Does it have the
> > right sound for a language located vaguely at the north-
> > west shore of the Caspian Sea?
>
> Sure, but where does the _-ki_ come from? Is it and
> adjective ending?
With hindsight, it seems like my subconcious was modelling it on the
Dagestani, Azerbaijani, Uzbeki
model, with an ethnonym of Tezenk and an -i suffix for the adjectival
form.

It doesn't appear in the "etymology" because the latter was hastily
retconned as a possiblity.

See my other post, though: I have decided I like the etymology more
than the purported reflex, and
have more or less decided (my feeling is getting stronger through the
day) to derive a new modern
form from it. See below for more...

> > Does it have any possibly unfortunate meanings or
> > similarities?
>
> Not that I know of. But then how much need you care about
> such things? The Swedish word for 'edge' is /kant/ but we
> use it happily anyway! I'd care only about associations in
> the lang itself.
I'd care somewhat about unfortunate homonyms in Russian, for sure,
since that could lead to a
Russified euphemistic name for the people/area/language. The other
surrounding languages, I'd be more
curious than concerned about.

> > Alternatively, what do you think about retooling it to
> > match the PIE etymology above? At first glance, that might
> > give "Terzemia" for the region/nation/SSR, with an - n for
> > the adjective, which isn't that cacophonous over all, but
> > somehow gives me a Bad Feeling.
>
> What would be the native form of the name? For some
> reason it seems to me kind of appropriate or realistic if
> a Russification as opposed to a native name be somewhat
> cacophonous! So if "Tersemija" is a Russification I say
> go for it!
After more thought, I get the feeling it might become terZ2mja in an
early-modern stage and maybe
become tel zjemli (i.e. "Tel Ground~Land~Earth", AIUI) under Russian
influence[*], leading to the use
of Tel as the ethnonym for at least the 19th and 20th centuries. A
renationalization effort could
plausibly happen in the late 20th and early 21st...

[*]Is mjV -> mljV just a Ukrainian thing, or is it also Russian?

On the same topic as that footnote, is 2 -> jo -> je a plausible chain
under Russian influence?


Paul

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