War (obs.) (was: This morning)

>On Sat, 15 Sep 2001 03:02:15 -0700, SuomenkieliMaa <suomenkieli@...>
>wrote:
>
>>PS. Tough conjuring up a word for enemy, I admit!
>>This, because my conculture for Vya:a:h -- in the
>>distant galaxy called "Vaa:vy'yy" ["vaa:" means
>>"scared" and "vy'yy" means "unity", made up of "vy"
>>(for "one" or "#1") and suffix "-yy" (meaning similar
>>to "-ness")] -- is supposed to be an 'enlightened'
>>society of human-like creatures who live at all costs
>>in peace.
The Kash (and certainly not the Gwr) in my conworld are no more
"enlightened" than anyone else, but they too live in peace.

And Herman Miller wrote:
>Would they have historical records of past wars? Or fiction dealing with
>the subject? Perhaps wars are such a distant memory that they really don't
>have a need for the word "enemy". The Zirien people have extensive
>memorials to the victims of past wars (which came near to exterminating
>their entire species). The word for "war" ("juâ:ç" in Simîk / Zírí:nká) is
>one of the few obscene words in the Zirien languages. Yet war has been
>obsolete on the Zirien homeworld Rieshai for centuries (perhaps millennia
>-- I haven't worked out the chronology). They have the advantage of being
>in an isolated, hard to reach, strategically unimportant location. All they
>know about war comes from reports from other worlds and their many
>well-preserved historical records.
Exactly the case on Cindu.  Approx. 1000 years ago (about 760  in their
years) the planet had achieved a level of technology roughly comparable to
Earth, ca. 1950, mainly due to the Gwr.  Their two principal nations got
into a US/Soviet-style competition that led to a conventional war of several
months duration.  But each had about 100-plus primitive (and dirty)
nuclears, and on the last day these were unleashed.  The Kash refer to this
episode as _e acakrum_ 'The Destruction.'
Aside from a few minor Gwr states that had not been involved, their society
and culture were destroyed and did not recover for centuries.  Other
results:  1/2 their population ultimately died; the Kash became the majority
and had to take on political and technological control and guidance, for
which they were ill-prepared, though it seems they have coped pretty
well.....

>Still, a word for "enemy" ("tâu"), removed from the context of war, is one
>the Zireen still find useful -- mainly in the context of disease. Zirien
>have some of the best medical technology in the galaxy, but even so,
>disease is a powerful and often deadly enemy.

Yes, such words still exist in Kash and Gwr languages, shifted to more
benign meanings.   So far, the worst medical affliction of the Kash seems to
be "avos", in which large patches of fur fall out.  Slightly contagious,
difficult to cure, but mostly just highly embarassing-- "the heartbreak of
avos".