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Re: weekly vocab

From:Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>
Date:Tuesday, April 2, 2002, 20:11
  Aidan wrote:

> I'll start with five (but 10 would put our number above up to 416!), and >if it looks like it will help, I'll continue to do so weekly, and may >upgrade the number depending on popularity and usefulness. > > Here goes: > > 1. birch (the tree) > 2. werewolf / lycanthrope of some variety > 3. to save (money) > 4. to conquer > 5. motif
I admire the discipline, but wonder if I'll be able to keep up. I've tried it before myself and found it difficult to keep inventing words out of whole cloth rather than coming up with them as I need them for translation or original writing. It's the same process of creation, to be sure, but it sometimes feels weird to create a word for, say, "flamingo", when a sentence which would need it hasn't arisen yet. So we'll see. That said, here 'tis for Géarthnuns: 1. birch (the tree): rhtöls (new word; there was already a separate word for "birch bark" [gepírs], in the sense of a prepared medium for writing in ancient times, but no word for the tree itself) 2. werewolf: íuzgatírs (existing word) 3. save (money): (new words here, and there are two) zçéaz (save [money] by accumulating as one would in a bank account) (this word was back-derived from "jaflenzçéats", "(monetary) savings" and taukh (save [money] by buying someting on sale or finding a bargain) 4. conquer: zvaugökh (existing word) 5. motif: brinafsödens (new word: "brins" /brI~s/, one of my fave words (already existing) means "key idea, main point"; "fsödens" (new) means "theme"; so "brinafsödens" literally means "key/main theme". Still, knowing Géarthnuns as I do, I can certainly imagine there being different words for musical motifs (leitmotifs), motifs in painting, and literary motifs, to which the newly created word undoubtedly refers. So let's say "brinafsödens" is a "(literary) motif" and worry about the other ramifications later (though they will most likely involve the prefixed "brina-" (maybe "alü-" ("main"), though up to now it's referred exclusively to people)).

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Aidan Grey <grey@...>