Joerg continues to insist on the sanctity of sources wrt something as
frankly trivial as hops. Just goes to show ... something, I guess. Anyhow,
if you want to preserve some validity for a real minor point in a book which
contains deliberate errors and is no more than 85% True, here's how. When
the "translator" of The Composite History of Dragon Pass came across this
word which appears nowhere else in the text (apparently), he checked his
English-Tarshite/Tarshite-English dictionary and found that it meant a type
of herb used for flavoring beer. Now, in the context, the herb is clearly
magical, since it makes beer cold and is _winter-grown_ hops. (Actually,
this sounds to me like a clear lie given to outsiders to throw them off the
secret of the cold-beer herb.) However, the best translation was as "hops."
This sort of thing happens all the time in translation from ancient
texts. Take a look at a scholarly Bible translation, and you'll see
occasional footnotes that say something like "meaning of Hebrew word
unclear." The word was certainly clear to the scribes who wrote it long
ago, it's just that we're unsure of its meaning today.
Sheesh. One of the qualities I most admire in others, and strive
for myself, is the ability to say "I don't have a dog in that fight; I can
live with your explanation."
--Martin Crim