Re: Avon (was "Cafol")

From: BEThexton <bethexton_at_...>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 01:24:20 -0000

• In HeroQuest-RPG_at_yahoogroups.com, Jane Williams
  >
  > "Avon" is a Welsh (and generic Celtic, if you vary the
  > spelling a bit) word meaning "river". So the invading
  > Saxons, Vikings, or whoever asked the locals what that
  > river was called, and, not speaking the local lingo,
  > ended up with a River Avon.
  

This is a fairly universal experience when asking "what do you call this?" with limited shared language. Early french explorers along the St. Lawrence River, trying to ask the Huron indians what this land was called, gestured in the general direction of the nearby village, so were given the Huron word meaning "A group of huts." They wrote that word down as "Canada," and it has stuck ever since.

To get back on topic, I'm *sure* this has happened in Glorantha. There are probably some God-learner namings that made the locals chuckle at the time, but are still in acedemic maps. The lunars may have a few examples of this in the provinces. I'm sure the Trader Princes must have a good number of such namings.

--Bryan