Re: Re: Gloranthan Place-Naming (Slightly less OT)

From: donald_at_...
Date: Wed, 21 May 2003 21:41:52 GMT

In message <3ECBC424.D5529F20_at_...> James Frusetta writes:

>True; the Siebenburgen are interesting mostly because the 3 different names are
>all used/known simultaneously by locals for "where do we live," not "what do we
>call that stupid place we don't live in." (And, I've seen in conversations, a
>Saxon speaking Romanian will use the Romanian term, but the German term when
>speaking German...)

The same exists in Wales, many places have both an English and Welsh name. Welsh speakers tend to use the Welsh name whereas English speakers usually use the English one. There seem to be four different possibilities:

1. The place is too insignificant to have an English name so the English have to struggle with the Welsh one.
2. The Welsh name is sufficently pronounceable by English speakers for a minor recognisable varient to be adopted (Carnavon for Caernafon).
3. Two completely different names exist such as Mold (I can't remember the Welsh).
4. The place never had a Welsh name so the English name is adopted.

>Which makes me wonder -- is that common in the Lunar Empire? Do different
>peoples within the Empire have different names for it -- Dara Happans, for
>example, stressing the mythic and historic links to the ancient Obnoxious Solar
>empire and such, having a "Dara Happan" name for the empire, etc.? (Non-Lunars
>have many names for the LE, most obscene).

It almost certainly happens in some parts of the Lunar Empire. Which ones will depend on lingusitic details which are far too esoteric for this list.

>One other potential game plot: in a town I used to live in -- Blagoevgrad, named
>for Dimitur Blagoev (doyen of Bulgarian Communism) -- the town largely decided
>to keep the new name, even if Communist, because the old name, Gorna Dzhumaja,
>meant "High Mosque" (and not greatly loved by Orthodox, Turk-loathing
>Bulgarians).
>
>So perhaps at least one Lunar renaming in Sartar *does* stick -- "Hey, the
>Lunars don't call our village "Broo Spawn Lake" anymore! Let's keep the new
>name, even if it is "Spinning Blade Pinning Wind:!"

I'm not sure that the Lunars will get round to renaming every village. Cities and towns probably yes, although corruptions of local names will be more frequent than completely new ones. Of course the Lunar cartographers may find the locals taking the piss - there must be a Lunar map of Sartar showing the equivelent of Llanfair P.G. [1] - the longest place name in Britain.

[1] that's the abbreviation.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/