{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/493", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "whorl", "thread": { "id": 493, "subject": "Names, animals, and meanings (A)", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "1998-07-28T11:58:22+00:00", "last": "1998-07-28T15:27:54+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "mary whalen", "address": "marewhalen at yahoo.com" }, "date": "1998-07-28T11:58:22+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) Names, animals, and meanings (A)", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This is Sean Whalen (prion).\n\nIt's fairly clear in the Long Sun books that the names of the\ncharacters are meant to have some allusional significance, like the\nCouncillors having the names of lower primates or Silk and Chenille\nboth beings semi-related materials.\n\nHere are some similar comparisons.\n\nAbanja. Arabic, but I can't find a definition. Based on her\npersonality, it might mean crafty, sneaky, secretive.\n\nAer. Irish for air, sky, climate, gaiety, pleasure, tune, and wonder.\n It is a loan word from Greek aer.\n\nAh Lah. The name for Allah in the Writings.\n\nAloe. Any of several kinds of plants, or the dried juice of genus\nAloe used for medical purposes. Perhaps since Aloe is pious, she\nhelps the sick.\n\nA-man. The name for Adam in the Writings. First man, a is first\nletter. He's a man, representing all men. \n\nAquifolia. The holly tree, any plant in its genus Aquifolium, or a\nplant in the its family Aquifoliaceae. From Latin, meaning sharp leaf.\n A girl in Marble's class.\n\nAquila. Latin for eagle, and the name for a genus of eagles which\nincludes many species with feathered feet. This is the name of an\neagle, one of Musk's birds.\n\nArolla. Arolla pine, or Swiss pine. No apparent meaning, might be\nconnected to Orpine, another girl at Orchid's.\n\nAsphodella. Probably asphodel, an herb of family Liliaceae and genus\nAsphodelus or Asphodeline. It is perennial and was thus formerly\nthought to be immortal. One of Marble's girls, a minor figure who\ndoesn't appear to have any meaning connected with her name.\n\nAster. Greek for star. The name of a genus of plants, which usually\nhave flowers resembling a starburst (or what someone would call a\nstarburst). One of Rose's girls.\n\nAuk. (Family: Alcidae). The name comes from Norwegian and Icelandic\nalk, or alka. There are 22 living species of auk, including\nrazorbills, puffins, and murres. They live in the far northern\nhemisphere. They are seabirds; divers who live on cliff tops and\nrocks. They spend much time underwater. They are short, stout, with\nshort thick necks and usually have broad beaks and webbed feet. They\nare usually black and white. They are similar to penguins, but are\nnot closely related to them. Silk says that Auk is a common name\ngiven by mothers who hope their sons will never leave them, as the\nsmall auks on Lake Limna are flightless. On Earth, only the great\nauk, which is now extinct, was flightless. All the small species can\nfly, except when molting, and Auk actually is the first person to fly\naway from the Whorl. Since auks are black and white, this can be a\nsymbol of the mixed good and bad parts of Auk. Mostly black auks\nbecome white in the winter for camouflage, and this could symbolize\nAuk becoming purer in the face of adversity and bad times. Auk\nreminds me most of the razorbill (Alca torda), which is broad and\nlarge (over a foot) with a thick broad bill. It is an auk that\nbecomes whiter in the winter. It lives in the North Atlantic Ocean. \nThe razor part indicates his criminal nature. When Silk first meets\nhim face to face, he feels from his characteristics that Auk is an\nassumed name, and he was originally named Bear or Wolf. He's\napparently wrong, and his brother is Bustard, another bird.\n\nprion" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Kevin J. Maroney", "address": "kmaroney at crossover.com" }, "date": "1998-07-28T15:27:54+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) Names, animals, and meanings (A)", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 11:58 AM 7/28/98 -0700, Prion wrote:\nAh Lah. The name for Allah in the Writings." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Minor bit of detail: \"Al lah\" was indeed originally two words in Arabic,\n\"Al\" (the) and \"lah\" (god). Before Mohammed (bbhn!), the Kabbah was a\nshrine to a goddess known only as \"Al lat\", \"the goddess\". \"Allah\" is not a\nname in the way that \"Jesus\" is a name; it means \"THE God\". \n\nWombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com\nKitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction\nhttp://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html" } ] } ] }