Etymology/meaning/onomatopoeic aspects of the word "Urth"

Andy Robertson · 24 Apr 2008, 21:32 · from 2008-April.txt.gz

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From: andywrobertson at clara.co.uk (Andy Robertson)
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:32:49 +0100
Subject: (urth)
	=?iso-8859-1?q?Etymology/meaning/onomatopoeic_aspects_of_t?=
	=?iso-8859-1?q?he_word_=22Urth=22?=
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[ISO-8859-2] Pavel Baki? writes: 

> A question for the first-language speakers out there: We have a discussion
> going on concerning a proper rendering of the word "Urth" into Czech, and
> would appreciate any comments concerning the connotations the word has for a
> native speaker, apart form the obvious "Earth". An existing translation of *The
> Shadow of the Torturer* has "Urzem.", which translates literally as
> "Ur-Earth" (without the repetition of the "r" phoneme or the
> "vowel-consonant[s]" syllable structure, of course). 
> 
> I *did *search for previous threads concerning the topic, but the fact of
> the archive-site being itself called Urth made it somewhat difficult.

To add to what's been already stated: there's another pun in the 
Urth/Skuld/Verdandi triad of names.  We learn from Vodalus in the wood that 
Verdandi (Mars) was called "The Gift" by the dawn-men who first went there.  
But gift=present and Verdandi is the norn of the present, as Skuld of the 
future and Urd of the past.  So the pun is on the double meaning of 
"present" in English.  I wonder if this can be carried over to other 
languages? 


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