Seawrack's Name

David Stockhoff · 16 Mar 2009, 14:23 · from 2009-March.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:23:51 -0400
Subject: (urth) Seawrack's Name
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1237151809.8803.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.1.1237151809.8803.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <49BE60F7.1090804 at verizon.net>

There is also the silkie, an Irish shape-changing fairy who is either 
seal or woman (I think).

It's nothing like seawrack, but then people often end up far from the 
original when they are forced to pick a native word to stand for a 
foreign one. (Technically a "calque," I believe, although that's usually 
a place name, like Leghorn.)

But I like bsharp's suggestion that Horn balked at Sirenia and went with 
Seawrack. Wolfe always follows the rules he invents.


>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:49:28 -0700 (PDT)
> From: John Smith <jsmith2627 at att.net>
> Subject: Re: (urth) Seawrack's Name
> To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
> Message-ID: <675830.65030.qm at web180216.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>
> The only similar-sounding name I can think of is Sycorax, the mother of Caliban in Shakespeare's Tempest.   But that seems like a stretch.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Jack
>
>
> --- On Sat, 3/14/09, b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> From: b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com>
>> Subject: (urth) Seawrack's Name
>> To: urth at urth.net
>> Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009, 4:54 PM
>> I was reading the Short Sun and thinking that we are invited
>>
>> to figure out two things when we are first introduced to
>> Seawrack.
>> One is her real name which is supposed to sound somthing
>> like Seawrack. 
>> I did an archive search and could only find
>> a 2000 post on the topic, from R. Borski, who (typically?)
>> went 
>> overboard with name analysis I think and came up with an
>> Irish 
>> seaweed called "screadhbhuidhe". This just
>> isn't a satisfying 
>> answer for me. Not sure if my attempts are much better but,
>> FWIW:
>>  
>> One guess I had is Sirenia.  It came to me because Seawrack
>> is 
>> described as having some green algae tint in her hair and
>> this
>> reminded me of the undines from BotNS. The undines were
>> several
>> times confused with manatees and Sirenia is the scientific
>> order
>> name for manatees.  _________________________________________________________________
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