Some interesting bits about Donaldson's vocabulary and entymology:
Ian: Really quick question on pronunciation. How do you pronounce Coercri? I see it as "care-cry" bur am not completely sure... thank you for your time.
__________
As far as I'm concerned, you can pronounce things any way that suits you. But personally, I pronounce it COOR-cree. I was thinking of the French word for "heart" (coeur [sp?]) and added "cry," but I made some mental adjustments while I thought about it.
(02/27/2006)
COOR-cree? I never would have imagined that one. I'm partial to COOR-CRY myself, equal emphasis on both syllables.
Lindsay Addison: Hi Steve,
You've been thanked/praised/blamed many times over for your written work, so assuming that is an understood, I'd like to thank you for your humor and tolerance in responding to questions. I doubt I'm the only one, but I follow the GI as much for a good laugh as anything else.
And so, in a spirit of some facetiousness, but with sincere puzzlement, I would like to ask what the heck did you mean by the word "latias"? I have looked in all concievable sources and have come up empty. This is quite a feat in and of itself, since I've found entries even for roynish (thanks, OED).
For reference, here's the quotation in which it appeared.
"It appeared to be a dwelling of some kind, a tall, open-sided construct planted in the grass. Bare poles at the corners, and at intervals along the sides, supported a latticed ceiling of smaller wooden shafts like LATIAS; and sod had been placed over the lattice to form a roof of deep grass."
(RotE 256, U.S. hardcover)
Help! <G>
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Well, OBviously you didn't consult your Spanish-English dictionary. <grin> Or maybe I made that part up. The text describes "latias" pretty well. A "latia" is a long stick, typically about as thick as a wrist, and as straight as possible, used to support a roof of some kind. Of course, they don't necessarily form a lattice. Usually they're laid side-by-side to form a platform on which roofing materials (sod, leaves, tar-paper, whatever) can be placed. Latias are not uncommon in the US Southwest, even in up-scale homes (they aren't really practical for commercial structures).
(02/27/2006)
I like the emphasis on OB-viously.
So we can conclude that anyone not living in New Mexico has no guarantee that they'll understand anything SRD writes ...
Anyway, I always thought Latias was
However, I now see that sticks are a better choice for building.
.