(urth) Ouen's Catherine

[Jeff Wilson]

David DiGiacomo wrote:
>> Only after being questioned did Ouen say that her name had been Catherine.
>> Can you hear the difference in spelling between the spoken "Catherine" and
>> "Katharine"? I can't, and I don't think Severian could either.
> 
> What language are they speaking?
> 
> I always thought of it as future Spanish, in which case there might be
> more of a difference between, say, Caterina and Katarina (the latter being
> a foreign name).

Possible; what is "G.W."'s reasoning for using Latin in the text, again?
The passage where the ambiguity of English is ridiculed indicates they 
aren't speaking English, nor the similarly ambiguous Hebrew, nor 
Chinese-descended logograms to write with.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >