(urth) Patera Incus

[Mo Holkar]

At 15:02 16/08/2010, Antonio wrote:
>Biological species on the Whorl need not be the same as here. It's 
>perfectly possible for there to be a genetically close relative of 
>gulls there that would merit to have its name translated as 'fulmar'.


Although that is certainly a possibility, it would seem to render 
vain any attempt to infer meaning from any of the character names.

For example, if I was trying to persuade people that Silk was not 
really connected to Tussah, I might hypothesize that on the Whorl, 
tussah moths are not related to conventional silk moths. In fact, on 
the Whorl "silk" might not mean moth caterpillar fibre at all -- it 
might be spun from the soft underfur of nocturnal primates.

Personally, I feel it would be unlike Wolfe to "cheat" by secretly 
departing from Earthly taxonomy in a deliberately misleading way like 
that, in order to obscure an implied name-link: if these hidden 
name-meanings were really intended, they must have been intended to 
be logically comprehensible to the careful (Earth-based) reader.

But that is just my feeling: you could easily be right.

best wishes,

Mo


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