(urth) Grand Unified Theory

[DAVID STOCKHOFF]

It's not easy to decide where to draw the line. Wolfe explains his naming system as little as he possibly can.

On one hand, Hide, Sinew, and Horn are related names---names you might expect from a tribe of cattle herders, for example, because all are cattle parts. They are also related by being materials rather than animals. But not all names follow this pattern, so the familial nature of this group might not be applicable to all names. They may form a system that is limited to them alone.

The simian names are all animals. Fish names are all animals. Both are potentially symbolic. Silk and Chenille are both materials, but one is from cotton and the other is not. 

These names might form a system, but it's hard to see how family relationship is one of them.



--- On Thu, 9/2/10, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
Subject: (urth) Grand Unified Theory
To: urth at lists.urth.net
Date: Thursday, September 2, 2010, 3:39 PM



>Roy C. Lackey- Where does presumed kinship between characters based on name
>associations stop? Where does it start, and how do you decide which are
>relevant and which are not?

Seems to be an individual decision. I find Horn, Sinew, Hoof and Hide sufficiently
associated as inedible beef products and family members to find significance in 
their names.
 
Likewise for the prosimian members of the Ayuntamiento, Lemur, Loris, Potto, Tarsier...
hm..did I forget one? I think there are no Aye Ayes or Sifakas in there...oh isn't there 
a Galago? (thank you internet).
 
So those are the easy ones. Are there some harder ones? The names Silk and Chenille are
related. I think Pig is probably related to Phaea just by name. I'd have to look into Pork 
a bit further. Maybe there is something there. Perhaps something connects characters with 
fish names also. There are so many, many plant and animal names to choose from. Why did
Wolfe pick the ones he picked for the relatively few Vironese characters? Seems silly 
to dismiss all possibility of a connection just because you don't see it right away.
                            
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