CAN YOU SAY "WATER" IN MARTIAN?

par Chesley Bonestell

The indispensable Language Hat has brought another internet gem to my attention: Edmund Griffith's "Remarks on the Etymology of Literary Martian." It's a highly amusing mock-philological essay on various fictional "Martian" languages in literature, ranging from Aleksandr Bogdanov to C.S. Lewis. Griffith cheekily points out different real-world languages authors have used as reference points for their own constructions (C.S. Lewis = Old Icelandic), and maintains an endearing, faux-academic register throughout that tickled this reader's funny bone.

Griffiths' website includes an Infrequently Questioned Answers page that's also worth a peek.

Went down an interesting historico-linguistic rabbit hole today after discovering a proposed etymology for the 'Vandals' (of Sack-of-Rome fame). Basically: Aurvandil is the Old Norse equivalent to Old English Earendel, a name which occurs in the OE poem Crist I and which J.R.R. Tolkien borrowed. In the Crist I context, Earendel is understood to imply John the Baptist. Both Aurvandil and Earendel theoretically developed from a (proposed) Proto-Germanic compound 'auzi-wandilaz' (i.e., luminous wanderer) and are associated with the Morning-star (Morningstar > harbinger > John the Baptist).

Also: Number of English translations of various Medieval works available at In Parentheses Publications. Can't find much information regarding them. Fun to look through, though.