Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: weekday names

From: Ivan A Derzhanski <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2000 15:35:40 +0200

Pierre Abbat wrote:
> What are the Chinese names of the planets and the days?

The names of the planets are the same in Chinese and Japanese
(and Korean, I think), modulo phonetic shape. The ones that
are visible to the naked eye are named after the five elements,
the rest have their mythological names translated:

Mer Water-Star
Ven Metal-Star
Mar Fire-Star
Jup Wood-Star
Sat Earth-Star (not to be confused with the Earth)

Ura Sky-King-Star
Nep Sea-King-Star
Plu Nether-King-Star

The days of the week are numbered in Chinese (all except Sunday)
and named after the Sun, Moon and elements in Japanese (and Korean,
as you say).

> As to month names, having some based on gismu and others on lujvo
> is OK by me, since they all end up being lujvo. But sticking
> a fu'ivla "jukrskorpio" in there is ugly.

Indeed. The unavoidable heterogeneity of the lexicon is justified
by the fact that some concepts (eg `fish') are more fundamental
and/or more frequent than others (eg `scorpion'). But all month
names are of equal semantic complexity, so I'd like their names
to be structurally similar to the greatest possible extent.

Adam Raizen wrote:
> [...] for practical purposes this is the system used.
> The reason why it's at all appealing to use the zodiac signs is
> because it's a traditional system that can be translated into lojban.
> The important thing is [...] to give traditional names to the months.

But are those traditional names of the months, as opposed to simply
being a set of, er, conventional signs that are sometimes associated
with the months? Is there a language in which one would say,
literally, that Christmas Day is the 25th of Sagittarius-Month?
(Note that someone born on that date is a Capricorn!)

--Ivan