Naming an alien city-

[mary_j_59]

[Poll #1835299]

Comments

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

I like Kassin - it is similar enough to real cities to have a city-like feel for me, I guess, without being too familiar or too odd/hard to pronounce. As far as rendering the name in English, something like Emperor's Landing works, although that one feels just a touch bulky to me. Hmm. Good luck though!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think I like that one, too, for the reasons you mention. The other (small) city in the tale is called Dry Rivers - the Telaka people tend to work that way, naming their places and families for obvious geographical features. The reason I came up with Newport as a name in the first place was a line from A Town Like Alice, when Jean explains to the barrister that Kuala Lumpur actually just means Newport, and that, once you know a language and understand what the names mean, place names are easy to remember. But Kassin can mean Newport without anyone being the wiser, and it sounds a lot more exotic!

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

Hi, Mary!

I think Adenik or Kassin -- I definitely like the exotic-sounding names.
Goodnight!
PS alternatively, you could go with something like "Deep Water" or "Dark Water," to go with "Dry Rivers." Maybe all Telaka towns have names involving water, somehow or other.

-D

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Oh, now I like that water comment! As I said, for now, I'm calling it Alit Harbor, but Deep Water is kind of brilliant. Thank you! )

[anne-arthur.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about Kuala Lumpur! But (having dealt a lot with medieval place names) it is amazing how many places there are called something like New Port/Castle/Market - so I very much like the idea of a place that would have an 'exotic' sounding name like Adanek of Kassin, which could then be revealed to mean something quite prosaic. The only problem is that you would have to do that for all the places, so you would have to give a Telaka version of Dry Rivers as well. And I do like Deep Water (in Telaka, of course)!

All this naming sounds fun. Hope you are enjoying it!

[anne-arthur.livejournal.com]

I mean 'OR Kassin', not 'OF Kassin'!

[amanda mccrina (from livejournal.com)]

I like Kassin, too. Exotic but short and easy to remember. :-)

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

I guess Kassin wins! So that's what it shall be, but I'm calling the city Kassin harbor, not simply Kassin. And I have arbitrarily decided that Kassin means deep in Telaka. Why not?

So now I just have to do a find-replace on "Alit Harbor" in the various April versions - the ePub which I emailed people still has "Alit Harbor".

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Okay - Kassin wins. I'd been going with "Alit Harbor", which I like the sound of, but "Kassin Harbor" can work just as well. Thanks for your input!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Just about everyone who replied likes Kassin, so it will be Kassin harbor. Thanks!