The Wordsmith's Forge

I first found this article, about the translation of Amazon names, which annoyingly gave only the English versions. Digging further, I came to one with more details about the process. Finally I found one with a few examples: These ancient Circassian names include Pkpupes, “worthy of armor”; Kepes, “hot flanks/eager sex”; Barkida, “princess”; and Khasa, “one who heads a council.”

Then I hit the jackpot with this lengthy discussion of how the translations come together, and a lot more examples, including more about Hot Flanks:
ΚΕΠΕΣ Kepes
Kepes appears to mean “Hot Flanks” or some other lower body part in Circassian. (Note that the name for the state of California originated from Latin for an Amazon queen Califa, cali-forn- hot-copulation). The form would be (West) Circassian
(WC) /kJepe-s/ flank-hot, with /-s/ “hot” often the second element of names even today, where it means literally “hot,” but metaphorically “intense, enthusiastic.” So, “Enthusiastic Sex.” The two stops in WC are voiceless unaspirated, just as kappa and pi were in ancient Greek.

 Article comes with a recording of music played on a replica.

This poem came out of the February 2015 Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from anke. It also fills the "You are my strength" square in my 1-31-15 card for the Valentine's Day Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by lynnoconnacht. It belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem is paired with "The Treasure of Happiness," each revealing how the characters think about themselves and each other, but in mirror images -- there are things they haven't figured out how to communicate yet. They have some rough emotional history which may cause headspace issues for readers who've had similar experiences. The tone of the actual poems is positive, though; these folks are very good for each other.

Spoiler alert! These poems are based on characters Glyn and Ruggiero, created by myself and dialecticdreamer, already introduced elsewhere ... but these are "in the future" compared to what has actually been published as of 2/20/15, and based on some stuff that is still in development. So if you only read series in their internal-chronological order, make a note of these to be read later.

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For some reason Dreamwidth is refusing to post "Flowered Lanes" on LiveJournal so you will have to go read it over there.

This poem came out of the February 2015 Creative Jam. It was inspired by a prompt from anke. It also fills the "You are my treasure" square in my 1-31-15 card for the Valentine's Day Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by lynnoconnacht. It belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem is paired with "The Strength to Persevere," each revealing how the characters think about themselves and each other, but in mirror images -- there are things they haven't figured out how to communicate yet. They have some rough emotional history which may cause headspace issues for readers who've had similar experiences. The tone of the actual poems is positive, though; these folks are very good for each other.

Spoiler alert! These poems are based on characters Glyn and Ruggiero, created by myself and dialecticdreamer, already introduced elsewhere ... but these are "in the future" compared to what has actually been published as of 2/20/15, and based on some stuff that is still in development. So if you only read series in their internal-chronological order, make a note of these to be read later.

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How cold is it here today?  It is four-sparrow cold.

We have a hopper feeder for the birds.  They don't always like to share it.  So on a warm day, it's one sparrow per side, front and back, who will throw a gigantic hissyfit if another bird lands on the feeder.

When it starts to get cold, two sparrows will share the same feeding ledge, at far corners, with an occasional peck and flutter.  They will also cooperate to drive off anything that tries to land between them.

On a cold day, three sparrows will land on the ledge, but they squabble back and forth.

You know it is really frigid  out when there are four sparrows crammed wing-to-wing on each side of the feeder, all stuffing their faces as fast as they can, instead of fighting. 

Also out today were a few mourning doves and a pair of cardinals.