[86339] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: News from Maltz
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Trimboli)
Tue Jul 28 12:08:06 2009
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:05:30 -0400
From: David Trimboli <david@trimboli.name>
In-reply-to: <973458.64468.qm@web82601.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Terrence Donnelly wrote:
> --- On Tue, 7/28/09, David Trimboli <david@trimboli.name> wrote:
>
>> Lieven Litaer wrote:
>>
>>>> 1) The noun {vIlle'} means something close to
>> "minion". [The word
>>>> in English is often used to refer to a loyal or
>> even fawning
>>>> servant of someone who is typically considered
>> powerful. Compare
>>>> with "henchman", who has the same general job but
>> is usually a
>>>> mercenary.] From wikipedia, I see that a minion is not the
>> same as a henchman.
>>> Maybe not intended, but when you read {vIlle'}
>> backwards, it sounds
>>> like "élève", french for "student". Not only one
>> being taught in
>>> school, but also like a minion. (maybe just a
>> coincidence?)
>>
>> My guess is that it sounds like "villain," which is the sort of
>> person who nearly always has minions.
>>
>
> Also, wasn't there an old English word "villein" that meant something
> like servant or minion?
You're right, that's it. A villein was a low-class farmer, just one
step above a serf. It's also the linguistic source of the word "villain."
--
SuStel
tlhIngan Hol MUSH
http://trimboli.name/mush
