Re: Iltârer Nouns

From: "Tom Tadfor Little" <tom@...>
> ><<Assuming that the collective plural of "bird" also has the
> >archetypal connotation I described (hadn't really considered it
> >specifically), I would imagine it being somewhat more narrow than the list
> >of qualities you mention, according to whatever aspect of "birdness"
> >captured the imagination of the Iltârer people; perhaps a meaning relating
> >to flight and the freedom of living by instinct. That more abstract meaning
> >would tend to apply when the noun was used metaphorically, in the
> >referential case. "a person of birds" might be an Iltârer expression
> >roughly equivalent to "a free spirit" in English idiom.>>
> >
> >     This is somewhat different, though.  It seems like the collective plural
> >here makes an abstract noun out of whatever.  In that case, does it still
> >have to be considered a plural?
>
> I'm probably not entirely clear on this myself. Your questions are helping
> me refine the idea. Thanks!
>
> I think what I'm getting at is that the collective plural is always first
> and foremost a number form of the base noun, but may (for many nouns, but
> not all) acquire a secondary abstract meaning. So a statement like "Birds
> (coll.) are blessed" would convey both a rather literal meaning (all birds,
> actual and imagined, are divinely favored or fortunate) and a more abstract
> meaning (to be like a bird, to have the qualities that are special to
> birds, is a blessed thing).
This reminds me of the IE -ia ending for "forming abstract or collective nouns",
[which is theoretically related to the feminine adjective ending -a and the -a
ending for neuter plurals].

where you'd have sets like Gk. <sophos> 'wise' and <sophia> 'wisdom',
or Latin <Hispanus> 'Spanish' and <Hispania> 'Spain',

only but these seem to start with adjectives instead of nouns; English pairs
like <academy>/<academia> might be more apt.

Right?

> Actually, in Iltârer symbolism, the turtle represents emotional
> reclusiveness, stubbornness, and unwillingness to explore.
As a turtle I can find this accurate.


     *Muke!

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