[tlhIngan Hol] vIlle' pun

De'vID de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com
Tue May 2 03:32:57 PDT 2017


De'vID:
> So is there an etymological relationship between {vIl} (n.) and
> {vIlle'} or not? It seems natural to interpret {vIlle'} as {vIl le'},
> a special {vIl}, but maybe they're independent words and the
> resemblance is a coincidence.

On 2 May 2017 at 10:07, Anthony Appleyard <a.appleyard at btinternet.com> wrote:
> Unless Marc Okrand back-formed {vil} (noun) from {ville'}

Or the other way around.

Out-of-universe, there are 3 scenarios:
1) He wanted a word for "minion", made the "filet mignon" pun, and
back-formed {vIl} from {vIlle'} [= {vIl} + {le'}]
2) He always sees a guy named "Phil" who's just there wherever he is
for random reasons, made {vIl}, thought of the "[Phil]let mignon" pun,
and formed {vIlle'}.
3) They're unrelated.

There's precedent for {vIl} being "Phil". The word {pe'vIl} was named
for twins named Pat and Phil.

In-universe, if a {vIlle'} is a special {vIl}, then perhaps that gives
us some insight into the meaning of {vIl}: someone (or something)
who's always following you around, or just happens to show up wherever
you are, but not for any special reason (like a minion would).

-- 
De'vID



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