Tuesday 24 March 2020

Star Wars in Anglish

See here for essential background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2017/06/anglish.html.
Somebody has taken it upon themselves to translate the script of Star Wars into Anglish, quite a task. They have so far done Episode 4 and 5 which they call A New Hope and The Rich Strikes Back. From reading it I have learned that there are different types of Anglish. Because it is a constructed language created by a large group of people online, there is no standard form of Anglish or any official academy that directs what the language should be. For example, the script uses the word starset for "galaxy"; but I have seen other Anglish Moot members using the words starswirl and milkway. All three are correct in that they are made up of Anglo-Saxon words; this is the only criteria required for the word being entered into the Anglish Wordbook (dictionary). You will see the word rich used many times in the script. This does not mean the same as it does in English; for that use geldy or wealthy. It means "empire". It counts as one of the constructed words of Anglish; it was invented to be hypothetically what word might have been used had not English adopted Normanisms and other foreign loanwords. It is related to the words reich (German) and rijk (Dutch) which are both West Germanic languages that do not share English's foreign influence. Rich is a word English might have had if it had the same purely Germanic roots. Others use ryke. Star Wars generates a challenge for the translator because it is a space fantasy with many science fiction elements which includes some that are unique to the story. Words like "droid" which is a kind of intelligent robot. The writer uses manhew. I have also seen wileman, sparkman and sparkthrall for "robot". The first line in the script comes from the C3PO character: Did you hear that? They've shut down the kiln. In this case kiln is the word chosen to mean "reactor" as in the power source for the spaceship; even though it has a different literal meaning in English, a device for heating clay to turn it into chinaware. Source: https://anglish.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wyes.

Two different kinds of Anglish are known as "Greater Anglish" and "Mean Anglish". Greater Anglish is stricter and more conservative; there are even Moot members who write it in runes or the Old English alphabet, a script today only used by Icelandic which includes many letters lost from English and the other Germanic languages. Mean Anglish permits words like Americkland for "America" while Greater Anglish insists on Markland or Westland. They even translate some personal names literally. Napoleon Bonaparte is called Newtonlee Goodshare. The influence of Greater Anglish is in the Star Wars script because they have changed Han Solo's name to Han Lone. The translator has assumed that the character's second name means the same as the musical term for a performance by a single player or instrument; which is recently borrowed from Italian. Seeing as the character lived a long time ago in a galaxy far far away that is hardly likely. The etymology of his name must be something totally different. The translator is being pedantic here. As regular readers know, I am very much opposed to linguistic engineering, but I don't think Anglish is a serious attempt to do that. The Anglish Moot members clearly like the idea of English remaining pure and not adopting foreign words which it is has done so much in its history, but I don't think they seriously intend to impose Anglish on the global Anglosphere. It's just a thought experiment; a bit of fun. I understand their sentiments however, despite my insistence that language should always be left to change naturally. When writing or speaking Welsh I try to avoid the many loanwords Welsh has, almost as many as English. For instance I invented a term: PNH- Peth Nid wedi nabod yn Hedfan. This is a literal but probably inaccurate translation of "UFO- Unidentified Flying Object", for an example of how I use it see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2019/03/pentyrch-three-years-on.html. All other Welsh speakers I've seen discuss the subject simply say: "UFO". Maybe a Welsh equivalent of Anglish is not a bad idea. The French are already doing just that. A French football commentator on TV got into trouble for using the word le goal, which means "goalkeeper"; but it is a borrowed word from English, part of the multitude of Franglais which irritates linguistic conservatives in the Francosphere. The TV company commanded the man to use the indigenous term le guardian in future. So I can see both sides of this argument and I'm not sure what the right thing is to do. Anyway, may the Thrake be with you!

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