Re: Polynesian and South American place names

From: Jacques Guy (jguy_at_alphalink.com.au)
Date: 08/29/04 

Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 11:07:21 -0700

Cross-posted to sci.lang, so they too can enjoy
gazing at what we write on sci.archaeology now and
then. It's not all digging and flaming.

It warms my heart to see that I am not the only one
to support UG (Universal Geography), backing it
with compelling arguments.

Philip Deitiker wrote:
>
> Jacques Guy <jguy@alphalink.com.au> says in
> news:412EF30E.4D16@alphalink.com.au:
 
> > "mama-san"? So there you are. Rant positive.

Too much has been snipped. This is what I wrote:

"And the Japanese word for mountain is "yama", which
ends in "ma", which in most language means "mother"
which in French is "mère" which is clearly derived from...
ask Ted Holden. All right, I'll tell you: Mt Meru.
Fascinating, isn't it? I'll tell you more: in Japanese
a mountain is suffixed with "san". Ever heard of a
"mama-san"? So there you are. Rant positive."

This clarified, I continue with Phil Deitiker's post:
 
> I would urge some caution careful in rushing to judgement in
> this specific regard.
 
> Taseko means fast-flowing-lake in Japanese, it runs into the
> river that comes from Chil-ko which in Japanese would be
> something like blood lake or lake of death. Enchiniko "[one]-
> two"-lake. Naniko "What-what"-lake. And many more.
 
> See if you can find the locations of these lakes.

I found two. There is one Taseko Lake in British Columbia,
which, as we all know, is the Japanese province between
Hokkaido and Morobe. And one Chilko Lake again in British
Columbia. That's two pieces of evidence that British
Columbia is a Japanese province. If I were a Piraha
Injun I'd even say, not just "two", but "many".

I don't have a Japanese atlas. If I had one I would
probably see "ko" spelt with the Chinese character
for "lake" which is pronounced hu2 in Mandarin, and
ko in kango (a.k.a. Sino-Japanese). Nothing to do
with ko "child" which is a native Japanese word.

Oh ***, sorry, I was digressing, please ignore
the above paragraph. It's only a dreadful slip
of the pen. It can happen to anybody. My
apologies again. Let me continue.

The third piece of evidence (which, being Piraha,
I would call "infiniteth") is Euchiniko Lake, again in...
you've guessed it. Not "Enchiniko", but Euchiniko.
I even found a ... er... what comes after "infiniteth"?
Ah yes "Langendoeneth" (wink, wink). A Langendoeneth
piece of evidence: Nanika Lake, in... yes indeed.

As my eminent colleague has rightly pointed out,
"ko" means "lake" in Japanese. More proof, but alas,
as I cannot imagine what comes after "Langendoeneth",
and there is no Siberian ant about to prompt me,
I'll reluctantly cut my demonstration short.

Only allow me to add that "kai" means "sea". In
Japanese (well, in the same Japanese as in
which "ko" means "lake"). But, wait for it...
"kai" means "food" in Polynesian. The sea
as a source of food, the semantic shift is
natural.

Ah, the wonders of True Toponymy!

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