Forum Home > Myst Universe > Negilahn animal names | ||
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Member Posts: 96 |
The D'ni Negilahn Introduction Pamphlet, regarding “Negilahn, home of the infamous ‘tarpin shal’ and ‘bezol pumi’," says the following about the latter animal:
. “Pumis hunt in packs and often eat the babies of Negilahn's other inhabitants. Pumis will prey on sick, small, or weak adults much larger than them. Pumis like to jump from tree to tree so you'll have to be quick. . “See if you can find what likes to eat pumis. We'll give you a hint: they eat very slowly and live high in the trees.”
Recently Cyan released some concept art that deals with the animals and plants of Negilahn, including the following with the caption “negilahn monkey eating plant”: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tcmaayc614k1nrk/AAB8hFAi5MGZVgi2vDWd1qgza/Negilahn/eating%20plant.jpg Some of these plants can be seen from the museum pod, attached to trees, and so it seems likely that this is the unnamed organism that “likes to eat pumis.” This in turn suggests that the bezol pumi is in fact what the zoologists call the ‘two-tailed monkey’.
Earlier reasoning was (I believe) that since the monkeys are never seen in packs they are unlikely to be the pumi. But of course this is somewhat circumstantial — no animals in packs are seen from the pod, so it follows that the packs of pumi avoid the pod (or its location), but individuals might still wander near it now and then. What then does bezol mean? | |
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Site Owner Posts: 381 |
More rigorously, it only follows that they don't hunt near the pod, but then again, has anything really been seen? Is there an image of the 'two-tailed monkey'? Chances are, D'ni naming systems are somewhat like ours, and bezol will be an adjective describing the monkey. | |
-- Moula KI: 00005310
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Member Posts: 160 |
There is an image of the monkey here (they call it panuhdoy, though). | |
-- 46116 — D’ní notes – Fonts – Goodies
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Site Owner Posts: 381 |
Could be anything, then. | |
-- Moula KI: 00005310
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Member Posts: 160 |
There is also this chart from the GoG. | |
-- 46116 — D’ní notes – Fonts – Goodies
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Site Owner Posts: 381 |
This also claims that the monkeys are the pahnudoy. Is this actually from the DRC, or is that stamp there just to make the chart look mroe authentic? | |
-- Moula KI: 00005310
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Member Posts: 160 |
It’s more likely a modification of the original chart, by the GoG. It looks like panudoytee (or pahnudoytee?) have been associated with the monkeys for a long while, without actual confirmations. It could also be that what the chart names pumi is actually the tarpin shal (it “drops down on an unsuspecting animal below it” ). | |
-- 46116 — D’ní notes – Fonts – Goodies
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Site Owner Posts: 381 |
If that's so, then the oochah pahrah might be a cocoon of sorts, since the gahtsai seems to be a ground-dwelling, slug-like creature (think caterpillar > butterfly, maybe?). Incidentally, I find it unlikely that the chart has the nerim and reepah labels the right way round, as reepahtee eat nerimtee. With some of the longer names, we could try to break them down into likely morphemes, on the off-chance that Rawa gives us more words. For example, tarpin might be the -in participle of a verb *tarp. pahnudoy looks likely to break down as pahnu-doy or pahn-nudoy. | |
-- Moula KI: 00005310
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Member Posts: 96 |
What the pamphlet says about the panuhdoy is as follows: “If you get the chance to see a ‘panuhdoy’, you'll know why it has the name it does. That's all will tell you.” This could be a sort of linguistic puzzle. I think that the solution might be that panuhdoy is a compound formed from the roots of the words pahn + nuhdah + doyhah. The verb pahn means ‘trust’ and the noun doyhah means ‘machine’. The stem nuhdah occurs in Gehn’s journal in the abstract noun nuhtdahtahv, which I’ve suggested might mean ‘disaster’, but another possibility is ‘hazard’. It seems to have something to do with the unexpected danger that harmed Gehn’s workers.
This compound could refer to the monkey-eating plant, since the combination of ‘trust’ and ‘hazard' could yield the idea of trapping or snaring an unexpecting victim, and ‘machine’ could refer to the plants triggering mechanism — probably hairs on the inner part of the flower. I wonder if tarpin shal is actually this: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tcmaayc614k1nrk/AAAoQVMkPEL_tUpo23OVTY9Sa/Negilahn/drop%20claw%20copy.jpg
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Site Owner Posts: 381 |
I like your analyses, Khrees! | |
-- Moula KI: 00005310
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Member Posts: 96 |
If the "drop claw" is the tarpin shal, then perhaps shal means something like 'extending'. Note that shafee 'span' is a unit of length (about 13 feet). On the identity of the reepah with the "gorilla" the following adventure Rils reported having with members of the DRC seems to confirm this: http://drcarch.thecitadel.nl/communication/transcripts/the-pods/rils-reports-on-the-expedition/ | |
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Member Posts: 30 |
I suspect the panuhdoy is the largest of the animals on the chart, which none of the other descriptions fit except the nerim, but nerims are prey for reepahs. If the doyhah etymology is correct, perhaps the panuhdoy resembles a kind of machine. | |
-- Talashar Geltahn; Ki 183867 An overview of D'ni grammar | My books
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