KDE Programs Naming Convention

[Kelly L. Fulks]

Donn wrote:
>>> What does "Dotan" mean?
>> It is the name of a valley in northern Israel, just south of today's Afula.
> Being a name of some other place is not the same as 'meaning'. Or am I wrong?
> 
>> I would prefer that those who find that they do not know the meanings
>> of their names, or the names of their places of residence, answer
>> that.
> Oh, I wasn't asking, just observing my ignorance.
> 
>> in Israel, most of the places have Hebrew,
>> Arabic, or other Semetic names, which are still partially decypherable
>> in everyday speech.
> That's another good point - English stems from a milkshake of older languages 
> and we (I speak of my generation in South Africa) sure as heck did not learn 
> Latin in school, and that's a huge disconnect as far as language goes. I 
> think people in Europe and places that still speak "old" languages (or modern 
> ones with a direct person-to-person link back in time) have an advantage as 
> far as meaning/interpretation goes.
> 
> 
> \d
> 

Now mix all of that English problem up in a country which was settled by
the English, French, and Spanish.  However, throw into that mix a native
culture that already had names for some areas in languages that no
longer are spoken.  Also make it one of the larger countries in the
world by land mass.  Welcome to the U.S. (Canada probably has many of
the same issue however).  When many of our places are named using Native
American (or Indian as we have called them for centuries) names, it is
often difficult to understand the meaning.  Many more are named using
Spanish or French names.  And we like the South African reference
earlier are not taught Latin.

Dotan mentioned "Colorado" in a previous post on this topic.  I had no
idea where that name came from, so went and looked it up.  It turns out
that Colorado means red in Spanish, so I guess if I spoke Spanish it
would have helped.

I will say, however, that this thread is going to make me more aware of
names and their meanings.  I don't know what impact that will have on
the world as a whole, but it has served to open my eyes somewhat.

-- 
Kelly L. Fulks
Home Account
near Huntsville, AL