Letters From a Friend

by moviemaster8510

Moon 3063, Day 19

Okay, Mr. Cray,

I must say that I too am alarmed by what is happening. I mailed my last letter hoping to catch the foals I thought were doing this in the act, but as I went to get the letter from my mailbox and give it to the mailpony personally, I saw your letter in its place. I’m certain I didn’t hear anyone go by during that time, so there’s no way it could have been taken unless… Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself, and forgive me for being blunt, but… are you an extra-terrestrial trying to contact me?

Comments

[Yutah123]

are you an extra-terrestrial trying to contact me?

Isn't "extra-terrestrial" a word for alien things as from the viewpoint of Earth, and not Equestria? Yeah, see this:

Extraterrestrial: "originating, existing, or occurring outside the earth or its atmosphere" — Merriam-Webster

Personally, I think that extra-Equestrian or something of that sort would fit better.

[PaintedPony]

Nah, all planets use a term for "earth" in their language unless they're ocean dwellers then they'll use some form of "sea" or "ocean." "Terra" is simply Earth or Land in Latin and has been translated into "English" from its ancient Equestrian equivalent. I'm sure there is a Pony equivalent of "Rome." Twilight is just showing off her education. In the past ALL well educated people read and wrote Latin and Greek. Many native Peoples in their language called themselves "The People." It's self referential. Another tribe can't tell the first tribe that they can't refer to themselves as "The People" because they are the "The People." So "Terra" is going to be correct in world. This holds true unless the planet has been colonized through space travel, then of course they have to name it something else to differentiate it from the 'original' "Earth." It's simply a descriptive term. Don't worry about this when two different worlds/universes can read each other's "letters?"

[Georg]

9087810 Yeah, I always love the aliens who say "Your world is named Dirt? Really?"

[Drachos]

9089478
9087810

While most languages Earth=dirt or Earth= Ground, their are exceptions.

Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese languages come from a Middle Chinese Word that means "Earth Ball."

Barsque, which is the oldest language in Europe it also translates to Snow. The language is believed to origininate in Ice Age Europe, so the difference between "Snow" and "ground" was less clear.

Many Hebrew and Arabic managed to name the world, "Land" instead of "Dirt" which is a vast improvement.

But most importantly, the Turkish literally translates to "The Globe" and has no connection to the word dirt at all. The Yoruba language also developed a word separate from 'dirt' for Earth, but it means all sorts of things: world, globe, condition, state, time of life, time, reign.

So I am leaving that alone.

What I find really interesting is that a quick google tells me that these nations developed their language choices under very specific circumstances. The Turkish case comes from the Ottomans changing their language and adopting phrases from the Islamic influence of their neighbours. The word Dünya that the Ottomans adopted means in Arabic either "The Life in the World" or "The Universe" depending on context.

The Yoruba language on the other hand its harder to trace the origin of their non-dirt Earth, however Ife, which is the city the language comes from is...strange.
As in according to their myths the gods literally created the land that their city would be on first, then the rest of the world, and they literalty have no history, myth or otherwise of existence before that city.

This implies to me that for a civilization to have the word change from a word including dirt, the civilization must want to modernize everything to mirror a neighbor. Its a choice the civilization makes to separate the words at a political level rather then something that happens naturally.

As such, for example I can see a race such as the Vulkan's going, "Wait....you didn't choose to separate Dirt and the name of your planet? Why not? Thats such a primitive tribal idea."

Also the Norse are worth mentioning with Midgard, which has nothing to do with Dirt, and actually seems to mean "inhabited." HOWEVER if you consider Religion and politics similar, then this doesn't challenge the theory I have concocted. It takes someone or something to want to influence people away from the idea that "Ground is dirt....why don't I just call ground, dirt."

[Write Pillar]

Finally we're getting somewhere.