Day: April 7, 2017

They’re all Ancient Greek, really, and they’re all Greek star names from Nick Nicholas’ answer to What are all the Greek star names?

• α Virginis: Stachys is “Ear of Wheat”. It’s Aratus’ name, and the established name Spica is its Latin translation.
• ζ Hydrae: Hydrobius (whatever the name’s provenance) is “living in water” (or in Hydra, I guess)
• β Herculis: Kornephoros is supposed to be “club bearer”. The ancient Greek is in fact korynēphoros; mangling of Ancient Greek appears to be routine in my list. Its alternative name, Rutilicus, is also “a corruption of the Latin word titillicus, meaning ‘armpit’.” (Beta Herculis – Wikipedia)
• ε Virginis: Protrygater is “fore-harvester” (referring to the wine harvest). Again, this is Aratus’ name and the established name, Latin Vindemiatrix meaning ‘the grape-harvestress’, is derived from it.

I love my folks, however problematic things have been between us, and I don’t begrudge them their struggles in a strange land, to do the best they could for their kids. (Maybe their objectivity, but not their struggle.)

But what was it like to be raised by immigrant parents?

Defensive.

Don’t assimilate to those drunkards. Remember your heritage. Stick to your own. We have morals. We have tradition. All they care about is horse races and booze anyway. Of course you’re going to make something yourself. No you’re not going to be a musician. No, you can’t date, you must attend to your studies. [The fact that I felt I needed to get permission!] Surely you’re going to want to go back to the mother country one day. What do you mean, “you could never function in a country without a civil service that works like clockwork”?!

Not a negative overall; I like that it’s given me a detachment from both the majority and the minority cultures, it’s a useful thing. But there’s a lot of sex I missed out on as a result…

I’ve answered a closely related question:

Nick Nicholas’ answer to How long would it take an isolated group of people to develop what would be considered their own language?

….

[Lots of provisos, which you must read]

A ballpark figure is going to be closer to between 500 and 1000 years. With all the provisos already given.