SPAM%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (07/09/83)
From: David A. Boulton <SPAM @ MIT-MC> I think you folks are really stretching for this one. First, the greek root AN- does mean 'not' or 'without', but the word ANA means 'up', or sometimes 'on top of', 'apiece', or 'again' (and probably several others). Secondly, 'kin' goes back through Anglo-Saxon to the Gothic 'kinu' meaning 'related to' or 'produced'. It is fairly rare that such completely unrelated roots end up in the same word (of course Lucas is free to do whatever he wishes, but to my ear it just does not sound "real"). How about -KIN as a diminutive suffix (from the greek -CHEN) ? Do any of those possible combinations make sense? I don't see any strong contenders. If you do take -KIN to be 'close relation' or 'to produce', then the most sensible meaning is 'AGAIN-FATHER', echoing his previous 'shadow' existence as Darth Vader 'DARK-FATHER'. ANA- meaning 'again' is not unknown in English, for example 'Anabaptist'. Why does Anakin have to 'mean' something? Lucas threw in some very nice hidden jokes, but why do people try so hard to make everything allegorical? A lot of other interesting names and words in SW have known derivations (e.g. R2D2 and Wookie), but the don't \symbolize/ anything. Let's hear it for Webster's 2nd Unabridged! -- Spam
silver@emory.UUCP (07/14/83)
What are some of the 'known derivations' of SW names? .: