Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by CRConrad 1390 days ago
Knowing nothing about either language as such, the name seems utterly weird: According to Wikipedia, it was created (as "Occidental") in 1922 and renamed to "Interlingue" in 1949. WP also notes: "Not to be confused with Interlingua..." But the linked page for Interlingua says: "Interlingua [...] is an international auxiliary language (IAL) developed between 1937 and 1951..."

So why the heck did they rename Occidental to something that differs by one letter from another language that they must have known about?!? Just totally baffling.
1 comments
leke 1388 days ago
It was renamed from Occidental because some weird group (communist I think) calling themselves something similar and that was being associating with the language Occidentalists.

As for the name change, I think it has a very general meaning, like amongst-language with the e ending being typical for Occidental nouns and the a ending for Interlingua nouns (maybe). Weirdly enough, the name push was by a guy called Ric Berger who was a Occidentalist who moved to Interlingua and probably played a part in naming both languages. BTW, both languages are very similar in vocabulary roots with Interlingua drawing inspiration from Occidental during its development (if I understood correctly).

link
CRConrad 1388 days ago
Ah, I see, thanks.

First thing that springs to mind: So maybe this Berger guy was trying to force or at least encourage a merger?

link
leke 1386 days ago
Yes, I think that is the case. There is a bit more history between Interlingue and Interlingua than I have mentioned, and I think Ric played a part of that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Berger

link