Re: Erliansaurus etymology

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mortensen, Bruce" <bruce_mortensen@Affymax.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 6:30 PM

> > > Nei Monggol
> >
> > Menggu.

In Chinese. The syllable mong happens not to exist, so the similar-sounding
(because somewhat nasal) meng is taken, and gol doesn't exist because
syllables aren't allowed to end in l. "Monggol" appears to be sort of
dumbed-down to make it easier to understand for Westerners... Nei Menggu
Zizhiqu translates as Inner Mongolian Self-Governing Area.

> A point of correction:   Erliansaurus is named after the town that
> appears on English maps as Erenhot, which in Chinese is called Erlian.

Oh. Many thanks.

> Hohhot (pronounced Hoo-heh-how-teh by my Chinese friends),

(Huhehaote in the Pinyin transcription.)