[XeTeX] Persian verus Farsi

[Kamal Abdali]

Petr,

There is nothing wrong with names changing gradually as words in every
language change over time. But one is naturally concerned if the renaming is
needless, sudden, and suspected to be politically motivated, e.g., by the
decision of foreign governments or groups.

Names are a very sensitive matter. Just look at the large number of
countries and cities that have been renamed in the last 30 or so years:
Burma -> Myanmar, Ceylon -> Sri Lanka, Rhodesia -> Zimbabwe, Basutoland ->
Lesotho, Bombay -> Mumbai, Madras -> Chennai. The new names were adopted by
popular demand because the older names were thought to have been introduced
by colonizers, occupiers, ruling elites, etc.

Kamal Abdali

On Sun, Jun 12, 2011 at 18:14, Petr Tomasek <tomasek at etf.cuni.cz> wrote:

> > There doesn't seem much to worry about Persian (or any other language)
> being
> > called differently in different languages. The cause for alarm is if a
> > particular language is suddenly and deliberately renamed by some group.
> In
> > English the subject language has been called "Persian" for centuries. So
> it
> > should be of concern that the Foreign Language School administered by the
> US
> > State Department calls it "Farsi"!
> >
> > Kamal Abdali
>
> What's wrong with it? It's natural that names do change and there
> doesn't have to be any "political" reason for that...
>
> --
> Petr Tomasek <http://www.etf.cuni.cz/~tomasek>
> Jabber: butrus at jabbim.cz
>
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