[Ads-l] Earliest Use of "Live Long and Prosper"

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 9:50 PM, Geoffrey Steven Nathan wrote:
>
> Of course, 'Live long and prosper' antedates Okrand's Klingon by several
> years, because Okrand wasn't employed to create Klingon until the first
> movie, which came out in 1979. The Spockian line was in the original
> series, which ran from 1966-69.

To nitpick further, Okrand didn't work on ST1. He developed Vulcan for
ST2 (1982) and Klingon for ST3 (1984).


> According to my usual W-flavored source for this kind of trivia, it was used
> in the episode Amok Time, which was written by Theodore Sturgeon (a
> ranking SciFi writer of the fifties and sixties).
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -------------------=
> ----
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Earliest Use of "Live Long and Prosper"
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ----
>
> Sounds right.  A local language to the Berkeley area, just requiring a =3D
> bit of time travel.  I should have noted that Klingon, unlike Vulcan, =3D
> would be among the *least* likely languages to have an expression =3D
> corresponding to "Live long and prosper", unless it was one that only =3D
> occurred in the scope of negation. =3D20
>
> LH
>
>> On Feb 16, 2016, at 7:44 PM, Geoffrey Steven Nathan =3D
> <geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU> wrote:
>>=3D20
>> According to Okrand's Wikipedia entry, he was working on Mutsun, a =3D
> dialect of Ohlone (a.k.a. Southern Costanoan).
>>=3D20
>> For other reasons I had occasion to look this up yesterday. Apparently =
> =3D
> it's the most widely spoken artificial language, according to an article =
> =3D
> someone sent me yesterday.
>>=3D20
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On =3D
> Behalf Of Laurence Horn
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 7:36 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Earliest Use of "Live Long and Prosper"
>>=3D20
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header =3D
> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Earliest Use of "Live Long and Prosper"
>> =3D
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
> -----
>>=3D20
>>> On Feb 16, 2016, at 5:47 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>> =3D3D20
>>> I recall from one my Vedic classes, there is an ancient Sanskrit =3D3D
>> expression
>>> with an identical sentiment. If there's any interest, I can try to =3D
> dig=3D20
>>> =3D3D
>> it
>>> up. (BYW, one of my teachers was consulted during the birth of =3D3D
>> Klingon. He
>>> gave a talk about his contribution, but none of it ended up in the =3D3D
>> first
>>> film. Skt just wasn't guttural enough.)
>>> =3D3D20
>> The inventor...er, discoverer of Klingon, Marc Okrand, was a student =3D
> of =3D3D mine at UC Berkeley in 1970 and would likely (as a linguistics =3D
> major) =3D3D have also taken Sanskrit there during that time.  The major =
> =3D
> influence on =3D3D Klingon, though, was a native Californian language, I =
> =3D
> believe extinct or =3D3D nearly so, that he was working on with Mary Haas =
> =3D
> using materials at the =3D3D Smithsonian.  I have nothing to contribute on =
> =3D
> "Live long and prosper" =3D3D but I can ask our local (emeritus) =3D
> Sanskritist at Yale.
>>=3D20
>> LH

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