I have a "universe" in which a novelette and a short story occur. It is a war-ravaged post-apocalyptic desert. I refer to the fighters belonging to "Oasis City," as "fellaghas" the term given by the French to Algerian rebel fighters in the Algerian War. Now, my character, an Islamic guerilla, is not technically a fellagha, even though the muslim inhabitants of Oasis City are styled after Algerians in terms of their clothing. Should I use the word "fellagha," which I like more for aesthetic reasons, but is technically less accurate and obscure, or "guerilla," a more accurate word with similar connotations but lacking a) the implicit Islamic nuance and b) the flavour of the word "fellagha." Thanks for help, I've been mulling this over forever.
From what i gather in your universe the term "fellagha" refers to a citizen of the Oasis City. If your character is not from Oasis City or is not a "fellagha" even though he is from Oasis City, you shouldn't refer to him as such.
I think you've answered your own question here. I would have had to look up fellegha and I have a very robust vocabulary. Guerilla is much clearer. And for anyone up on their Yiddish, fellegha looks so much like feigele, It's what I thought you had written until I read further.
Wreybies: I think I have too. If I decide to keep the word "fellagha," I'll write in some backstory explaining that they are Algerians and the war stemmed from the Algerian War. I also like to write stories in French and English, so if I do that, then French dialogue would be permissible, since Algerians speak French. That might annoy readers though, unless I put a translation in. Haha, writer problems.
guerrilla has no definition that really denotes the subjects heritage. If you and I started fighting against the U.S armed forces here at home tomorrow, we would use, most wisely, guerrilla warfare. where we would use mobility and military tactics to hit stronger but less mobile targets. Fellagah is a word that is Arabic in nature actually meaning "bandit". so Guerrilla is actually clearer AND more accurate. Fellagah sent me to wiki, so I do not think you want to spend 8-10 sentences to really explain what a Fellagah is. the only other option is creating a word.
Hi, Why not freedom fighter? Or something equally generic. Partisan? Resistance? Terrorist? Fifth Column? Cheers, Greg.
