That's because 'fortress' isn't used in the modern Japanese vernacular all that often, unless you're sightseeing or reading up on Japanese history in Kanji :). It is certainly referenced even less often (and pronounced) in English, which is why you probably haven't heard of it. This is probably the big reason why it hasn't had any naming conflicts and is why I proposed it :)
But, just to clarify: Chinese characters (called Kanji in Japanese) can have multiple pronunciations depending if they're read by themselves or when attached to other Kanji. It is not uncommon for the same character to have up to 4 or 5 different pronunciations depending on how it is used. 'Ki' in the context of energy, or spirit, is what you referred to Kalle, is written like this: 気 which is certainly different from 城 . But this is just one of dozens of characters that can be pronounced 'ki'. If you use the same wwwjdic search I referenced before and type in 'ki' and then click on the 'Romaji' radio button, you'll see over 100+ results for characters that can be pronounced as 'ki'. So, although I am probably less experienced in Japanese martial arts than you (I'm only a lowly shodan in Kendo), I am what I guess most people would call functionally fluent in the language. So, I would definitely not steer anyone wrong - I promise everyone I did my research before posting the name as a suggestion :) Best, Les On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM, Kalle Korhonen <[email protected]>wrote: > I haven't heard "Ki" being ever interpreted as "fortress". After 15 years > of > martial arts training, Ki means this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi) to > me, but there are many other meanings, see > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiand > http://unofficial.ki-society.org/ki-usage.html. > > Kalle > > > On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 9:34 AM, Jeremy Haile <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Les, > > > > You mentioned that "Ki" means fortress in Japanese. Do you have any > links > > that talk about this? I'd like to be more well-versed in some of the > > various meanings/reasons behind calling it that. Obviously, as time goes > on > > hopefully we'll just build the branding up so that it doesn't matter, but > I > > think having some meaning behind a name is nice to explain the name > change > > to people now. > > > > Jeremy > > > > > > > > On Mar 4, 2009, at 12:26 PM, Jeremy Haile wrote: > > > > Yeah - I definitely like the shortness for the official name, jar files > >> (ki.jar), abbreviations, packages, etc. > >> > >> I'm referring more to branding, saying it out loud, etc. I think saying > >> Ki Security is nice because people instantly understand it's a security > >> library. BTW - are we allowed to call it Apache Ki while it's still in > >> incubation? Or would it be better to call it "Ki Security" until it > >> graduates? > >> > >> > >> On Mar 4, 2009, at 10:28 AM, Emmanuel Lecharny wrote: > >> > >> Jeremy Haile wrote: > >>> > >>>> Given that most people will never have heard of Ki or associate the > term > >>>> "Ki" with security at first, does it make more sense to call it "Ki > >>>> Security" or something that immediately alerts users to the purpose of > the > >>>> project? This could either be the official name or a secondary name > that we > >>>> commonly use to communicate the project's purpose. > >>>> > >>> The official name will be Apache Ki, it can be extended and advertized > as > >>> Apache Ki Security, aka AKS. > >>> > >>> > >>> -- > >>> -- > >>> cordialement, regards, > >>> Emmanuel Lécharny > >>> www.iktek.com > >>> directory.apache.org > >>> > >>> > >>> > >> > > >
