Soriku and I were talking through messages here last week and I told him this; I was reading through my Ocean book (marine biology) that I bought over the summer and I was reading about aquatic birds (mainly penguins; sorry if this is a random story, and I was reading this during naptime at the daycare I worked at while watching the children sleep) and "natal" was mentioned when describing the baby penguin's down (soft feathers). I was curious to know what "natal" meant as well, as I do know it was used as a codename (taken from a place in Africa, I believe). But here's the definition(s) I got off Encarta (yes, I have Encarta 2009 on my laptop, and I'm well aware that it's been discontinued):
| of birth: relating to birth or to the time and place of birth |
[14th century. < Latin natalis < nasci "be born"]
| of buttocks: relating to the buttocks |
[Late 19th century. < Latin natis "buttock"]
But then here's the "Natal" where the codename is from:
| 1. | city and seaport in northeastern Brazil. It is the capital of Rio Grande do Norte State. Population: 774,205 (2007) |
| 2. | British colony which became a province in the Union of South Africa in 1910. In 1994 it became the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. |
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
So really, even though it's a codename taken from a place in Africa, "natal" can mean two other things. I think they were also using "Natal" as the term for "birth" because the device was the birth of something new for Microsoft, yet other people could say that they pulled this idea out of their 'ass.'
Not bashing the device or anything, and as stated, Soriku and I had this little discussion on it from what I looked up. It's just the meaning of the word and also the location in the world named Natal that Microsoft used as stated.
PS: Microsoft's new anti-malware program (upraded form of Windows Defender), "Windows Security Essentials," is codenamed Morro after a place in Brazil, so it's known that Microsoft uses these codenames after locations or objects (Vista) for their software products.
