Somewhat off topic, and of a more serious nature than some might like for this BS thread:
It just occurred to me that the source for the contemporary African American female name DeJah is probably Djenne, Mali.
I've known elementary school age girls name Dejanae and other variants of the name Djenne, including Dejah.
Here's information about Djenne:
Djenné, the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa is situated on the floodlands of the Niger and Bani rivers, 354 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Timbuktu. Founded by merchants around 800 AD (near the site of an older city dating from 250BC), Djenné flourished as a meeting place for traders from the deserts of Sudan and the tropical forests of Guinea. Captured by the Songhai emperor Sonni 'Ali in 1468, it developed into Mali's most important trading center during the 16th century. The city thrived because of its direct connection by river with Timbuktu and from its situation at the head of trade routes leading to gold and salt mines. Between 1591 and 1780, Djenné was controlled by Moroccan kings and during these years its markets further expanded, featuring products from throughout the vast regions of North and Central Africa. In 1861 the city was conquered by the Tukulor emperor al-Hajj 'Umar and was then occupied by the French in 1893. Thereafter, its commercial functions were taken over by the town of Mopti, which is situated at the confluence of the Niger and Bani rivers, 90 kilometers to the northeast. Djenné is now an agricultural trade center, of diminished importance, with several beautiful examples of Muslim architecture, including its Great Mosque.
In addition to its commercial importance, Djenné, was also known as a center of Islamic learning and pilgrimage, attracting students and pilgrims from all over West Africa. Its Great Mosque dominates the large market square of Djenné...
"Every spring Djenné's mosque is replastered. This is a festival at once awesome, messy, meticulous, and fun. For weeks beforehand mud is cured. Low vats of the sticky mixture are periodically churned by barefoot boys. The night before the plastering, moonlit streets echo with chants, switch-pitch drums, and lilting flutes. A high whistle blows three short beats. On the fourth, perfectly cued, a hundred voices roar, and the throng sets off on a massive mud-fetch. By dawn the actual replastering has been underway for some time. Crowds of young women, heads erect under the burden of buckets brimming with water, approach the mosque. Other teams, bringing mud, charge shouting through the huge main square and swarm across the mosque's terrace. Mixing work and play, young boys dash everywhere, some caked with mud from head to toe...
In 1988, the old Town of Djenné and its Great Mosque were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site."
-snip-
Visit http://www.sacredsites.com/africa/mali/djenne.html for the complete text, which seems like it could have been incorporated into an other world science fiction book such as those featuring DeJah Thoris.
As a matter of fact, Djenne might be the source of Burrough's character's name.
But whenever I see the name DeJah Thoris, I think of a thesarus [or however you spell those dictionary like books which give you examples of words that have the same or similar meaning as another word]...
Maybe that's where Burrough got DeJah's last name {because she was like a human woman but not wasn't really human}?
What do you think? Am I off my rocker?
Do I need to find a rocking chair and just rock around the clock tonight?