Re: translation exercise

[Padraic Brown <pbrown@POLARIS.UMUC.EDU>]

While not something Kernu speakers would naturally say, I can try making a
Kernu translation of what _y Phicti Amerecani_ might say.

On Thu, 1 Apr 1999, Fabian wrote:

> Father, what are those lights?
> 
> That is the city of the Goyanim. They are a strange people. They light
> their cities at night, as if the stars weren't sufficient for their
> needs. They fight and kill eachother, not realising the greater danger
> beyond their small world. And they do not hunt eachother with bows and
> arrows. No, they have strange devices that kill from far away without
> arrows. And take care near their strange iron horses they use to travel.
> They travel faster than any natural beast ought to, and ignore the
> strength of the bow and arrow.  Best if you avoid their cities, my son. 
> 
> Father, whats a city?

a Phaoere,      ke   sunt y   ces   luges?
o Father(voc),  what are  the those lights

la  cella sa-at  na ciwtats lor    nGowanor.   Sunty    na tuta ystrā.
the that  she-is a  city    of the Smiths(gen) are+they a  folk strange

anoch,   ys   lis    sevi  ciwtatib    la  luge  ys   daphonens,
at night they to the their cities(dat) the light they to-her-put

do lis  en   y   'steli ne  sunt mech      la  luys  assest.
to them for* the stars  not are  one speck the light enough

puiynateor-els            ach ys   l'altoer  ys   chonens,
it is fought amongst them and they the-other they slay

ne  le  mberchoelle trawers     lis billip       
not the danger      across from the borders(dat)

ne  comprenčnts   ser.
not understanding one chip

ach arcci      ys   ne  cassont pass.
and with bows* they not hunt    one bit

Non,         ys   ce   cestes quempri-carres, ke   detrant 
Not one jot, they this these  wonky-engines   that from across

y   phasses mult sin     m   mbilitte ys   chonens,
the paces   many without any arrow    they slay

ersa   ke   ys   lo     thenens.
is-her what they for it have

e cura-ti,      acerchy  sevi  eysoernomarchep, in ke   ys   itenens.
& watch-thyself near-the their ironhorses(dat)  in what they travel

sa remagne      rapedment que  la  nEpamarcce sa  cours, 
she rather-more rapidly   than the Hippomarc  she runs

e ne pilitta mech   la  phass.
& no arrow   at all her passes

pery ti,  a mhappe,  il  maxam ke   ty   y   sevi  ciwtattes ty   evittes.
for  thee o son(voc) the best  that thou the their cities    thou avoid(sub)

a Phaoere,      ke   at n ciwtats?
o father(voc),  what is a city


I'm not sure what sort of Pictish word "Goyanim" is, so I rendered it by
the closest sounding word in K.  Gawnos (black smith) is one of those few
words that has a genitive plural.  This case form is usually only applied
to peoples (roy lor Francor); but a few common nouns have it as well:
gawnos, crestens (Christian), tuta (tribe), etc.

'en' is a particle that introduces a clause, like Enlgish "for", but it
mayn't come first in the clause (even if it's not already part of a do
clause).

'puinyateor' is an -r passive [cf. pugnatur], used impersonally in this
case.  Such impersonal use is restricted to a few verbs only: say
(decher), make (facher), explain (far), fight (puinyar).  many other varbs
may take an -r ending, but are used to show necessity or habit: cascyn die
l'acua eo fereor (I carry the water [from the well] every day.)  One way
to tell the difference is that a true passive must always come first in
the clause; while the nonpersonal comes at the end, as is usual.

'arcci' is an odd construction called "instrumental nominative"; whereby a
word in the nominative (without any article or determiner) placed at the
start of a clause does the duty of an oblique: arca ys cass = ys cunny
arcce ys cass (he hunts with a bow).

'ne' is the regular negative adverb, and means "no".  But 'non' is a kind
of strong emphatic form of the adverb, and often has derogatory harmonics.
It's got a stick with nails in, and is not afraid to use it.

'pilitta' (little spear) is the regular word for arrow.

'eyseornomarcca' (iron horse) isn't a calque, but the regular word for
train.

Epomarccos (horse-horse) is the name of one of the Emperor Arthur's famous
steeds; and as legend indicates, could outrun the wind, and would throw
any one other than the Emperor who tried to get on him.  Why this word's
in the mouth of a Pict, I have no idea.

'y Phicti Amerecani': "After a while, the Picts (of Scotland) were
compelled to wash off the woad, thus becomming civilised (and thereby
became Scots).  This left a perfectly good name unused, for everyone in
Britain had at this time become civilised and had stopped painting
themselves woad, i.e. in the Ancient British, woddis, 'true-blue' (v.
Woadicea). Upon the discovery of the Aborigines in America however, who at
this point in History did not yet have a name, the word Pict quickly
presentted itself to the explorers of America; many of whom were Scotsmen
(aka Picti, q.v.), who thus had a name for the Aborigines all ready. Now,
the Kemrese, Scots (or Picts) and Saxons never had the Spanish Problem (el
Problema Espaņola) of misidentifying the Aborigines as "Indians"; as
exemplified by Cristobol Columna, who continued to call them "Indios",
even after being told they were, in fact, Chinese or "Chinos"; and thus
resorted to their own nomenclature, calling them Picti instead."
[ponderously extrapolated from Sellar & Yeatman's magnum opus, "The
Compleat and Definitive History of Britain at a Glance", London, 1930,
96pp., Freemartin Bulltwin, publ.]

'mech', 'ser', 'pass', etc. are all negative particles.  In Kernu, there
are several ill defined semantic categories over which various neg. ptcs. 
rule.  'pass' and 'rhen' are very generic, and may be used in any
circumstance; 'outh' is often used in the areas of verbs pertaining to
liquids, 'mech' and 'ser' to very tiny bits.  Even though the translation
of each is quite different, they all really mean "not".

The ending of the dative plural has several forms: -ib (most common), -ip,
-eb, -ef, -if.  If the preceeding syllable is a broad vowel (a, o, e), the
ending usually has an "i"; if the preceeding syllable has a slender vowel
(i, u, sometimes e), the ending will have an "e".  A nasal starting the
following syllable causes the ending to have a "p", a "v", "f", or "s"
will cause the ending to have an "f":
	lis ciwtatib
	lis pileb
	lis pilep, neis lladamib (.. the spears, not swords)
	lis cattif fineb (the white cats)  Entirely incidentally, 'finnos'
(white, shining) is one of a small number of adjectives that may fully
decline.

To complicate matters unduly, dat. feminines of common gender nouns often
show -ab for the dat. pl. ending: 'phagasot lis druidab' versus 'phagasot 
lis druideb' (she paid the lawyer (f.); as opposed to she paid the priest
(m.).  In any event, they're pronounced alike.

Padraic.

> 
> ---
> Fabian
> Rule One: Question the unquestionable,
> ask the unaskable, eff the ineffable,
> think the unthinkable, and screw the inscrutable.
>