Wallops #8

["Mark E. Shoulson" <cbmvax!uunet!CTR.COLUMBIA.EDU!shoulson>]

>Date:         Thu, 2 Jul 1992 16:56:35 BST
>From: Ivan A Derzhanski <iad%COGSCI.ED.AC.UK@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
>>  Date:     Wed, 1 Jul 1992 12:11:54 +1000
>>  From: nsn@AU.OZ.MU.EE.MULLIAN
>>  melu la xrist. na.enai la pacrux. seljdadji da li'u
>>  Neither Christ nor the Devil wants him.

>Does {da} here work for `him'?

I think it does.  Sort of "There's someone neither Christ nor the Devil
wants".  Mebbe not precisely a translation, but a very workable title for
the story.

>>  gi'e bacru lu pe'ipei xu do jinvi ledu'u <...> li'u
>>  and said "Pray tell, do you think <...>?"

>{xu do jinvi ledu'u} is the same as {pe'ipei}, and is malrarna anyway
>- I'd make it {ju'i .i pe'ipei ...}.

Yes.  I like it that way, Ivan.  or {ju'ido'u ...}, but that's longer to
say.

>>  kruce jdaxanmu'u
>>  make the sign of the cross

>{kruca}.  That's just an intersection, though.  Is it enough for
>`cross'?  {jdaxanmu'u} ought to have been {jdakemxanmu'u} (it is a
>religious hand-movement, not a movement of a religious hand, though
>actually it is both).

We'd want at least a {le kruca} (yes, that would entail reworking the
sentence), to get the {le} in, but a lujvo for cross-as-a-religious-symbol
wouldn't hurt.  Actually, this whole story deserves to be absolutely
peppered with {ka'u}'s and the like (I think there are a few).

>>  .i ca ri ko'a co'a citka .i do ca zgana lenu ko'a jdaxanmu'u
>>  Then he'll eat. You'll see him making the sign of the cross then.

>Surely not {do ca zgana}.  That would be the time of the conversation.

Yes.

>>  .i ko'a co'a citka gi'enai jdaxanmu'u
>>  The plougher started eating and didn't make the sign of the cross.

>Doesn't {gi'e} imply that he didn't cross himself _after_ he started
>eating?

I dunno.  Is there time implied in {gi'e}?  If not, do we want one there in
this case?

>>  gi'eji'a.uero'a cladu gapyvi'i
>>  and to top it all off, let off a huge fart!

>Interesting translation of `to top it all off'.  But.  {.uero'a} -
>_social_ surprise - well, he was alone there, wasn't he?  What is
>socially unacceptable is discussing the subject.  :-)

>Is there a good reason why {gapyvi'i} doesn't mean `breathed out'?
>Carbon dioxide is a gas excreted through the nostrils.

I don't like it either.  I'd prefer maybe {gaxyva'u} (anus-breathe), maybe
with a {mal-} thrown in.

>Ivan

~mark