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TEXT.REV: Beowulf



The following text is a Lojban translation of lines 210-228 of >Beowulf<,
describing how Beowulf and his companions set sail from Geatland to the
hall of Hrothgar.

In each group of three lines, the first line is the original Beowulf text,
with the usual orthographical conventions except that long vowels are
not shown and the "eth" letter is written "th", as in Modern English.

The second line is a gloss of the Old English, and by intention can serve
as a gloss of the Lojban as well.  This gloss is essentially Tolkien's, from
"On Translating Beowulf".

The third line is my Lojban translation.  No attempt has been made to
preserve the alliteration, but I do try to preserve the syntactic and
semantic devices and much of the four-stress rhythm as well.  Because
Lojban words are partly built from English words, alliterative
patterns occasionally resurface by accident.

Note that the word "Wedera" in the original is an alternative name of the
Geats, Beowulf's people.  The word "eoletes" is marked by Tolkien
as an "unknown or corrupt word"; I have accepted his best-guess gloss of
"waterway" = "water-route".

I have revised this version to incorporate some comments Nick made.
It now needs going over by editors du jour, so please pick yourselves.


Fyrst forth gewat.              Flota waes on ythum
Time on departed.               Floater was on waves
le temci cu fasnu               .i le fulta be le boxna

bat under beorge.               Beornas gearwe
boat under hill.                Men eager
cu cnita le cmaca'a             .i le ribnau djica

on stefn stigon.                Streamas wundon
on prow strode.                 Currents rolled
cu badydzu le lotcra            .i le flecu cu gu'orgau

sund with sande.                Secgas baeron
swimming [=sea] against sand.   Men bore
le canre le se limna            .i le nanmu cu bevri

on bearm nacan                  beorhte fraetwe
into bosom of-boat              bright trappings
fi le cutne be le bloti         fe le carmi taxfu

guth-searo geatolic.            Guman ut scufon
war-gear wellmade.              Men out thrust
poi jamymai xagmau              .i le nanmu cu batcatke

weras on wil-sith               wudu bundenne.
adult-males on wish-journey     timber fastened.
.i le nanmu pe le djinunkla     le mudri cu lasna

Gewat tha ofer waeg-holm        winde gefysed
Departed then over wave-sea     [by] wind urged
.i ca cliva fi le bonxamsi      bai le brife

flota famig-heals               fugle gelicost,
floater foamy-neck              to-bird most-like
fa le fulta fomcnebo            poi smirai lo cipni

oththaet ymb an-tid             othres dogres
until after due-time            of-second day
.ipu'obo ba le ra'artei         pe le remoi djedi

wunden-stefna                   gewaden haefde,
curved-prow                     advanced had,
le selkruvi lotcra              cu crane klama

thaet tha lithende              land gesawon
that these voyagers             land saw
.ije le litru                   le tumla cu viska

brim-clifu blican               beorgas steape,
surf-cliffs gleaming            hills steep,
.i xaskoi sraca'a tergusni      .i cmaca'a badysalpo

side sae-naessas.               Tha waes sund-lidan
long sea-capes.                 then it-was for-sea-voyager [=boat]
.i clani cfine                  .icabo le xasxelklama

eoletes aet ended.              Thanon up hrathe
of-waterway[?] at end.          Thence up quickly
le jacplu cu fanmo              .ito'obo fi'o sutra

Wedera leode                    on wang stigon,
Wederish people                 on plain strode,
le la .uederas. prenu           le pitytu'a cu badydzu

sae-wudu saeldon.               Syrcan hrysedon
sea-timber roped.               Shirts rattled
.i le xasymudri cu se skola'a   .i le creka cu se sance

guth-gewaedo.                   Gode thancedon
war-raiment.                    God thanked
.i jamna taxfu                  .i fe le cevni cu ckire

thaesthe him yth-lade           eathe wurdon.
that for-them wave-passage      easy proved.
le nu le nanmu le bo'arnunkla   cu se frili



--
John Cowan      cowan@snark.thyrsus.com         ...!uunet!lock60!snark!cowan
                        e'osai ko sarji la lojban.