Re: Simple translation exercise?

On Sat, Jun 14, 2003 at 12:34:39AM +0200, Christian Thalmann wrote:

> I was just going to post a sentence Jon, Nata and I were busy
> translating in IRC.  =)
>
> "We are sitting in the night, and like the night, we are silent."
I had to think about this for a while (and translate it into Japanese) to
be able to make a mërèchi version that didn't just mimic the English
structure.  I'm trying to wean mërèchi from its English-relex past.

Original:            hómicüm  múrip'fa,  të hómi  sélis  mírn'fa
Revised orthography: hómicum  múripfa,   te hómi  sélis  mírnfa
Pronunciation:       "homikum "mur\ipfA, te "homi "selis "mir\nfA

        hom   -icum muri   -p      -fa      te  hom   -i   selis
        night -in   to sit imperf. 1st.p.pl and night adj. thus

        mir         -n      -fa
        be at peace imperf. 1st.p.pl

I invented one new word, múri, to sit (and do nothing; not sitting down to
do something), and one structure, "hómi sélis" for "like the night"; sélis
meaning "in the same way" (compare séclë, "while", at the same time), and
hómi being the adjectival form of of hóm, "night".

So something might be nightlike ("hómi"), but act like the night ("hómi
sélis").

I kept the idea of "sit in the night" because it seemed the proper way
for mërèchi to do things.  I did not make up a word for "to be silent"
because it would be more mërèchi to talk about being at peace.

Amanda