Re: Translating from a conlang into a conlang

On Mon, 19 Apr 1999, Boudewijn Rempt wrote:

> On Mon, 19 Apr 1999, Padraic Brown wrote:
>
> >
> > For the terminally curious, the English-Kernu dictionary used turned up
> > these gems:  have = pertener (lit. to have on the carpet; grasp by the
> > bullocks); spring = divona (a holy well), persaltar (leap about like a
> > rabbit); ask for = serjer (search for in a telephone directory or
> > dictionary); thick = lath (lit. wide), dondon (stupid); urge = la
> > necesitats de poner yn denare (really didn't make sense in context); court
> > = il louces de serjer la Lege.  I really ought to use a better dictionary
> > for these sorts of projects! ;-)
> >
> > Padraic.
> >
>
> This really had me in stitches! (Now, throw that phrase at your
> dictionary!) Actually, since my own dictionary is still Denden-Dutch , I
> had to translate from Den'Naha to Denden to Dutch to English to arrive
> at the glosses...
A tuppeny-hapenny dictionary of such loftily abysmal quality, undoubtedly
sold by some monger for whom a book is more naturally a piece of furniture
associated only with the privy, might inevitably lead to something like
"it grabbed me by the bullocks with needles and pins and didn't let go".
Curiously graphic I'll grant, extraordinarily attention grabbing indeed,
while not equite exactly imparting the true essence of the original.

>
> To inject a note of seriousness in an otherwise light-hearted matter,
> why did your Kernu informant translate a first person singular (albeit
> a high grade honorific one) into a first person plural?
It can only be that he has heard "we" used as a singular in English, or
has heard _of_ this usage; I suppose ultimately derived from the "royal
we".  And is probably quite mistaken in so doing.  It's not a native
construction anyway, but is a standard way of marking a stereotypically
stuffy English gentleman with a rod up his rear in music hall burlesques
and such.  I very much doubt that English gentlemen (stuffy or otherwise)
go about using we for I.

Padraic.

>
> Boudewijn Rempt  | www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt
>