Re: Sayings of the Wise #2

On Tuesday 19 April 2005 10:52, caeruleancentaur wrote:
> Never test the water with both feet.
This presented a bit of a dilemma for Kēlen. Apparently I don't have a word
for "both". So, here are two solutions, you all decide which one you like
better and let me know...

sere anhāri jacēha mo riwānne ēnne wē;
SE+2p.sg.exp water test MO 2p-foot two DON'T
(The plural suffix isn't used for small numbers of things. The plural usually
kicks in after 4 items.)
"Don't test the water with your two feet."

or

sere anhāri jacēha mo riwānne tēna wē;
SE+2p.sg.exp water test MO 2p-foot all DON'T
(tēna actually means "of a small set, all of them" as opposed to nāra, which
means "all" when used with a plural noun, and "whole or all of something"
when used with a singular noun. tēna is a new word, used so far only in this
translation)
"Don't test the water with all of your feet."

notes:
SE is the relational used with experiences. The object of SE is the
experience, and MO is used to mark explicitly the experiencer. Foot is an
obligatorily expressed noun and is assumed to refer to both feet, but can
only refer to one foot, so without a modifier this could mean " Don't test
the water with both of your feet" or "Don't test the water with your foot."

-Sylvia

--
Sylvia Sotomayor
sylvia1@ix.netcom.com
kelen@ix.netcom.com

Kēlen language info can be found at:
http://www.terjemar.net/kelen.php

This post may contain the following:
ñ (n-tilde)		þ (thorn)
ā (a-macron)		ē (e-macron)
ī (i-macron)		ō (o-macron)
ū (u-macron)		λ (lambda)

āe ñarra anmārienne cī āe reharra anmārienne lā;

Reply