Re: Christmas wishes

Quoting laokou <laokou@...>:

> Less than 15 minutes to go, but:
>
> Se Ngaradalths Techetneketh la Kfazhal Nü!
>
> Merry Christmas!
The Phalerans have little knowledge about Christianity, it having
been a nearly dead religion for over a thousand years across this
sector of the galaxy.  But if they were to wish Christmas greetings,
they would do so like this:

  Sweldorþnugwal?a             Khristodurim     tyâs
  head.turn.CAUS.REL.2SgProsRe Christ.feast.ABS 2SgBen
  [tharîlsta]!
   be.INTR.3SgProsIr

  lit. 'May it be for you an agreeable Christmas'

There were two options with the case:  dative or benefactive.
Benefactive is the better form for this context because dative
has an underlying sense of passivity, which if used here would
suggest someone having no choice about what kind of Christmas
they would have.  The benefactive thus allows them to take part
in the action.

Also, there are two verbs for agreement:  _sweldorþnu_ (lit.
'to turn the head') and _swomtaþnu_ (lit. 'to nod the head').
The latter is used for quasi-permanent agreements, as when you
buy a slave, or make some sort of major investment.  The former
is used for all other occasions, including recurrent situations
like this one.  (This derives from the Phaleran habit of nodding
for the one occasion, but lowering the head turned slightly to
the side for the other.)

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>

             "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers

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