Re: CHAT: Ave Maria

>From: Dan Jones <yl-ruil@...>
>One of Carasta's religions is Christianity of an early Catholic kind. I was
>trying to think of a way to present a short sample from each of the
>Carastan
>languages, and I came up with this, a translation of Ave Maria.
Neato; the main Techian religion is Christianity of an early Orthodox
(so-called Monophysite, not Eastern or "Greek") kind.  Among "Creolized"
Techans, however, Catholics make up the largest religious community.

(For some reason, the term "Techian" is used for a non-Westernized person;
"Techan" for a Westernized or "Creolized" individual.  Many find the latter
moniker somewhat derogatory.)

>Original Latin:
>Ave Maria, gratia plene, dominus tecum, benedicta tu in mulieribus, et
>benedictus frucus ventris tui Iesus. Sancta Maria, pro nobis peccatoribus
>nunc et in hora mortis nostrae, amen.
The last line should be: Santa Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis
peccatoribus...

It's a prayer of Latin/Western origin; Orthodoxy has no equivalent, at least
in the way of a short and repeatable Marian prayer.  (But the Akathistos to
the Virgin is a great hymn/prayer -- I think it has twelve parts, and is
begun and ended with various _kontakia_ and doxologies.  It is an integral
part of St. Basil's liturgy, which is standard among Copts.)

Now on to what Tech might have.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what most of
the words or hardly any of the grammar and syntax is going to be like.  A
Tech-nical analysis would be something like...

peace thou-DAT Mary-VOC, complete favor-LOC, the Lord-NOM with thou-INS!
blessed-FEM-ABS thou-NOM among woman-GrPL-LOC, and blessed-MASC-ABS the
fruit-NOM womb-GEN-thy, Jesus-NOM.  Mary-VOC the holy-VOC, mother-VOC
God-DAT, pray-IMP-2SG+1plInc=LOC sinner-GrtPL-LOC, now-ADV the hour-and-LOC
death-GEN-our(GrPlInc).  Amen.

Most likely, the first two words would be: _sla:Mx ?@ Mary@M_ (M =
labiodental nasal).  Vocative is usually marked only by lenition of the
initial consonant, or a t- prefix with initial fricatives/laryngeals, and no
suffix.  The particle ?@ is optional, but recommended for formal use such as
this.  The only other words I can think of are _mary@M ?@ X'Do:sA: ?amA:
t-@l~A:h_ (X' = uvular ejective fricative, l~ = velar(ized) lateral; last
two words are not lenited because they are written "amma t-Allah", with
doubled/fortis consonants), for "Holy Mary, Mother of God".

As one can see, consonant phonology can get quite ugly.

Daniel A. Wier  ¶¦¬þ
Lufkin, Texas USA
http://communities.msn.com/DannysDoubleWideontheWeb
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