Re: Translation Project! (was Re: Let the hammer fall!)

Nik Taylor wrote:
Barry Garcia wrote:
>Third-person imperative forms consisting of que  subjunctive are
>common.  They are usually translatable by some formula like "Let
>him/her/them ...", "Tell him/her/them to ...":
>
>Que pasen "Let them come in/tell them to come in"
>Que ella los bañara, los vistiera, oyera sus preguntas, los enseñara a
>rezar y a creer en algo (A. Mastretta, Mexico, dialogue)
>"[As far as I was concerned] let her bathe them, clothe them, listen to
>their questions, teach them to pray and believe in something"
>
>It also notes:
>
>Third-person imperatives without que are found in set phrases: ¡Dios nos
>coja confesados! (archaic or humorous) "Good God!"/"heavens above!"
>(lit. "May God take us after we've confessed!"), ¡Sálvese quien pueda!
>"Everyone for himself!" (lit. "Save him/herself he/she who can!">
Those accord with what I learned, and with non-native, formerly fluent,
intuition :)

>> Which reminds me.....what was the arabic phrase ojalá comes from (ya, i
>> know it has been discussed here). A book i read claimed "wa sha illah".
>
>I believe the consensus here last time we discussed it was "Inshallah!",
>but I can't remember the translation, "God willing", I think?>
Inshallah or insha'allah (both occur in Indonesian) seem to be closer to the
original Arabic, for "if God wills".   I've never seen "wa sha allah" ('and
_sha_ God') as explanation for Span. ojalá, but it would certainly explain
that odd initial /o/.

BTW here's something different to say, next time you sneeze, or someone
belches:
alhamdulillah 'God be praised!' (Arabo-Indonesian).