Re: Translation: Trolls and their Management
From: | Roger Mills <romilly@...> |
Date: | Sunday, January 18, 2004, 18:58 |
I wrote:
> Adrian wrote:
>
> > Recent events over in afp involving a Usenet troll have prompted
> > someone to ask for translations of "Do not feed the troll" in various
> > languages. I offered to ask people here for Conlang translations.
>
> I'm not sure a translation or even paraphrase to Kash is possible. What
> exactly is the nature/appearance etc. of trolls (not the computer kind, of
> course)?
>
I think I've got it!!
yanda rundahan sasakaç
/jand@ rum-naxan sásakaS/
do-not CAUS-eat "troll"
_/sásakaS/_ (note the irreg. 1st syl. stress!) can be either 1. a compound
of sasa- of uncertain meaning (so far) + kaç 'person', or 2.(my choice) a
unit meaning 'semi-mythical big vicious rarely-seen humanoid (i.e. Kashoid)
biped said to live in the far reaches of the forest/jungle'. Sightings, of
dubious reliability, have been reported; they are popularly believed to
represent some sort of evolutionary anomaly or dead-end. The word appears
to be a neuter plural; the singular form, which does not occur, would be
**sasak or **sasaka. It may also be a partial redup. of **sakaç (?neut.pl.
of ?*sak ~?*saka).
Pejorative terms relating to humans are often classed as neuters, cf.
_kikayoka_ 'tough guy, hood, ruffian, no-goodnik', pl. kikayokaç, not
animate *kikayokala.
(Just between us, this new word bears a strange resemblance to _sasquatch_,
doesn't it.......?)
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