Re: Alien Conlang

Dave Rutan wrote:
> If you want to translate, say bits of the Bible into a conlang which
> belongs to a non-human alien specie, how is it best to translate terms
> such as 'earth', 'man', etc.
>
> I did one, not the one below, and I used a translation of 'world' for
> 'earth'  For 'people' I used 'sentient beings'.  Is it best to
> translate it as if it were their own, or as if a missionary showed up
> on their world and gave them the Bible?
>
> Dave
Tell me what you think of this:

   "Father of us, the sons of men,
You are in the high heavenly kingdom,
Blessed be Your name in each word.
May Your mighty kingdom come.
May Your will be done over all this world-
just the same on earth as it is up there
in the high heavenly kingdom.
Give us support each day, good Chieftain,
Your holy help, and pardon us, Protector of Heaven,
our many crimes, just as we do to other human beings.
Do not let loathsome wights lead us off
to do their will, as we deserve,
but help us against all evil deeds."

Or this:

   "The Son of God became filled with compassion and spoke to the
mother.  He told the widow to stop crying, to stop lamenting over the
child. 'You will see power here, the work of the Ruler, a favor will be
granted to you here, consolation, in front of these people.  There is no
need for you to mourn over the life-spirit of your boy.'  Then He walked
up to the stretcher, and the Chieftain's Son touched him with holy
hands, and spoke to the hero, telling the young man to get up, to rise
up from his resting place."

They are from the Heliand, a reworking of the gospel done by a
missionary among the Saxons during the ninth century.  The imagery is
very much that of the Saxon world.  Rome and Jerusalem are hill-forts,
the disciples are Jesus' twelve warrior-companions.  Even the word they
used for the temple at Jerusalem is not the usual _tempal_ from Latin,
but _wiha_, the Saxon word for a pagan Germanic temple.

Hopefully that's some help to you.

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