Re: Clear the Table

Taliesin wrote:
> * caeruleancentaur said on 2006-12-05 17:03:25 +0100
> > Quite suddenly this morning the expression "clear the table"
> > occurred to me & I realized that there were two ways of expressing
> > the idea:
> >
> > 1. clear the table of the dishes.
> > 2. clear the dishes off (of) the table.
> >
> Nice... in Norwegian (not a conlang!), at least in my 'lect, I'd use the
> verb "rydde"  ...(snip)...
>
> "rydde" is used for: cleaning your room as in sorting/arranging the
> stuff in it, clearing a field (before, say, seeding it), killing
> someone, remove something, chase away someone or something, stop
> something habitual from happening (like, corruption) etc.
>
At first glance, rydde looks a lot like Engl. "to rid (of)...", but I don't
know whether they're related.

So, Kash: the word translated as "clear" (akram) refers mainly to
"understandable". I think I've used it of weather conditions too, but
probably shouldn't. NEW WORD ALERT!!

"The road was clear" would probably require _travingas_ 'not blocked' or
yumbu 'empty'

"to clear (in the sense of removing/organizing things)" 'remove' or 'clean',
and this could be used for 'clearing the table'; you'd need to specify what
was removed (dishes, junk from a room), and---

"When the alarm went off, everyone cleared the room" -- "removed themselves
from the room" or simply 'left, departed'

"The police cleared the room" 'removed the people from...', or rumek re
atelni çukumbu 'caused that the room became empty'

"to clear a field (prior to planting)" = to clean, or maybe compound,
clean+scrape/plow (or whatever you do to clear a field)

But on balance, I think we need an idiom, so for 'clearing the table' I'm
going with "ruñumbu laca" 'to empty the table' (of dishes, understood);
similarly for 'set the table'-- rundondo laca 'to fill the table' (with
dishes/utensils understood); rukaram laca 'prepare the table' would work
too, but implies more decoration, as for a formal banquet with fancy
centerpieces, lots of candelabra etc. etc.

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