Re: Some commandments in Kash (was: 10 commandments)

John Cowan wrote:


> Roger Mills scripsit:
>
> > but who should a banker worship? who should a bus-driver honor?
>
> The Catholic Church faces a variant of this problem in finding patron
saints
> for various modern things, and has some excellent creative solutions.
A student of mine some years back was very clever at coming up with these; a
couple that stick in my mind were:

St. Calgon, patron saint of dishwashing
Mazda, god of light-bulbs (but of course that's true)

>
> A bit of semantic explication on some of the commandments:
>
> > 6. "Do not kill"
> > Yanda pakran kaçin liya
> > Do not kill-violently person-acc. other
>
> The correct semantics of this one is "Do not commit murder".  Had the
> prohibition been on killing rather than murdering, the King James
translators
> would have written "Do not slay."  It does include non-violent murder such
as
> murder by poison (seemingly the original sense of "murder").
That is approx. what _pakran_ means.  The other verb 'to kill' _rungombra_
'cause death' applies to sanctioned killing-- of animals for food,
(voluntary) euthanasia of humans, rare but permitted; also to the killing,
usually deliberate, of non-human living things. There's also rukorem 'cause
to die' which can imply neglect, but mostly means 'to extinguish, turn off
(e.g. a fire or light)'

harungombra ange yu 'you killed that tree'-- with an herbicide, by chopping
into it, etc.

onjos mivele kombra otamaye 'last night we euthanized (gave death)
grandfather' (at his request, mind you)

harukorem ange yu 'you killed that tree'-- you didn't plant it right, you
failed to water it, etc.

maybe:  you _rukorem_ your sainted mother by breaking her heart.....

Odd if not impossible: ?*hapakran ange yu
>
> > 9. "Do not bear false witness against your neighbour"
> > Yanda hengut ...or: yanda kota trakundri )Bç
> > Do not lie   ...or:  do not speak untruths
>
> This is not a prohibition on all lies, but specifically on perjury:
swearing
> a false oath, whether publicly or privately.
True; but perjury in legal proceedings is not possible amongst the Kash; the
priest-investigators are permitted to probe the accused's mind with their
Strange (telepathic) Powers.  Consequently an innocent person is never
unjustly brought to trial; a guilty person is always found out.

It is advisable not to utter egregious lies in personal relationships; you
never know for sure whether your interlocutor may be probing you as you
speak...it's considered impolite, but likely to occur in e.g. business
negotiations where a skilled telepath is often part of the team.  And of
course, if your contract ends up in court.......  Little white lies,
however, generally slip by ( "I really liked the meatloaf......") since most
people don't have the skill, time or inclination to probe behind every
remark.