Re: Ba'l-a-i-bal-an

Hi taliesin,

On Sat, 20 May 2006, taliesin the storyteller wrote:
>
> * Yahya Abdal-Aziz said on 2006-05-20 09:08:31 +0200
> > Hi all,
> > Having seen a brief mention of "Balaibalan", as the
> > earliest written conlang, I thought I would investigate.
> >
> > Wikipedia was disappointing, at least in English, though
> > the Norwegian version does have an article which I
> > understand only imperfectly.   Would some list member
> > be able to translate this: http://tinyurl.com/r9zxg and
> > add the result to http://en.wikipedia.org ?
>
> I've started a page at
>
>     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kaleissin/Balaibalan
>
> feel free to chip in. I'll translate as well as I can then move/copy it
> to a new page.
>
>
> t., whose L1 is Norwegian
Thanks!  I've made a small edit on the talk page,
changed the "Biblithèque nationale de France"
reference to point to the existing wikipedia page,
and after examining your user page, have
discovered this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Babel

Very informative!  And so was your page -
I won't be joining your food cult, tho ;-)

Next time I want a wikipedia page translated, I'll
make use of the information on the Babel page.

Uncertain as to the best transliteration of "Sheikh
Mohyeddin" to find the man intended.  A classical
Arabist would possibly write "Shaikh Mohyuddin".

Do we have any real foundation for the conjecture
that the Ba'l-a-i-bal-an language was created
specifically to be the vehicle of a new divine
relevation?  I don't know the position of 16th Cent.
Persians or Arabs on the proposition that "Arabic
is the language of God", tho I've certainly heard
this from some in the 20th Cent. (*this* century
I've stopped listening to those people).  Of course,
the Qur'an itself declares that "We have revealed
this in a clear Arabic", as we might say today
"we're putting this in plain English"; it's my feeling
that a "revelation" would be pretty useless were it
not in plain speech (which doesn't rule out poetry).

Regards,
Yahya

PS - Just read your message on getting your Masters
degree - Congratulations!  YA

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