Re: TRANS: Eyes

On Thu, 12 Aug 1999, FFlores wrote:

> OK, I might be making you people tired, but my muse is tickling me
> these days and I have to share. So here goes YATE (yet another
> translation exercise). It's a short poem, _Gef_ ('Eyes').
>
Can't be too bad, I'm keeping up!

In Brithenig:

Llo h-ogl.

Yn ferch es llaesad di'll llad alltr,
ddlo h-ogl sifil ddlo llag
sewenith gw llo llagref h-afar,
alch cholur thud di'll diwrn
sifil yn yspegl cobrid,
lla ogl amhodent gwidder,
rhen di ffager ddlo h-ystuil,
rhen di'll temp di'n diwrn abrig.

Llo     h-ogl.
The. pl eyes

Yn ferch  es llaesad di'll    llad alltr,
A  maiden is left    of_the.m side other

ddlo           h-ogl sifil ddlo     llag
of_the.pl/some eyes  like  indef.pl lake

sewenith     gw  llo    llagref h-afar,
remember.imp you the.pl tear    bitter.pl

sewenirsi is a reflexive verb so the object pronoun follows directly
after.  This differs from the interrogative which would be seweni'gw 'w,
'do you remember?'.

alch cholur  thud   di'll  diwrn
each colours all.pl of_the day

I suspect that alch cholur thud, each of all the colours, is bad grammar.
Alch, each, every, takes the place of the article before the noun, but I
have not tried to use it to create this construction before, although
Brithenig only uses tud, all, as an adjective following the noun.  A
Brithenig speaker might have to stop and think how to break this
construction down.

sifil yn yspegl cobrid,
like  a  mirror covered

lla   ogl amhodent gwidder,
the.f eye cannot   see.inf

Ogl, eye, is a masculine noun, when it is preceded by the feminine article
it means the two eyes a person has as part of the body.

rhen di ffager   ddlo     h-ystuil,
not of  make.inf indef.pl stars

rhen di'll   temp di'n diwrn abrig.
not of_the.m time of_a day   sunny


- andrew.
--
Andrew Smith, Intheologus                       hobbit@earthlight.co.nz

    Jesus is working out his salvation; he is about halfway there.