Re: Weekly Vocab 8

Back to just Methkaeki this week; Kaikutim is too much in flux.

On Sun, May 18, 2003 at 02:38:51PM -0400, Christopher Wright wrote:
> 1. kilogram (appropriate unit of weight or mass for you and
>    your conculture)
Wow; Can.new('contents' => 'worms').open . . . I have the calendar
worked out, a musical scale, but never touched weights and measures.
Guess it's time to do that, huh? :)

Therefore I am pleased to introduce the traditional Dankaran unit of mass:
the sord (pronounced [sO`r\d] in Methkaeki), equal to approximately 0.39 kg.

> I need a kilogram of flour.
Othïg sord ujmuas.

> 2. bread
dlieg (general term for savory baked goods, as opposed to sweet ones,
which are "pepi")

> It's for the bread that I must serve to my cousin.
Hm.  The concept expressed by "to be for something" is an interesting one.
I'll go ahead and translate it with copula + dative for now, but I'll
have to think about it.

The relative pronoun "that" is "hwof", not to be confused with
the relative conjunction "pai", the demonsgtrative adjective "zuth",
or the demonstrative pronoun "seb".

Jidi juldlieg hwof othïg buvilshi no julpuavoth.

> 3. fever
The noun "fever" is "jishil"; the verb "bujishil" means "to have a fever".

> He has a fever.
Jijishil.

> 4. delirious
Ooh, good word.  Adjectives in Methkaeki generally work the same as in English,
but some are stative verbs.  "To be delerious" is in this category; it is
"buwerapothebi", which can also be translated "to hallucinate", so
the sample sentence is best rendered as a single clause.

> He is delirious with it, hallucinating that I am a (conculturally
> appropriate monster).
Jiwerapothebi pachob pai odi glekuth.

I translated "with it" using the pach- prefix, which literally means
"because of".  A glekuth is a mythical creature most similar to a dragon.

> 5. medicine
> The illness requires expensive medicine.
Buor jithïg ïtivoshi nigopoth.

> 6. witch / quack / healer / shaman
hopf (mystic)

> The witch says that her cure only requires a few yams.
Hopf jivez pai vapali uthro jithïg jia ujhen.

> 7. useless
bupeaborobo "to be useless", "lack utility"

> I thought, if her cure turns out to be useless, I can still order the
> doctor's medicine.
Ogosothp, oj wovpali jipeaborobo, vborr oedri bülgil nigopoth ujgupbul.

> 8. poultice
tubouth - potion, poultice, medicinal paste, etc.

> The witch concocted a simple poultice of yams.
Hopf jigopliebi vontri tubouth ujheni.

> 9. to assure
> S/he assured me that it couldn't fail no matter what.
buvevali

Jigovevali ni pai jigoedri bujeor pachethosothk.

> 10. to work, succeed
buvapfïg

> I am certain it would have worked if she had told me to put it on my
> cousin's chest rather than eating it!
Opilbeoth pai jiyamvapfïg oj jigobir ebni butab ob uthbubulvu no ujpuavoth,
othroia buyeb ob!

Wow, that's a good sentence.

o-              I
bupilbeoth      to be certain
pai             that (rel conj)
ji-             he/she/it
-yam-           conditional
buvapfïg        succeed
oj              if
-go-            past tense
bubir           tell
eb-             dative
ni              me
butab           put, place
uthbu-          allative
bulvu           chest, torso
no              my
uj-             genitive
puavoth         cousin
othroia         instead of, rather than, in lieu of
buyeb           to eat

-Mark