Re: A new translation exercise (was: lexicons)

On Wed, 31 Mar 1999, Irina Rempt wrote:

>
> Here's a translation exercise of my own: the first paragraph of the
> story about Grandpa and the Dragon (to be found in whole on my web
> page in Valdyan and English), that I originally wrote in Valdyan (no
> translation from the Dutch).
>
It might seem curious, but I've nver attempted this before in Denden.

>
>       When my great-great-grandfather was a young man, he travelled
>       out into the world. First he went west; there was only sand
>       there. Then he went north; there was only snow there. Then he
>       went east; there the mountains were too high and
>       great-great-grandfather couldn't climb them. At last he decided
>       to travel south, on foot, on horseback, by cart and by boat. In
>       the south he saw the largest city in all the world.
>
>
abbreviations

poss    possessive
1       first person
3       third person
s       singular
MGH     middle grade honorific
HGH     high grade honorific

NOM     nominalisation
GEN     genitive
LOC     locative

AUG     augmentative
DUP     reduplication (forms the plural of mono- or bi-syllabic words)

PT3     third preterite (before the speaker was born)
CRT     certainty aspectivizer
PER     perfective aspect
HAB     habitative aspect
EXP     experiential aspect

text

e.do        keda     ga  adim etand.alei mo   seras andal can    hanan.alei.
poss-1sMGH  ancestor NOM boy  be.PT3     then 3sHGH world though tramp.PT3
When my ancestor was a boy he travelled through the world.

Seras iber  tan nevus hanan.alei. Tan nevas ga  ke   nadul.
3sHGH first GEN west  tramp.PT3.  GEN west  NOM only sand.
He travelled first in the west, The west only had sand.

E    seras tan naha  hanan.alei. Tan naha  ga  ke   perlas.
then 3sHGH GEN north tramp.PT3.  GEN north NOM only snow
Then he travelled in the north. The north only had sand.

E    seras tan mudra hahan.alei.
then 3sHGH GEN east  tramp.PT3
Then he travelled in the east,

Mudra tan barus    ga  se.se    tan keda     tau.tau.gahir.aju.alei.
east  GEN mountain NOM high.DUP GEN ancestor not.DUP.climb.CRT.PT3
The mountains of the east were very high, my ancestor certainly could not climb.

Sera  mo   kisuru.alei tan nyra  hahan.alei.nai nan.ini  qunaman.ini
3sHGH then decide.PT3  GEN south tramp.PT3.PER  walk.HAB ride.HAB
Then he decided to go to south, walking, riding,

hanun.ini weshir.ini
fly.HAB   sail.HAB
flying, sailing.

nyra  ar  an andal zi.zi     oi.zi    ga  qirez.alei.za.
south LOC world great.DUP city.AUG NOM see.PT2.EXP
In the south he saw the world's greatest city.


Boudewijn Rempt
boud@rempt.xs4all.nl
http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt