Re: Tricky translations

Ooops.... sent this to Sai instead of the list.


On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 19:30:08 -0800, B. Garcia <madyaas@...> wrote:
> > First, a short quote from David Peterson:
> >
> > > One simple example is that Megdevi had separate roots for
> > > "ghost", "spirit" and "soul".  What exactly did these things mean?
> > > They meant *exactly* what they mean in English: nothing more,
> > > nothing less.  And what do you think the adjectival form of "spirit"
> > > was?  That's right: "spirititual".  Same meaning as English.
>
>
> Funny, I just came up with words for these las tnight while working on Ayhan.
>
> I came up with two roots:
>
> Dagay /da'gaj/ - means "ancestor spirit". It refers to the souls of humans.
>
> Kuyan /ku'jan/ - means spirits that are not human spirits. It's a
> catch-all term for the entities you find ont he forests, seas, rivers,
> mountains.
>
> As there is no general term for a spirit that hangs around after death
> (Because the Saalangal believe that the souls of their dead can move
> between this one and the next, choose to stay here, or choose to stay
> in the spirit world), they simply refer to both souls and ghosts via
> the same word.
>
> aaaand.... after reading my thread on how to name spirits and gods, I
> worked a bit earlier on names for spirits. Ayhan likes to compound
> roots to create new words:
>
> For classes of spirits one finds in different places, usually the
> thing they're associated with is compounded with "kuyan" for the word:
>
> Spirit which inhabits forests and trees – samakuyan - tree + spirit
> Spirit which inhabits or lives near springs – koyokuyan - spring + spirit
>
> Some are named after what they are believed to do:
>
> Spirit which leads travelers astray – manamanapal - tie (reduplicated)
> + -pal (suffix meaning one who does). This means a "spirit which ties
> (something)". It's thought that this spirit leads travelers astray and
> then imprisons them by tying them up.
>
> Spirit which makes one ill after a trip into the forest  - sumbulag -
> this one has an unknown etymology. It is thought it might have been
> onomatopoeic once.
>
> And some are named after a sound they make:
>
> Spirit which abducts people and kills the lost in the forest –
> krigatgarna - krigat (the sound the monster makes) + garna (monster).
> Said to make the sound "krigat, krigat".
>

--
You can turn away from me
but there's nothing that'll keep me here you know
And you'll never be the city guy
Any more than I'll be hosting The Scooby Show

Scooby Show - Belle and Sebastian


--
You can turn away from me
but there's nothing that'll keep me here you know
And you'll never be the city guy
Any more than I'll be hosting The Scooby Show

Scooby Show - Belle and Sebastian