Re: They _don't_ have a word for it!

* Roger Mills said on 2001-08-31 00:00:03 +0200
> Herman Miller wrote:
> > Anyone have any cool examples from their langs of interesting gaps
> > in the vocabulary?
>
> This is more of a conculture thing, but as I've said before, the
> Kash have no concept comparable to the Judeo-Christian God, neither
> as Creator of their world, nor as its Guardian or Guide. For the
> translation relay, I had to devise _shehakinda_ 'Earth Spirit' -- that
> would be similar to Gaia.
Same problem here - there are religions of course, and common words for
"little-g" gods. I've had to borrow words for it, <,ah> /jAh/ and <llah>
/l:Ah/ or <llAx> /l:Ax/. If a "native" were to come over these words he
would need to look them up in a dictionary of foreign religious terms or
something - it's simply not a common concept.

> One may on occasion ask the spirits of the natural world for help, but
> if things work out in your favor, only the superstitious truly believe
> that the spirits had anything to do with it.
Many pay (more or less seriously) homage to a more or less personified
"luck"; there's also a bit of ancestor-worship and awe of planets with
naturally occuring life, the stars and star systems that support them,
and astronomical objects and effects that are capable of snuffing out
said systems, stars and planets, like black holes, supernovas, gaseous
clouds and the like.

> Nor is there anything resembling Original Sin.
Ditto :)

> Consequently there is no redemption or salvation.
Exactly, though many believe in some form of reincarnation or other,
this is seen as a good thing and not something to be freed from.

> The words exist, but refer only to redemption of e.g. a financial
> instrument, or ransom of a captive or kidnap victim salvation would
> be rescue. We do (or will) have atonement and repentance -- these are
> things that an individual has control of.
AOL

Does the Kash have any concept of heaven/Eden/paradise? That's
something else that is hard to translate. And then there's the entire
"God-as-sheperd" imagery. Try to explain why a shepherd is a symbol for
a good, supreme god to people with a hunter-gatherer/gardener mindset:
"so you say you worship something that kill off your males, decide where
you get to go and what to do, fatten you up, then kill you to eat you or
sell the flesh and/or use your hides for clothes?" :)


t.

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