Re: Daily translation - 9/21/2000

>> English:   Appearances are deceptive
T'ðamau appetat'lidagar.

t      ðami au    ap       petat     lid  agar
NomInf seem NomPl opposite be honest tend 3dPlPrIndef

Note that there are two words for truth: petat and saiïri.

Petat refers to a truth we can know: an honest retelling of events as we
understood them to have taken place; as in "he told the truth". Its
opposite, appetat, means "untrue" only in the sense of "dishonest", not in
the sense of "counterfactual".

Saiïri refers to the ultimate unattainable understanding of the universe
that we can never fully grasp but that we are forever striving towards. If
you claimed that what you had to say was saiïri, you would be derided as
a "blact".

Blact literally means prophet, and specifically those prophets whose
doctrines and religions came to power in the Shrislia's old homeland, and
which eventually led to the Shrislia's flight. Figuratively, it means an
arrogant, conceited blowhard who claims to know Truth and lords it over
people; in other words, the opposite of Socrates being told he is the
wisest man in Greece and realizing he knows nothing.