Re: Translation Challenge: Foucault's Pendulum

On 7/29/06, Sally Caves <scaves@...> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sylvia Sotomayor" <terjemar@...>
>
> > ennāpren '(mathematical) rationality'. Getting this from sanity was a
> > stretch, but needed for the congruence in English of mathematical
> > rational and mentally rational. So, irrational numbers are actually
> > insane numbers.
>
> I had trouble with this, too; I basically think that Teonaht would have
> different terminology for mathematical concepts: I have a word for
> "rational" (racodel), but it means "full of reason, full of logic."  The
> opposite, "full of unreason" doesn't really describe pi.  Pi is reasonable
> on its own terms, just one's we can't fathom.  Irrational numbers:
> unfathomable numbers? bottomless numbers?
>
Yes. I haven't made a word yet for 'ratio' but 'rational [number]' is
probably related to that instead.

> > tamōl 'root' from root for 'birth'
>
> Interesting!  Tamol means "child" in Teonaht.
>
The root mōl yields bases:
emōl 'infant'
emōlanen '(birth)-mother'
mōl 'womb'
mōlōn 'pregnant woman'
ramōl 'embryo'
and now tamōl

The baseword for 'child' is īs, which is related to an old
unproductive diminutive -isse, which is part of the word for 'pi'.

--
Sylvia Sotomayor
terjemar@gmail.com
www.terjemar.net