Re: "Verimak": jumping into the translation marathon

Half past twelve, and I've finished it - this was certainly the
last translation I do this weekend!

To begin with, I must admit that although the text rings a bell, I
haven't got the faintest inkling as to the original author or his
origin. Although I've read tiny bits of Shelley, Keats and Byron
(especially his speeches to the Parliament), and Shakespeare isn't an
entirely closed book to me, I'm not very well versed in English
literature, let alone American literature. To be sure, there's no poet
from either America on our shelves apart from Poe and Clark Ashton
Smith. I'm completely fresh and unspoiled _vis =E0 vis_ this exercise.

All the abbreviations have been used before, in the exercises posed by
myself, Nik and Pablo, so I won't repeat them this time, in the
interests of brevity.

tau.s=FC
NEG.again
Not again

I recognize that the _s=FC_, 'again', isn't an entirely=20
adequate translation, but it'll have to do.

I

Tan wiha ging tau.arat.hau s=FC
GEN sun  heat NEG.fear.IMP again=20
Don't fear the sun again

ma tan nahaun'per'qiraw qiraw
or GEN winter     anger anger
Or the anger of the angry winter

  This is a strange way of putting it - native speakers
  of Denden don't much go in for tautology, as a rule.

di    e.di       qinadin quelday.ju  ga
2sMGH poss.2sMGH office  success.CRT NOM
The success you attain in your office

  _Qinadan_ is especially a civil service job, in the Imperial
  government, the most sought after kind. This sentence is sure
  to grab the attention of every Charyan in the audience.

tan kaulon nahan.ju.moi ga
GEN house  go.CRT.FUT1
The great house you will go to

  _Kaulon_ implies a large house, with servants and more than one
  patio - the kind of place everyone wants. Most people in the city
  have to content themselves with one or two small rooms in an _insula_-
  like building.

e.di       ram   di    ambar.ju.moi.nai
poss.2sMGH money 1sMGH collect.CRT.FUT1.PRF
The riches you will have collected.

  It's entirely good form to be _nouveau riche_ in Charya, indeed, it
  is attainable for most people. It's easy to come by some money, and
  even easier to spend it, which is the right thing to do with it.
  So the sentiment expressed in this phrase readily touches the heart of
  every Charyan.

adim.dir harul p   drai.dir,
boy.p    gold  and girl.p=20
The golden boys and girls

  The Charyans are known als the Haruldandir, the Golden people, on=20
  account of their skin-colour, which is a nice golden-brown-red. This
  phrase can only mean 'Charyan children', and it seems to imply
  a lot of them, which, as the Charyans are not very fertile,
  but like children a lot, is a good thing.

ir  ronyeran.dir tan  yzi'tohas.dir getyun ga
as  cleaner.p    GEN  chimney.p     take   NOM
   =20
yechan dayun.ju   logh
dust   become.CRT like

will become like the dust chimney-sweeps take

  So we needn't fear sun nor winter, but our riches, our high
  office and our children will become like the dust chimney-sweeps
  gather? But the office you hold you can bequeth to your children,
  who can use it as a stepping stone to attain even higher office,
  the money, when wisely invested, will aid the clan in gaining
  prestige and security for its members, and children are the joy
  of your old age. And if you lose everything, you just start again,
  is what a Charyan would say.=20

II

tan koruchan.dir mazir tau.arat.hau s=FC
GEN lord.p       frown NEG.fear.IMP again
Don't fear the frown of the lords again

di    nele    tan nilro'kiraw ghazaw  ga
2sMGH beyond  GEN king'bad    cruelty NOM
You're beyond the cruelty of bad kings;

dheret p   mai     tau.luanotan.hau
meal   and clothes NEG.care_about.IMP
Don't care about meals and clothes

tan di.di     gingtan hyet  logh
GEN 2sMGH.DUP tree    grass like
For you, trees and grass are the same

utaima.zi p   gesen p   manushe=20
hat.AUG   and book  and medicine
Crowns, books and medicine

 There exists a whole elaborate terminology as regards
 head-gear (regal and otherwise), but that's a part I=20
 haven't investigated yet, so I will try to get away
 with 'big hat', here. _Manushe_ is medicine, literally
 'sweet herb', because medicinal draughts are traditionally
 heavily sugared to make them more palatable.

d      desh yiman  qoloriar.ju.ini dilogh
this   all  always follow.CRT.HAB  each_other
These certainly always follow upon each other

and  yechan yiman  dayun.ju.ni dayun
and  dust   always become.CRT.HAB
And will always become dust.

III

muanir tan  woya'perin  tau.arat.hau s=FC
stroke GEN  heaven.fire NEG.fear.IMP again
Don't fear the caress of lightning again.

  Strange, these caresses, but it's what I
  got when looking around for 'stroke'. A bit of
  poetic license is allowed? There are a lot of stories
  in Andal about the God of Lightning, Yignis having
  a good time with the Goddes of Rain, Sheshal.

ma temdem   terinadar arat
or thunder  noise     fear
or the noise of the thunder

tau  arat.hau zunga    ma tan mekinda musama.dir=20
NEG  fear.IMP curse    or GEN scorn   scar.p
Don't fear curses or the scars of scorn.

  Of course, even when you're dead and gone to one of
  the Nine hells, you're still quite susceptible to curses
  and your children won't allow your name to be sullied,=20
  so this is a bit of nonsense for Charyans.

e.di       nezirir  p   musir   wonir.ju
poss.2sMGH laughing and weeping finished.IMP
Stop your laughing and weeping=20

sheshedan.dir p   qaivan.dir tuoy  qaivan.dir suwonir.ju.ni
suitors.p     and lover.p    young lover.p    give_up.CRT.HAB
Suitors, young lovers and lovers are certainly giving in.

  Charyan doesn't distinguish between lovers and
  loved ones, not even in the sense that the first
  are sexual and the second not - it's just not in
  the vocabulary. So, what we have here are suitors,
  young lovers and lovers... Also, since the next phrase
  didn't have any separate content, I've been forced to
  make one Denden sentence out of two Teonaht sentences.

dox yechan yiman  dayun.ini
all dust   always become.HAB
All allways becomes dust.


Now I'm getting curiouser and curiouser: who is the author
of this little piece of verse, and how far of the mark was
my shot?



Boudewijn Rempt  | www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt