Re: Insult (jara: Weekly Vocab 8)

In Yhe Vala-Lakha
Nai!         Ya  nyabel   liyhazhnai!
You (sg)!  It's a brother the one who gave birth to you!

(In most colloquial vala-lakha, the singular is used only between family and
intimates.  When used to an enemy, it is insulting, implying they are
intimate, and as an enemy there is only one way they could be intimate - as a
slave.)

In Nu Aves Khara-Ansha
Nuaa   ro'en     aninay-yitshao    aninay-  raonisake        !
That    for you  a pack of siblings  a pack of  male breeders !

(The Ineya Khara-Ansha were originally not familiar with most family-related
concepts.  They were intimately familiar with the concept of being bred for
particular purposes though.  Having one's parents both males was of course
not something that could occur, so it was an insult of course.)

In Li' Anyerra-tarah
Waefain       e un avu atu       un avu atu         ma po'i!
Giving birth  a twin brother   of a  twin brother   for you!

(|Waefain| is related to the noun |fait| which means kin/family.  |avu| is
brother, and |atu| is male twin - and is regarded as obscene in the context
of the stative verb - it is also put mockingly in a non-human context with
the use of |e| instead of |a| used to mark human actors.  Ie, they went at it
like animals, and you turned up as a result.  Incest, bestiality and various
other unmentionable concepts.  |Waefain a li' ma'it po'i| "The mother gave
you birth" is the common usage.)

Any further insults?  Here's one from Yhe Vala Lakha:

Ya yhe berini pliuya weshu vhekhrani aru eimaisun, ya nai!
You are a woman capable of operating only under the guidance of madness!

Ya yhe tyerrakhani aru yezhech radeki!
You are a slave to the Goddess of Death!

Ya nai ya yhe rakhzha aru ngoinai!
It's you eating your own children!

Syafta ya yhe ngoinai brech shawinaiti!
Sweet is the blood of your children to your teeth!

Ya nai, ya madea, nai eityini!
So you, you madwoman, are unnamed!

An ostracism insult, which doesn't mean a thing unless the Liyhita, the
midwife, pronounces it.  To get the full impact of it, picture a couple of
brawny six foot plus women, armed to the teeth with bear-sized claws and
Hyena-sized jaws with hyena-dentition capable of snapping bones, facing each
other off in the village square in front of the spirit-house, with a few
other women, among them the Liyhita, watching worriedly, and their children
hanging back, screaming insults at each other for some offense you have yet
to discover - and to be frank, you don't want to discover what it is this
time - and one starts screaming this out, and the Liyhita decides she's got
to do something about it ...  You can't have people "unnaming" each other,
it's a job only the Liyhita has the right to do!  But if they do insist on
unnaming each other, they'll both be unnamed and driven out and forbidden to
speak to anyone in the village ...

Wesley Parish

On Saturday 24 May 2003 02:10 pm, you wrote:
> Your parents were brothers:
> Rihana-ye:
> dakobaka-fe febada-fe
> Childgiving-man-woman-plural with-man-child-plural (no verb needed)
--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."