Re: a King's proverb

Guy lé gefröl:

>"Before you choose your enemy, speak his language."
In Géarthnuns (I tweeked this and went for an impersonal construction):

Puskeshtanö seth löiv chü ndesemeksüt ksegef sho, seth lav chau
mölkarharsaun süküraun mömöl.

Puskeshtanö seth löiv chü ndesemeksüt ksegef sho,
before he/she/it-nom future.perfect-aux/impersonal* the enemy-acc** choose SHO,

seth lav chau mölkarharsaun süküraun mömöl.
he/she/it-nom pres-aux/impersonal* the language-instrumental
his-instr.(refers back to "enemy", but also agrees with "language")
speak-hortative.

*"Seth" is a plain ol' 3rd person pronoun from the 7th declension.
When combined with the impersonal auxiliary, it translates as "one"
(Eng.), "on" (Fr.), "man" (Germ.), etc.

**Adding a possessive adj. here seemed a bit of overkill. If one did
add it, it would be "setheküt" (referring back to "one", but also
agreeing with "enemy") (this is why their are eight bazillion forms
of the possessive adj.; agreement with both the possessor and the
possessee)

Literally:

Before one will have chosen the enemy, may one speak his language.

Kou