Re: Translation exercise: "Thousand tongues" poem

--- Carlos Thompson <chlewey@...> wrote:

Well, so long as I'm on a Talarian tirade, I
thought I might do this one in T rather than
Kerno.

> This is an original poem by Gustavo Adrián
> Salvini.
Some things don't work in Telerani culture, so
there is a minor alteration: i.e., from "scent"
to "glance" - they say "in a single glance a
thousand words unspoken - ten thousand words that
need not be spoken". Also, Talarian is base 12,
so maxamaharash is a greatgross, or 1728. In
maths (b10), sahashram is a thousand, but
mathematical numerals aren't generally used in
poetry. There is a famous poem, Masanashatame or
Hundredfold of Beauty, that uses the mathematical
numbers to enumerate the one hundred things that
make a woman beautiful. It was written by a
mathematician. [masanar = beauty, excellence;
shatam = 100 (b10); -me is a numeric
postposition]

Inverting the short statements and leaving the
important line til last brings it in line with
certain romantic schools of poetics.

alhalimtani
alsahatani
allimtasherewani
asati xonomarcate tenxwwamaxamaharash:
somtel, stahasi mesa alteyanam.

@l@lIm'tani
@l'sa:V'tani
@l.lImt@S@r@'wani
'as@ti 'xonu'mark@tej 'tENxuw@'max@ma:V'raS
'somtEl 'sta:Vsi mEs@ @l'tejj@n@m

al-halimtan-i
all-note-LOC

al-sahatan-i
all-glance-LOC

al-limta-sherewan-i
all-of.music-flow-LOC

hasati    xonomar-ca-te tenxwwa-maxa-maharash
there.is  name-the-thy  tongue-of.great-thousand

somte-l  staha-si     me-sa   al-teyan-am
truth-LOC stand-2sDUR me-with all-age-GEN

al; pron. all, every
halimtar; n.inan. musical note
sahatar; n.inan. glance, look [<saham]
sherewar; n.inan. flow [<sherewam]
hasati; v.3s there is
xonomar; n.inan. name
-ca; pron. this/that/the/he-she-it
-te; pron.enclit. thou/thee
tenxwwar; n.inan. tongue, language
maxamaharash; num. greatgross
somtas; n.anim. truth
staham; v. stand (Durative conjugation used)
mesa; pron. with me
teyos; n.anim. time, age, era

All the compounds are broken down into their
roots.

-l is the locative of animate nouns, -i is the
locative of inanimate nouns. -anam is the
genitive plural of animate nouns an can be used
to form adverbs. Inanimate nouns can not have the
genitive.

The Durative conjugation (stahati) is used when
the idea of permanency or continuity is required;
and I think that best conveys the original idea.
The stative conjugation (stâ) could have been
used, but indicates a timelessness that seems at
odds with the adverb alteyanam. The Punctual
conjugation (stahti) would be totally
inappropriate, as it indicates momentary actions.

Also, I chose staham (stand) rather than one of
the bes (hassem, ffewam or wasam) because it can
mean be, and also has a more active sense that
the others lack. The others tend more towards the
stative.

Padraic.


=====
beuyont alch geont la ciay la cina
mangeiont alch geont y faues la lima;
     pe' ne m' molestyont
     que faciont
doazque y facyont in rima.

.