Re: A personal curiosity

>Israel Noletto <epost@...> wrote:
>Greetings everybody
>A personal curiosity: How do you say Jehovah's Witnesses in your
>conlangs?
I encountered the Tetragrammaton when translating the Babel story &
decided to render it as _javê_, an indeclinable noun with an
aberrant primary pitch on the ultimate.

The Jehovah's Witnesses take their name from Isaiah 43:10, "You are
my witnesses, says the Lord...." (NAB)

"Lord" is the translation of _JHWH_.

The Hebrew word for "witness" is _'ed_, (macron on the "e"),
spelled 'ayin (with tserê), daleth.

It is derived from the root _'ud_, "return, repeat."  "The semantic
development apparently is that a witness is one, who by reiteration,
emphatically affirms his testimony." (Theological Wordbook of the
Old Testament)

I decided that, since I was retaining _javê_ in the name, I would
render the name by means of a calque on "repeat."

In Senjecas "repeat" = µerêêga; µer = again; êêga = say.  µ = /m_0/

"repeater, one who repeats" = µerêêgus.

Thus, "Jehovah's witness" = jávµerêêgus.

The plural is _javµéreegûes_.

Charlie