Re: war and death are in my hand

> "Behold! From Hell's dark sisterhood am I, and War and Death are in my
> hand!"
Here's a stab at a Tokana translation:

  Loite! Isaul ahkunanu ksohmoi hutoi iom kameuna'ma,
  elh ite' molema kespat kaumapi kat tiokapi.

  "Look! (It is) from the dark fellowship at the earth's roots that I am
come,
  and in my hand is held/carried war and death."

Interlinear (Abl = ablative, Dat = dative, Dep = dependent order [used in
focus constructions, among other things], Nom = nominalization, NP =
non-past tense, Pl = plural, Prt = modifying stative participle):

  loite
  behold

  isaul       ahkunan-u   ksohm-u-i
  the.Pl.Abl  fellow-Abl  be.in.darkness-Prt-the

  huto-e    iom    kameun-a-a-ma
  root-Dat  world  come.from-NP-Dep-1s

  elh  ite'     mol-e-ma     kespa-t
  and  the.Dat  hand-Dat-1s  carry/hold-the

  kaum-api      ka-t     tiok-api
  wage.war-Nom  and-the  die-Nom

There is no word for "sisterhood" in Tokana, so I used "ahkunan" = "fellow,
companion", which in the plural has the sense of "fellowship".  The meaning
of the original is to some extent preserved by that the verb "kameuna" =
"come from, originate at" has overtones of familial relationship (it's
related to the word "kame", meaning a matrilineal clan).

There is also no word (or concept) for "hell", so I used the neutral term
"huto iom", the roots of the world.

Matt.

Reply