| Smooth translation: |
The Proverbs of Bastet
What (one) hears in the wind gives health
What (one) hears in the stream gives nourishment
What (one) listens to through the screen sickens the heart
Praise, praise the ears of Bastet!
What (one) sees in the woods feeds the household
What (one) sees under the bed frightens the children
What (one) looks at through the neighbour's little window
makes one's spouse cold-and-distant
Praise, praise the eyes of Bastet!
Note that "through the screen" is an idiom denoting privacy, so "listen through
the screen" means "eavesdrop". The reference is to the fact that Tokana houses
consist of one big room; at night, special screens are hung from the rafters to
separate the room into private sleeping quarters. So anything done in private is
referred to as happening "behind the screen". |
| Glossary/mini dictionary |
-A = (on nouns: instrumental case suffix)
-A = (on verbs: simple present tense, used for present states and generic
events)
-AT = (simple present tense, definite order: used to indicate that the verb is
the head of a subordinate clause, e.g. a relative clause)
-E = (on nouns: dative case suffix)
-E = (on verbs: archaic imperative/optative suffix)
EMOK = family, household (lit. those who share a single hearth)
-H = the, it (3rd person singular inanimate suffix; goes with the following
object noun, if any)
HIEL- = see: HUILOI = window
-I = (dative case suffix)
IFON- = praise (verb)
INIE = pair of eyes
ITAN = it, the (3rd person singular inanimate determiner, instrumental case)
ITAN MAHA = that which, the thing which (instrumental case)
KAISUNT- = be cold, be frigid, be unemotional or unresponsive, give (someone)
the cold shoulder
KI- = (diminutive prefix)
KUL- = feed, nourish, strengthen, enrich
LOHK- = make, cause
LOKA = forest, woods
LOMA = area underneath
MAH- = what, something
-N = the, her/him (3rd person singular animate absolutive suffix; goes with the
following object noun, if any)
-NA = the, his/her (3rd person singular animate non-absolutive suffix)
NENTSULHON = neighbour
NULIE = pair of ears
-OI = (resultative suffix; indicates that the verb to which it is attached is
the head of a clause which is the direct object of a verb of making or
causing)
OL- = hear
PAMIHATI = nourishment, sustenance (lit. "food-warmth/strength")
PASTET = Bastet (proper name, reshaped to fit the Tokana sound system)
PYI = child
-S = the, them (3rd person plural animate suffix; goes with the following object
noun, if any)
SENIN = a cloth screen hung from the rafters, used to divide a large room in a
house into private sleeping areas (commonly used in metaphors dealing with
privacy; e.g., "to speak in private, to speak confidentially" is literally "to
speak behind the screen")
SIH- = stream, current
SKON- = look at
SOL = spouse
SOUN = heart
SUHOI = wind (dative case)
TEHATHU- = frighten
TEMOUT- = sicken
TEN = it, the (3rd person plural inanimate determiner, absolutive case)
TEUL- = listen to
TOKITSIN = proverb, folk saying, aphorism
TSAMPATIN = health, ease, composure, wellness (lit. "body-balance")
TSOL = bed, sleeping platform
UTHM- = give |
| Grammar notes |
(1) Basic word order is SVOX-OVSX-XVSO in main clauses, and VSO in dependent
clauses.
(2) This poem contains examples of the absolutive, dative, and instrumental
cases. The absolutive case marks the direct objects of transitive verbs, and the
subjects of most intransitive verbs. Dative case indicates location ("at") or
motion towards ("to"), among other things. Instrumental case is used to indicate
not only instruments, but also paths ("with, through, along, across, by means
of, via"). Instrumental case is also used to mark the subject of a transitive
verb if that subject is indefinite and/or inanimate.
(3) Non-absolutive pronouns and pronominal endings can be freely dropped if
their referent is indefinite, unknown, or recoverable from the context. Thus,
any missing transitive subjects in the above poem should be construed as
'generic' subjects (like "one" or generic "you" in English, "man" in German,
"on" in French).
(4) Indefinite absolutives are never dropped. So "itan maha olat" in the above
poem can only mean "that which one hears". It can't mean "that which hears
things".
(5) Singular/plural is not marked on nouns.
(6) Possessive constructions are formed as follows: determiner + possessed-SFX +
possessor, where SFX = the appropriate non-absolutive person/number suffix. For
example, "John's house" is "te katiana Tsion", literally "the house-3sg John" or
"the house-his John". |
