| Interlinear |
0. Donanei laysinen lay
AUG.mother-gen-s story-loc-cp about
Donane, "the Mother", is the goddess of fertility, abundance of nature, sexual
love and family life.
Note that this is not "stories about the Mother" but "about the
Mother's stories", i.e. the poem is about stories the Mother tells. _lay_ is a
postposition with the locative.
1. rach dolys mudhea menat chynayt
wind-nom-s good-nom-s health-acc-s
give-PRS-3s hear-PRS-3p
Here the whole sentence _rach ... menat_ is the object of _chynayt_. The verses 2, 3, 5, 6
and 7 have a similar construction.
2. tarozen dolys cronina menat chynayt
DIM.river-nom-s good-nom-s food-acc-cp
give-PRS-3s hear-PRS-3p
_croni_ "food, foodstuffs" is a collective plural, making the meaning rather
more general than the singular _cron_ "food, some food" would be.
3. nysas idacha aldat chynayt
banishment-nom-s guts-acc-cp saddens PRS-3s
hear-PRS-3p
_Nysas_ is an unusual word, derived from an old participle; it means "being far away,
not of one's own choice". _Idach_ is the dual of _dach_ "stomach",
meaning "guts, innards", also in a metaphorical sense "to feel something in
the pit of your stomach".
4. duynesayn, duynaye Donanei itumea
exalt-INC-PRS-1p exalt-PRS-2p AUG.mother-gen-s
d-ear-acc
The inceptive present usually has adhortative meaning "let's..."; the second
person present can have imperative meaning. Body parts that come in pairs are always in
the dual. Dual nouns take singular endings (the plural of a dual exists, but means
"pairs of...").
_Duyna_ "magnify, praise", from the stem _duy(n)_ "noble"; "put
on a pedestal", with a strong image of someone being carried on people's hands,
above the crowd.
5. reshin astean rystayt chalayt
tree-nom-p house-acc-s strengthen-PRS-3p
see-PRS-3p
_Astin_ is not the house as a building, but the house as a home, or as a collection of
people (like a noble house, or a household).
6. lesnei ser nashena duzat chalayt
child-gen-s fear-nom-s NEG.light-acc-s
surround-PRS-3s see-PRS-3p
This is a rather unclear sentence, but I take it to mean that the fear is so great that it
obliterates everything else in the child's perception, even the dark that she's
afraid of (I have four- and five-year-olds of my own and know what I'm talking
about).
7. bocha li ilonei brona tysat chalayt
wealth-acc-s REL d-spouse-gen love-acc-s
end-PRS-3s see-PRS-3s
_li_ is the inanimate relative pronoun, "that"; it refers back to an inanimate
noun in the main clause (the only noun there is _bocha_, the object of _chalayt_) and
serves as subject of the relative clause.
_ilone_ "spouses", "married couple". _Bron_ is definitely sexual
love.
8. duynesayn, duynaye Donanei inestyan
exalt-INC-PRS-1p exalt-PRS-2p AUG.mother-gen-s
d-eye-acc
See verse 4. |
