< 7: Draseléq by Pablo Flores Valdyan by Irina Rempt 9: Gladilatian by Dennis Paul Himes >

Translated by: Irina Rempt
Torch:
Donanei laysinen lay

Rach dolys mudhea menat chynayt
Tarozen dolys cronina menat chynayt
Nysas idachea aldat chynayt
Duynesayn, duynaye Donanei itumea!

Reshin astean rystayt chalayt
Lesnei ser nashena duzat chalayt
Bocha li ilonei brona tysat chalayt
Duynesayn, duynaye Donanei inestyan!
Smooth translation:
About the Mother's stories

They hear the wind give good health
They hear the stream give good food
They hear banishment sadden the guts
Let us praise, praise the Mother's ears!

They see the trees strengthen the house
They see a child's fear envelop the dark
They see the wealth that ends a married couple's love
Let us praise, praise the Mother's eyes! 
Translation of previous torch Missing
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. 
Glossary/mini dictionary Missing
Grammar notes
Valdyan is quite strictly SOV, where O can be anything from a pronoun in the
object case to a whole sentence (as in the first three verses of each stanza
below, where everything is the object of _chynayt_ or _chalayt_). Subject
pronouns are only used for emphasis.

Modifiers follow the head (_rach dolys_ "a/the good wind") but genitives precede
it (_Donanei laysin_ "the Mother's stories"). The language is in transition from
prepositional to postpositional.