The Relay Museum

En Rodhreles themarth

I bröf qged rrint ned garek.
I imalain qged rrint ólusem garek.
Enslûr kiantar heqlen garek.
Satrátseruit, satrát a Rodhreles tòlnaindh!

Sakkonek màss olman naiek.
Thul müen dhidhnes pevenqan naiek.
I thimsimbas naiek, enfól büd vel kìrragth turn.
Satrátseruit, satrát a Rodhreles gevandh!

They hear that good wind gives health.
They hear that a good river gives food.
They hear that separation saddens the stomach.
Let us exalt, exalt Rodhrel's ears!

They see that trees strengthen the house.
They see that fear covers the darkness of a child.
They see precious wealth, which brings down the love between spouses.
Let us exalt, exalt Rodhrel's eyes!

0. En Rodhreles themarth
about Rodhrél.GEN stories

ObConculture: Rodhrél is the goddess of fertility, and of nature in general. She also
rules the water sources, streams and springs, orders the harvesting seasons, and many
other things. In the original text, there was a similarly wise figure of another culture
in place of Rodhrél, but since everybody has been adapting it... ;) _Themar_ is also
adequately translated by 'tellings', 'records', etc.; it's a verbal
noun from the root  'to repeat, to retell'. In this case, the stories are linked
to Rodhrél by a plain genitive; they are *her* stories and sayings (= she told them).
'The stories in which Rodhrél took part' would use a different syntax.


1. I bröf qged rrint ned garek.
* health give.3s good wind hear.3p

Here, of course, you have i-Object+V+S with a ditransitive verb, where the indirect object
is understood. The last verb takes the rest of the sentence as a kind of object
(there's no equivalent to a linking 'that'); it could have been at the
beginning too.

2. I imalain qged rrint ólusem garek.
* food give.3s good river.DIM hear.3p

Since the diminutive suffix is not a grammatical feature, you can translate river.DIM with
a word unrelated to 'river', if it suits you.

3. Enslûr kiantar heqlen garek.
CAU.sad.3s separation stomach.ACC hear.3p 'separation, splitting; dispersion,
diaspora'

4. Satrátseruit, satrát a Rodhreles tòlnaindh!
exalt.SBJ.1p+ exalt VOC Rodhrél.GEN ears.ACC.GRP

The VOC particle after a bare verb root can be analyzed as imperative or exhortative, as
well as the subjunctive mood. The GRP suffix on ears is used whenever you refer to both
ears of a person as a set.

5. Sakkonek màss olman naiek.
strengthen.3p trees house.ACC see.3p

I know this doesn't have much sense!

6. Thul müen dhidhnes pevenqan naiek.
cover.3s fear child.GEN darkness.ACC see.3p

Neither does this... It's just a literal translation (and it has been going round as
such -- don't tell :).

7. I thimsimbas naiek, enfól büd vel kìrragth turn.
* treasure see.3p take_down.3s 3sNEU.REL among spouses love.ACC

_thimsimbas_ 'treasure (abstract), richness, wealth, the possession of valuable
things'
_enfolten_ 'to take down, to bury, to submerge; (fig.) to end'

8. Satrátseruit, satrát a Rodhreles gevandh!
exalt.SBJ.1p+ exalt VOC Rodhrél.GEN eyes.ACC.GRP

Same comment as for the ears.

Some background before: Draseléq is a VS language, with VSO order for
accusative objects, and OVS for i-objects. Accusative objects are marked
for ACCusative case. I-objects are treated like obliques, preceded by
the particle _i_. Perception verbs take i-objects, as well as many
others where the subject is a experiencer and/or the object is not
directly affected by the action of the verb. Ditransitive verbs like
_qgednen_ 'give' take a direct i-object (_i_ + object before the verb)
and the *indirect* object is marked for ACC case (and goes after the
verb and subject).  The language is prepositional, and modifiers precede
heads, except for subordinate clauses. Adjectives are stative verbs, and
conjugated the same as any other verbs. In subordinate clauses,
everything is kept in place, with the head noun in the relativized
clause replaced by a pronoun + the relativization suffix REL.