Rinil htevin nihhtarvantLi htevin nihhtarvant naõlffetor nomai
bettai-om hai neppyrn pamuis, volwen, õhterys-jo.
Li htevin nihhtarvant mevar nomai
endõ-nom narhai vera taltsõ.
Li htevin nihhtarvant tekyrem domai toyk
evlõ semry fodyr-jo ilid vaiua naõlaht.Ta oy, tamolin naril takrem omdwe nistra;
ysrodel evvoba rinil berenyel nomtsõ,
rinil tembro sa tantairem iddest;
to hsenal le tsõllai rrõ omai relbiddahtma,send tyfeluan ro mimmamen selprot
bomrõened nomdwe herredma.
(Note: this list includes clitics along with complete words, and some phrases.)ai, pron. IT (nom.)
amen, n. HILL, MOUND.
berenyel, n. SPRINGTIME.
bettai, volitional transitive v. SEIZE, TAKE, GET.
bom-, progressive prefix on gerund. SEE NOTE.
dom, d + om: habitual aspect particle prefixed to the pronoun and used with ndi-verbs. SEE NOTE.
domai, dom + ai.
-dwe, a soft mutation of twe. endõ non-volitional intransitive v. DWELL, LIVE.
ev, prep. BY.
evlõ ev + lõ.
evvoba, adverbial phrase, BY THAT, BECAUSE OF THAT, THEREOF.
fodyr, n. CLAW, TALON.
hai, rel. pron. THAT, WHICH, WHO. -hai rel. pron. suffixed. THAT, WHICH, WHO. herredma, volitional transitive v. COVER, HIDE, ADORN.
htarvand, n. STORM, RAINSTORM.
htarvant, htarvand + -t.
htevin, n. TIME (of year), SEASON.
-id- suffixed or prefixed possessive particle.
iddest, adverbial phrase, L. id est. THAT IS.
il/-il, dat/acc. article, THE.
ilid, il + id: usually precedes noun. Can be either definite or indefinite.
-in, plural suffix on an nouns ending with a consonant.
-jo, suffixed conj. AND.
le, nom. article, volitional, THE.
li, nom. article, non-volitional, THE.
lõ poss. pron. HIS.
mim-, plural prefix.
mimmamen, mim + amen.
mevar, n. STONE, ROCK.
-n, plural suffix on a noun ending with a vowel.
-n, non-volitional suffix on the radical form of the verb.
n-, non-volitional prefix on a tense particle or modal.
naõlaht, adj. PREDATORY.
*naõlffetor, n. A NAME FOR A MONSTER, OFTEN TRANSLATED "DREADWOLF," ALTHOUGH IT CAN BE ANY PREDATOR. (Naõl is an old word that means "behind (one)," or "hovering above"; hence "dread.")
nar, prep. ON, UPON, ON TOP OF.
naril, nar + -il.
-ned, suffixed non-volitional gerundial form.
neppyr, n. CREATURE, ANIMAL.
neppyrn, neppyr + -n.
ni-, plural prefix.
nistra, volitional transitive v. PLAY, SPORT, GAMBOL.
nom-, n- + om. Habitual particle prefixed to the pronoun, and used with the NED-verbs. SEE NOTE.
nomai, n- + om + ai. SEE NOTE.
nomdwe, n- + om + twe. SEE NOTE.
õhhterys, adj. YOUNG.
om-, habitual particle prefixed to the pronoun, and used with rem-verbs. SEE NOTE.
-om, habitual particle suffixed to the verb in relative clauses. SEE NOTE.
omai, om + ai.
omdwe, om + twe.
omtsõ, om + tsõ.
pamuis, adj. SICK, ILL.
**relbidahtma, volitional transitive v. Literally, TO MAKE COPPERY, but relbida is meant to be a protective metal, so the verb has come to mean TO MAKE PROTECTED, TO PROTECT, TO MAKE LUCKY.
-rem, gerundial suffix for volitional verbs.
ro, poss. pron. OUR.
rõe, non-volitional intransitive v. GROW, FLOURISH (said of plants).
rrõ, acc/dat pron. US.
sa, prep. FOR, FOR THE PURPOSE OF.
selpro, n. TOMB, GRAVE.
selprot, selpro + -t.
semry, n. BEAK, BILL, PROBOSCIS.
send, conj. AND (used before a connected sentence or clause).
-t, adj., purposive suffix, from to, "for": used to turn a noun into an adjective. Attached to the second noun, it indicates that the first noun is used for the second noun.
takrem, n. EARTH.
tal, modal, CAN.
tamol, n. CHILD.
tamolin, tamol + in.
tantai, volitional intransitive v. DANCE.
tantairem, gerundial, tantai + rem.
ta oy, adverbial phrase meaning EVEN SO, HOWEVER.
teky, volitional transitive v. HUNT, CHASE.
õ tekyrem, õ teky + rem. SEE NOTE.
tembro, n. TIME.
to hsennal, adv. phrase, FOR, BECAUSE.
toyk, from toykdi, BE SHARP, CRUEL.
tsõ, nom. pron. WE (inclusive).
tsõllai, n. SUN.
twe, poss. pron. THEIR.
tyfelya, n. FLOWER.
rin, prep. ABOUT, CONCERNING, ON.
vaiua, n. BIRD.
vera, adv. NOT.
volwen, adj. OLD.
ysrodel, adj. IN A STATE OF MEMORY, MEMORIOUS, MINDFUL.
Syntax:
Teonaht is largely analytic, it follows word order, SOV or, more literarily OSV. In this poem I've followed mostly SOV order. If SOV order is followed, then there is almost always a resumptive pronoun: "The dog a bone he buried." Adjectives follow nouns.
Teonaht is zero-copula. Sentences seeming to end with a pronoun are missing the conjugated forms of parem, "be." These appear only in emphasis.
Word order for "relative" or "dependent" clauses mirror the syntax of the main clause in a chiastic formation, and this will be essential for your understanding the first three verses. Here's an example:
Beto elry ke ravvo-hai-el vera il gwenda.
Boy past-I see love-who-past not the girl.
"I saw a boy who did not love the girl."
For scansion, this rule is sometimes flouted, especially with the aspectual particles, and you'll find ravvo-el-hai in the subordinate clause.
The two verbs are in the middle, next to each other.
Prefixes and suffixes:
The Teonim are promiscuous when it comes to prefixes and suffixes, mixing them and switching them gleefully. The plural suffix -n/-in easily and frequently becomes the plural prefix ni-; mim- is a common plural prefix for the natural world; the preterite suffix -el almost without exception detaches and prefixes to the pronoun before its verb in the main clause: so instead of rykkel, "I saw," one finds elry ke, "I saw." This is reversed, though, in the subordinate clause. This rule applies to all the tense particles and to the aspectual particles as well. And to some modals such as tal (can).
The aspect particle -om- is the one featured in this text most often. I identify it as the "habitual" or the "consuetudinal" but it would be cumbersome to translate it as "usually." It is invisible, and it simply means that the action being described is not a solitary event in time but one that occurs over time. The simple present (radical verb used without tense or aspect), such as ly ennyve, "she eats," would be translated in English as "she is eating." Omly ennyve, "she eats," means that she does so in a perceived pattern, and should be translated as "she eats (with her friends on Saturdays, only rabbit, very infrequently, etc.). It's often used as a kind of historic: "There lived a family, who fed their pigs on corn, who, etc."
The progressive particle bom is used before gerundials to indicate the present participle, or an adverbial ("by doing X").
Verbs:
There are three classes of verb: volitional (with the gerundial suffix -rem), non-volitional (with the gerundial suffix -ned), and stative (with the gerundial suffix -di or ndi). These will make no difference to your translation unless you have a language that recognizes volitionality, which in Teonaht is expressed grammatically in a verb whose subject is an agent rather than an experiencer. The only point you need recognize is that in the radical, the clitics -n- and -d- prefix the aspect/tense particle or suffix the verb in the subordinate clause. Here's an example with the preterite tense particle: Elry atwa (volitionally I did walk), nelry ke (non-volitionally or experientially I saw--as opposed to watched), delry rõhõn (I was cold).
Verbal Adverbs:
There is one instance of a "verbal adverb" in the text above, and see if you can find it. "Verbal adverbs" are poetic, and they form adverbs out of stative verbs or "verbal adjectives" ("to cold, to blue," etc.). Here, the stative verb becomes the verb, and the verb in its gerundial form becomes a kind of "false object." Example:
Neomrem delo fõn; nwehsrem delo nimin.
breathing did he deep; swimming did he swift.
"He deeped breathing, he swifted swimming"; i.e.,
"He breathed deeply, he swam swiftly."
From: fõndi, "be deep" and nimindi, "be swift."
On The Season of StormsThe Season of Storms is a Dread Wolf*
That seizes the sick, the old, and the young creatures.The Season of Storms is a stone
Upon which we cannot live.The Season of Storms sharpens his hunting
With his beak and talon of a bird of prey.And yet the children play on the ground;
And we are put in mind, by that, of Spring,Of the time, that is, of dancing;
For the Sun encoppers** us, protects us,
And flowers cover--blossoming--our graves.
Translation of Mike Ellis's Rhean text, Ora Amörhitum Karjo:The rainy season is a monster that steals the old, sick, and young animals.
The rainy season is a stone we cannot live upon.
The rainy season is the sharp beak and dextrous claw of a bird of prey.
Even so, children's playing on the ground reminds us of the "time for dancing": Spring.
And to that purpose the sun protects us, and flowers flourish, spreading out and covering our graves.In turning Mike's Rhean into a Teonaht poem, I had to be a little creative with the diction in order to get the internal rhyme and alliteration, so it's not a verbum pro verbo version. In doing so, I might have missed the hint of the causal expressed in Rhean--that flowers flourish precisely BECAUSE they cover graves. In fact, I see I reversed that altogether in my text! They cover BECAUSE they blossom. Hmmm.
Issytra, my immanuensis, interprets the Rhean passage to be about death and life, and more importantly about posterity--who will follow us and what we give to succeeding generations.