Tag: Babel Text

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tō jāo … tō

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tō jāo … tō

The last sentence (number eleven) of the Babel text:

tō jāo sete sawēra λi waxāon tō sū āke ōrra ñamma anwaxāon tō antaxōni tēna ā λi ārōn;

Kēlen has several coordinating conjunctions. tō jāo … tō is one of them, though it is nearly interchangeable with several non-coordinating conjunctions, such as tō which signals a reason and tō tūaþ which signals intent. tō jāo … tō and its alternates tō jāo and tō … tō jāo signal a consequence and is often translated “so” or “therefore” and could be translated “consequently”. The instrumental marker used with ñi is also tō. Sentence eleven deals with the consequences of the Lord’s wrath, and so:

“Therefore (tō jāo) their name is Waxāon [Confusion] because (tō) there the Lord made confusion of (tō as instrument) all the languages.”

And that’s it for the Babel text. Tune in tomorrow for something else.

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anhūwīke

anhuuwiike

anhūwīke

Sentence ten of the Babel text:

ē ñamma jāo ā λi ārōn ī ñamma sāim makkepōlien rā anmārwi āñ pēxa ī sū jamāonre ñamma jalāīke jahūwīke;

As mentioned yesterday, stative nouns take the inflection of the noun they modify. Here anhūwīke is modifying jalāīke “the building of [something inanimate and singular]”. anhūwīke means “deliberately ended or broken” and so jalāīke jahūwīke means “deliberate ending of the building of something” and the something, as we know from previous sentences, is the city and tower of Babel.

One more sentence and one more post and we are done with the Babel text.

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anlāīke

anlaaiike

anlāīke

Sentence ten of the Babel text:

ē ñamma jāo ā λi ārōn ī ñamma sāim makkepōlien rā anmārwi āñ pēxa ī sū jamāonre ñamma jalāīke jahūwīke;

Most of this is familiar from previous posts. ē ñamma jāo ā λi ārōn is a straightforward “And the Lord did this” and ñamma sāim makkepōlien rā anmārwi āñ pēxa is “they became scattered throughout the world” and sū jamāonre ñamma jalāīke jahūwīke is “at the city…” jalāīke jahūwīke.

jalāīke is an inanimate singular form of the stative noun anlāīke, which means “being made or built, the process of making or building”. Generally stative nouns modify other nouns and take on the same inflection of the noun they modify (because they are referring to the same entity as the noun they modify, so they have the same inflection.) Here, however, there is no other noun readily in evidence. So jalāīke can either refer to the something (inanimate and singular) made or built or to the making or building of something inanimate and singular. Considering this is a story about the building of a city (and the Tower of Babel), that is what jalāīke must be referring to.

As for jahūwīke, we will discuss that one tomorrow.

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ankewōra

ankewoora

ankewōra

We’re on sentence nine of the Babel text:

il tamma ien ē ñi liēn rā āke aþ ñalla anwaxāon tō tūaþ ñi anxiēna nīkamma sāim ankewōra cī;

ankewōra is a word that applies to liquids and to mental states and means that the liquid or state used to exist but doesn’t now, likely because it has all been used already. So, “emptied” of a glass of water, or “used up” of an amount of oil, or simply “ended, finished” of a mental state. In this sentence it applies to the mental state of anxiēna “understanding”.

“Then he said: I will go there and I will make confusion in order that the understanding between them becomes ended.”

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liēn

lieen

liēn

On to sentence nine of the Babel text:

il tamma ien ē ñi liēn rā āke aþ ñalla anwaxāon tō tūaþ ñi anxiēna nīkamma sāim ankewōra cī;

Most of this ought to be familiar, except for liēn, which is a first person singular pronoun, and ankewōra, which I will discuss tomorrow.

“Then he said: I will go there and I will make confusion in order that the understanding between them becomes ankewōra.”

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lā

laa

lā

We are on the last word of sentence eight of the Babel text:

il tamma ien rēha ñatta janahan ja se jaþēŋŋe jacē lā;

lā is mood marker denoting emphasis. This is probably best translated with an exclamation point!

“Then he said, they will make anything that that can be proposed!”

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jaþēŋŋe

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jaþēŋŋe

Sentence eight of the Babel text:

il tamma ien rēha ñatta janahan ja se jaþēŋŋe jacē lā;

jaþēŋŋe is a specific kind of communication, namely one that communicates a wish or intention for consideration by others. It is probably best translated as “something proposed or suggested”. It appears here modified by ancē “doable”, so jaþēŋŋe jacē means a “something that can be proposed or suggested”.

“Then he said, they will make anything that that can be proposed … “

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janahan

janahan

janahan

On to sentence eight of the Babel text:

il tamma ien rēha ñatta janahan ja se jaþēŋŋe jacē lā;

The unfamiliar words are janahan, jaþēŋŋe, and lā.

janahan is an indefinite pronoun meaning “something” or “anything”.

“Then he said, they will make anything that …”

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jānne

jaanne

jānne

OK. Last post on the seventh sentence of the Babel text:

il tamma ien ē pa mēli anānīke ī pa sāim antaxōni ān tēna ī la ankāe ancēji ja ñatta rēha pa jāo jānne;

jānne means “beginning” and modifies jāo, and the phrase pa jāo jānne modifies ankāe ancēji ja ñatta rēha. I mentioned yesterday that jāo refers to pa mēli anānīke ī pa sāim antaxōni ān tēna “the people have unity and they have only one language”. So that state is the beginning of ankāe ancēji ja ñatta rēha “the doable deeds that they will do”.

“And he said: the people have unity and they have only one language and the deeds they will do have this as a beginning.”

And that’s all for the seventh sentence. Yay!

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jāo

jaao

jāo

Still on the seventh sentence of the Babel text:

il tamma ien ē pa mēli anānīke ī pa sāim antaxōni ān tēna ī la ankāe ancēji ja ñatta rēha pa jāo jānne;

jāo is an abstract pronoun or rather a pronoun that refers to an abstraction. In this sentence jāo refers to pa mēli anānīke ī pa sāim antaxōni ān tēna and not to ankāe ancēji ja ñatta rēha as one might think. jāo can’t refer to ankāe ancēji ja ñatta rēha because the entire pa clause pa jāo jānne refers to it already.