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Aug. 27th, 2015 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreHaven't posted in ages - here is some ridiculous conlang nonsense.
Today is very boring at work, so I have been translating song lyrics into senesh. Because that is an excellent use of my time. I have had Sons and Daughters by the Decemberists stuck in my head for days now, so that is the song I translated. Why I thought it would a good idea to translate this song, which has a lot of boat imagery in it, into a conlang used by a fictional desert society, is beyond me at this point.
Original lyrics:
When we arrive, sons and daughters,
We’ll make our homes on the water
We’ll build our walls of aluminum
We’ll fill our mouths with cinnamon now.
These currents pull us ‘cross the border
Steady your boats, arms to shoulder
Till tides will pull our hull to ground
Making this cold harbor now home.
Take up your arms, sons and daughters
We will arise from the bunkers
By land, by sea, by dirigible,
We’ll leave our tracks untraceable now.
Here all the bombs fade away.*
And the seneshi translation/transliteration (I don't have a copy written out in senesh because I am at work and can get away with typing nonsense but not with writing it out longhand):
u le aram ul mirei rahwen, a-paul un a-teiŋ nein, mir lan-aŋ-shemet mirei a-tonyetam ece le hreisheðen seli. mir aŋ-lanit mirei a-tyeðam ul lemca naha. mir aŋ-sheit pafe ehhyel, u maso aram.
a-mase a-hreisehya cwe-lupel miri owe le ceshet. sra-shemel rin an-uciat oloi. sra-aleil rin a-sceres u rin a-mein. le hreisehya lan-aŋ-cüŋel miri aut le yemið un mir aŋ-shemet mirei a-tonyetam u maso rosam ðisam, u maso aram.
sra-sheðetil rin a-sceres, a-paul un a-teiŋ nein. mir lan-aŋ-craseit ul mirei a-rahyið un aŋ-shinoret owe ros un hreish un seiyem. mir aŋ-fyuit a-noto shwe, u maso aram.
fa ene shaðema lan-ufeil.
And a translation back into English!
At the time of our arrival, my sons and daughters, we will make1 our homes near the great salt water2. We will build our walls of bright metal. We will eat sweet pafe3, at that time.
These currents pull4 us over the border. Make your boats steady. Hold your swords in your hands. The currents will guide5 us to the shore and we will make our homes on that cold land, at that time.
Unsheathe your swords, my sons and daughters. We will emerge from our refuges and travel over land and sea and air6. We will leave behind no tracks, at that time.
Here all battle7 fades.
*Most lyrics sites will give you "Hear all the bombs fade away". And that may be what the band intended. I never thought that till I looked up the lyrics this morning to make sure I had them correct and I like my version better, so.
1I haven't figured out how to gracefully translate the evidential markers into English, so I'm just going to point them out when they occur. This verb carries a la- evidential, which shows that the speaker believes what they're saying but has no proof.
2The seneshi live in a desert, you guys, none of them have ever seen the ocean, why did I think this was a good idea?
3Also, they don't have cinnamon. I haven't really thought through seneshi cuisine yet, I have to admit. Pafe is a made-up spice for sweet things - I think it might be on the cardamom-anise spectrum.
4This moves to a cwe- evidential (this is true because the speaker has witnessed it).
5Back to the la- evidential.
6I am not translating the word "dirigible", that is an entirely different technology level than my made-up society. (However, it would be transliterated "tirishipel".)
7I...don't think we have explosives? But I am unsure. Thus we are leaving out mentions of bombs and being a little more general. (I know we don't have guns and do have swords, so that's what the mentions of "arms" got turned into.)
And that's what I did today!
Today is very boring at work, so I have been translating song lyrics into senesh. Because that is an excellent use of my time. I have had Sons and Daughters by the Decemberists stuck in my head for days now, so that is the song I translated. Why I thought it would a good idea to translate this song, which has a lot of boat imagery in it, into a conlang used by a fictional desert society, is beyond me at this point.
Original lyrics:
When we arrive, sons and daughters,
We’ll make our homes on the water
We’ll build our walls of aluminum
We’ll fill our mouths with cinnamon now.
These currents pull us ‘cross the border
Steady your boats, arms to shoulder
Till tides will pull our hull to ground
Making this cold harbor now home.
Take up your arms, sons and daughters
We will arise from the bunkers
By land, by sea, by dirigible,
We’ll leave our tracks untraceable now.
Here all the bombs fade away.*
And the seneshi translation/transliteration (I don't have a copy written out in senesh because I am at work and can get away with typing nonsense but not with writing it out longhand):
u le aram ul mirei rahwen, a-paul un a-teiŋ nein, mir lan-aŋ-shemet mirei a-tonyetam ece le hreisheðen seli. mir aŋ-lanit mirei a-tyeðam ul lemca naha. mir aŋ-sheit pafe ehhyel, u maso aram.
a-mase a-hreisehya cwe-lupel miri owe le ceshet. sra-shemel rin an-uciat oloi. sra-aleil rin a-sceres u rin a-mein. le hreisehya lan-aŋ-cüŋel miri aut le yemið un mir aŋ-shemet mirei a-tonyetam u maso rosam ðisam, u maso aram.
sra-sheðetil rin a-sceres, a-paul un a-teiŋ nein. mir lan-aŋ-craseit ul mirei a-rahyið un aŋ-shinoret owe ros un hreish un seiyem. mir aŋ-fyuit a-noto shwe, u maso aram.
fa ene shaðema lan-ufeil.
And a translation back into English!
At the time of our arrival, my sons and daughters, we will make1 our homes near the great salt water2. We will build our walls of bright metal. We will eat sweet pafe3, at that time.
These currents pull4 us over the border. Make your boats steady. Hold your swords in your hands. The currents will guide5 us to the shore and we will make our homes on that cold land, at that time.
Unsheathe your swords, my sons and daughters. We will emerge from our refuges and travel over land and sea and air6. We will leave behind no tracks, at that time.
Here all battle7 fades.
*Most lyrics sites will give you "Hear all the bombs fade away". And that may be what the band intended. I never thought that till I looked up the lyrics this morning to make sure I had them correct and I like my version better, so.
1I haven't figured out how to gracefully translate the evidential markers into English, so I'm just going to point them out when they occur. This verb carries a la- evidential, which shows that the speaker believes what they're saying but has no proof.
2The seneshi live in a desert, you guys, none of them have ever seen the ocean, why did I think this was a good idea?
3Also, they don't have cinnamon. I haven't really thought through seneshi cuisine yet, I have to admit. Pafe is a made-up spice for sweet things - I think it might be on the cardamom-anise spectrum.
4This moves to a cwe- evidential (this is true because the speaker has witnessed it).
5Back to the la- evidential.
6I am not translating the word "dirigible", that is an entirely different technology level than my made-up society. (However, it would be transliterated "tirishipel".)
7I...don't think we have explosives? But I am unsure. Thus we are leaving out mentions of bombs and being a little more general. (I know we don't have guns and do have swords, so that's what the mentions of "arms" got turned into.)
And that's what I did today!
