FEELINGS (Abstract Notions) + JOHN

Sat Dec 8 10:40:35 UTC 2007

Hello Bruce & other Lakotanists,
           Physical & emotional (metaphysical?) feelings probably  
require someone with more extensive philosophical training than mine  
to distinguish between!

Regarding physical feelings, I have found the following two sentences  
in Emil Afraid-Of-Hawk's 1944 Lakota version of Ann Nolan Clark's  
"Brave Against the Enemy", where (imho) the relevant verbs might well  
be rendered in English as "he did not feel it". (One realizes that  
other translations may be possible.)
Both on Page 168 of BAE :

1) "Chuwita sece, eyas^ kiksuye s^ni." [=he may have been cold, but  
he didn't feel it]

I suppose more literally, that might be : "he wasn't mindful/ 
conscious/aware of it."

2) "Hustaka aye sece, eyas^ slolkiye s^ni." [=Perhaps he'd become  
tired, yet he didn't feel (his own exhaustion)/He wasn't aware of his  
own probable growing fatigue]

Nolan Clark's original has : "If he grew tired, he did not know it."

Regarding more abstract emotions, I find this interesting  
metaphorical description of a state of emotion in the same Lakota  
translator's version of Nolan Clark's "Bringer of The Mystery  
Dog" (1941)
I realize that the original bold metaphor is in the English there,  
but perhaps such an experienced translator as E.A-O-H might well have  
transformed & "lakota-fied" it, if the thought-pattern had been too  
alien to a Lakota-speaker's psychology?? :

(To set the scene : S^uNka Cik'ala, Little Dog, has just witnessed an  
exciting buffalo-hunt, but is browned-off, because he longs to become  
a man by accomplishing a deed of derring-do)
I will need to quote a little more extensively!

On Pages 37 & 38 :

"Wanasapi hehaN lila ohitika oh^'aN s^ni k'uN he e cha el hi. YuNkhaN  
he woawachiN kin thaz^us^ka wichayah^takapi kin he iyecheca. Takuni  
echuN s^ni."
........................."Thaz^us^ka woawachiN ciscila kiN he akhe hi  
na akhe yah^take nag^iyeyiN kta el hi. Tokhel iyokiphipi thaN'iNs^ni  
waN anpetu ota nag^iyeye na haNhepi ota oihaNkes^ni kakis^ye."

[=At the time of the hunt, he had performed no deed of bravery, that  
was the sort of (feeling/realization) which came to him. And now that  
feeling/awareness was like an ant which stung people. He'd done sweet  
Fanny Adams!...................That little ant feeling came again &  
again, to sting & annoy him. A feeling of general dissatisfaction  
aggravated him for many days, and tormented him through endless nights.]

On Page 62 (ibid.) :

"(S^uNka Cik'ala lila waNkayeic'iye.) Ithokap taku ok'oka woawachiN  
ichaNteiyapha k'uN he woawachiN lechala kin ahi ichiyutakuni s^ni na  
lila sutaya yuze."

[=Little Dog jumped high into the air. His present emotions, when  
juxtaposed (lit. : ' brought to) with those feelings of excitement  
which had struck his heart previously,  diminished (them) by  
comparison (ichi- 'together") to nothing, and held him firmly in  
their grip.]    (Perhaps that translation is a little 'free'!)

Lastly, there is this intriguing passage depicting feelings of  
emotional preference :

On Page 46 (ibid.) :

Grandmother (UNci) and Young Girl (WichiNcala Theca) and Singing  
Woman (LowaN s'a) are quite happy to be confined in their tipi during  
the onset of the winter blizzards, in preference to less desirable  
alternatives) Again, to give some context, it seems necessary to  
extend the quotation.

"Thima aonathak yaNkapi chaNkhe iyokiphipi. Wichasha kin iyuha  
thiokshaNla unpi chaNkhe he uN oonakiphe na okhophewanilya iyokphiya  
uNpi kiN he uN hecheca.

[=They were pleased to be shut up indoors.  Their menfolk weren't far  
away from home, and so they felt happy living in safety (in a safe  
location) & in the absence of anxiety.]

"LochiNpi kiN he iyes^ akhiphapi kta thawat'elyapi na iyoks^ica uNpi  
kiN he e athawat'elyapi s^ni kiN hecha."

[=As for themselves, they preferred facing hunger, to living in  
sadness (i.e. loneliness) - such were their (feelings) or 'such was  
their situation'.]
(lit. : they felt willing to face the prospect of  hunger, and they  
did not feel a greater willingness to be living in desolation -  
that's the way it was).

"Na tokeh^ci osni k'eyas^ chuwitapi kiN he akhiphapi kta  
thawat'elyapi na nawichakiciz^iNpi chola okhopheya yaNkapi kte kiN he  
e athawat'elyapi s^ni kiN hecha."

[= And no matter how cold the weather became, they preferred to face  
feeling fozen, to a life of fear, bereft of men to defend them - such  
was their predicament.]

  Incidentally, I find the syntax of the last two sentences  
fascinating! That use of the locative-prefix "a-" [="on; added;  
more"] to express comparison is most interesting.(IF that surmise IS  
correct - See B&D pp. 39-40 : although the remarks there do seem to  
specify " with adverbs". But I also had in mind the sense of  
"awas^te" meaning : "be better than")

Regards,

Clive Bloomfield.

On 30/11/2007, at 9:22 PM, shokooh Ingham wrote:

> True abstract notions are difficult to sort out.  In Lakota I note  
> that I have a word woableze 'perception' and would think that  
> ableza 'to perceive, understand' could stand for 'feel' as well'.   
> The word slolya 'know, experience' also comes near to it as in  
> teh^i slolya 'experience difficulties, have a hard time'.  Often as  
> you note there is a specific word for things like 'feel sad', feel  
> happy' sometimes involving chante 'heart' obviously in Lakota the  
> seat of emotions.  So one finds chante s^ica 'feel sad', chante  
> was^te 'feel happy'.  The word thawacin is also often translated  
> 'feelings, emotions' though I can't think how it could be used in a  
> sentence.  I would love to know what other Lakotanists think might  
> stand for 'feel, feelings'.
> Bruce
>
>
>
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