Precious stones in Dakota Bk of Revelation

[Anthony Grant]

Hi Clive:

Many thanks for this!  Such passages are replete with loans in so many languages, and it's interesting to see Riggs et al transliterating Greek forms in order to provide equivalents.  To be fair, it's no more than what English translators were doing for English!

I don't have many dealings with Makcems, though a colleague does.  But as to the Scousers who do live close by, may I refer you to the following:  

http://www.openhousepress.co.uk/catalog.htm 

It's just out and available.

I had 6 years of Latin and 4 of Attic Greek; my Hebrew is scanty thougn the scriopt presnets no problems.  (I've written about Judezmo and Yiddish in my time.)  I know more Arabic than Hebrew but am a long, LONG way form being fluent in it.

Is EAOH's work available anywhere? I'd known of its existence for some time - similar translations wree made into Navaho and, I believe, Hopi - but I haven't seen it. 

Best

Anthony

>>> Clive Bloomfield <cbloom at ozemail.com.au> 01/26/08 10:02 pm >>>
Anthony, Interesting topic. Have just checked Rigg's Dakota version  
of the BOOK OF REVELATIONS (St. John's Apocalypse), entitled :

"Wayuotanin Tawa Kin" /Wayu'othaN'iN Tha'wa KiN/ [lit.=his making  
manifest/his manifestation],

at 4:2;  and 21:18 to 21, where, as you know, all those exotic names  
for the precious stones occur in a large cluster.

Unsurprisingly enough, (one supposes), they either appear   
transliterated virtually unchanged from the original Greek, or   
almost ---  (in the following instance, for example, the Ancient  
voiceless/voiced Greek liquid continuant 'rho/ro' is assimilated in  
sound to the Dakota voiceless uvular fricative, for some reason.  
Influence of French-speaking assistants/informants perhaps?) -- or  
else are rendered by vague-seeming or generalized expressions like  
inyan teh^ika /i'NyaN theh^i'ka/ 'precious stone(s)!

e.g.

REV 4: 3
=============

"And he that sat was to look upon like jasper and a sardine  
<precious> stone : and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in  
sight like unto an emerald <stone>." (KJV)

[N.B. : <...> denotes word not in original, inserted for sake of  
clarity.]

Tuwe akan iyotanke cin he iwanyankapi kin inyan (teh^ika), iyaspis qa  
sah^dinos iyececa; qa oiyotanke kin ihdukshan wihmunke wan hmihbeya  
yanka, smah^agdos (inyan) kin iyececa.

[Here (...)-bracketed words refer to aforesaid insertions, but ARE in  
orig. Dakota text.]


Orig. NT Greek words here are, transliterated respectively :

iaspidi [Dat Sg. Fem.] < iaspis 'jasper';

sardioi [Dat.Sg.Neut.]<sardion 'carnelian/cornelian/sardine (from  
Sardis) stone', and

smaragdinoi [<Adjective smaragdinos  'emeraldine; 'made of emerald';  
Dat. Sg.Fem. modifying  Dat.Sg.Fem. noun :  horasei<horasis = 
(here)'appearance; outward aspect']

[NB: To lend support to this interpretation of that (prob. Greek 2- 
gender-termination) adjective's gender, is fact that Clementine  
Vulgate text has an exactly corresponding phrase :
'visioni zmaragdinae', both noun & adj. being Dat.Sg.Fem.    (Greek  
'horasis' (f.)= Latin 'visio'(f.); Greek m./f. adj.  
'smaragdinos'=Latin f. adj. 'zmaragdina') ]

Actual grammatical reason for use of Dative cases here, is that both  
adjective & noun are governed in their turn by adjectives each  
meaning "like (TO/UNTO)"
: In the Greek text : "homoios" (here, 2-termination adj.), in the  
Latin  : 'similis' : these two agree in case, number & gender  with  
the noun 'iris' (Nom.Sg.Fem.), which in both languages denotes  
'rainbow'.

(Corresponding Greek noun here would be smaragdos (m. or f.)  
='emerald', which is the actual Greek word, Riggs et al. have  
transliterated & 'Dakotafied' above.)


REV 21:18 to 21
====================

Dakota Words (in order of appearance) :

21:18 iyaspis; mazaskazi ecedan [=gold only; i.e. pure gold].

21-19 inyan teh^ika ocaje owasin; iyaspis; saphiros; kalkedon;  
smaragdos.

21-20 sardonis; sardius; krusolitos; berulos; topaz; krusophrasos;  
huakinthos; amathustos.

21-21 inyan teh^ika ocaje ake nom [=twelve sorts of precious stones  
(pearls?)]; inyan teh^ika wanjidan; mazaskazi ecedan janjan iyecen  
wiyatpa.



NT Greek originals in same order (all given in Nominative Sg. form,  
where possible) :

21:18 iaspis; khrysion katharon [=pure gold].

21-19 pas lithos timios [=every (sort of) precious stone(2)]; iaspis;  
sapphiros; khalkedon; smaragdos.

21-20 sardonyx; sardion; khrysolithos; beryllos; topasdion;  
khrysoprasos; hyakinthos; amethystos.

21-21 dodeka margaritai [=twelve pearls];  heis margarites [=a single  
pearl]; khrysion katharon hos hyalos diauges [lit.= gold pure as  
glass translucent]


J.Poage Williamson's Engl-Dakota dict. (1886) has inyan teh^ika for  
'pearl' as well as for 'jewelry'.


Regards,

Clive.

P.S. How there, bonny lad? How've those funny-talking Mackem types  
south of the Tyne, been treating you lately? ;)

P.P.S. Done much Hebrew, Greek & Latin?





On 24/01/2008, at 10:06 PM, Anthony Grant wrote:

> As a matter of interest, what does the Lakota NT do with such items  
> as the lists of precious stones in the Book of Revelations?  The  
> names and entities (chrysoprase, for instance) are mostly as alien  
> to native speakers of
> English as they would be to Lakota speakers.
>
> Anthony

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