Nahuatl translation

[llama_nom]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "ualarauans" <ualarauans at ...> wrote:
>
> I am deeply impressed.

I'd better warn you: the more I write, the more my immense ignorance
will show ;-)

> So you are through with your Aztec torment, 
> unlike me. Everyone saying that Gothic is difficult should be 
> immediately reminded of the existence of Nahuatl.
> 
> A couple remarks. Ilnâmiqui is "to remember", right? Niquilnâmiqui – 
> þis (or þata) [ik] ga-man?

Yes, of course. That's what I had in mind as you could tell by the
genitive: 'þis/þata gaman' "I remember it" = ni-qu-ilnâmiqui. Or in my
case, 'þamma ufarmunnoda' "I forgot"... That said, Wimmer does have
"se souvenir de, penser à" for 'ilnâmiqui', so maybe an acceptable (or
preferable even?) alternative would be 'bi þata þagkja'.

> Iirc 'cân' can be both directional and stative. I mean weren't it 
> better to say 'þarei' with 'ainshun ni gaswiltiþ' and 'manna sigis 
> nimiþ'?

I'm sure you're right: I have extremely limited experience of reading
Classical Nahuatl; I just looked up the individual words and consulted
some Spanish translations online, and I don't have the experience
necessary to know how the language works on a broader scale. I took
these two descriptions of the place to be in apposition and both
dependent on the subsquent clause with 'in mâ oncân ni-(y)âuh'. But
maybe the syntax is looser than that? More like:

"[oh, just imagine that place] where no one dies / where there's no death,
there where there is victory / where one is victorious.
Let me go there. / Could I but go there."

And as an alternative to '(ei) wainei gangau', maybe we could have
'*þaþ let mik gangan' "thither let me go" to vary the vocabulary a bit.

> Is it the 'îchân tônatiuh', the place? An interesting parallel 
> between 'in yâômiqui' and einherjar...

Are you familiar with the cartoon Ren and Stimpy? This reminds me of
the episode of that where they're space-travellers and Stimpy is
granted a wish, so he wishes they could go to "a place where there is
no sadness and the sun always shines"--which the wish-granting entity
promptly fulfills by sending them hurtling into the heart of the sun!

Now, the real challenge will be translating the hymn to the 400
Rabbits, tôtôchtin, of Drunkanness, which begins:

Yyaha, yya yya, yya ayya, ayya ouiya, ayya yya, ayya yya, yyauiyya,
ayya ayya, yya ayya, yya yya yye.

"Wai! Wai! etc."

http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/aztec/rva/rva17.htm


> --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@> wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> > Meanwhile here's my woeful attempt at
> > Nahuatl into Gothic.  It's one of the poems ascribed to 
> Nezahualcoyôtl.
> > 
> > Þaurstei du undiwanein.
> > 
> > Nîhuinti, nichôca, nicnotlamati,
> > nicmati, niquihtoa, niquilnâmiqui.
> > Mâca aîc nimiqui.  Mâca aîc nipolihui.
> > In cân ahmicôhua, in cân ontepêtîhua,
> > in mâ oncân niâuh.
> > Mâca aîc nimiqui.  Mâca aîc nipolihui.
> > 
> > Drugkans im, greta, þata þula,
> > þata wait(1), þata qiþa, þis man.
> > Wainei aiw ni gaswiltau!  Wainei aiw ni usleiþau!
> > Þadei ainshun ni gaswiltiþ,
> > in þana staþ, þadei manna sigis nimiþ(2),
> > ei wainei gangau!
> > Wainei aiw ni gaswiltau!  Wainei aiw ni usleiþau!
>


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