King Hattusili I's Last Words in Toki Pona

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janMato
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King Hattusili I's Last Words in Toki Pona

Post by janMato »

The Hittite King Hattusili I's Last Words.

1. "Hashtayar" li meli "Labarna". Jan Lawa Suli "Labarna" li toki e jan "Hashtayar" e ni: meli o sina weka ala e mi. sina o, mi lawa sina.

2. mi wile e ni: jan lawa suli li toki ala ken e ike tawa meli pi ona sama. jan lawa suli li tok ala e ni: "kulupu li toki ike tawa meli pi ona sama". jan lawa suli li toki ala e ni: "Ona li wile e ni: meli pi sike suno mute li kama sona e ona meli"

3. mi wile e ni: jan lawa suli li toki e ni : "ona li toki tawa meli pi sike suno mute la mi sona ala."

4. tu la mi li ala ala! tu la mi li lawa e sina. Ala!

5. mi pilin e ni: jan mute li lon ante mi li kulupu e mi. awen la sina li kama jo e sona tan ona ante la mi pana e nimi mute mi tawa sina.

6. pona la sina o telo e sijelo mi. sina o jo e mi tawa sijelo sina. sina o awen e mi sewi ma jaki.

1. The Great King, the Labarna, to Ms. Haštayar says: Do not reject me!

2. May the king not speak thusly about her, so that the king thusly says, "The Sons of the Palace say, 'Now she is consulting the Old Women.'"

3. The king (should) speak thusly about her, "Now (whether) still the Old Women she is consulting, I don't know."

4. Again, do not reject me! Don't!

5. Keep consulting those behind me, and I will reveal my word to you.

6. Wash me well! Hold me at your breast, and at your breast protect me from the earth!

Commentary
2. This is about gossiping, so the English is 4 layers deep. "Old women" is probably witches. I'm drawing a blank on what a witch would be in tp.

4. Using the "no" word as a verb has precedent in Scandinavian languages, but I'm not seeing it listed as verb.

5. I think he's talking about his allies ("those behind me") or friends nearby his death bed. I stretching by saying here "li kulupu" means "ally/collaborate/hang with"

6. Some old school ancient Europeans *really* didn't want to be buried. Can I use sewi as a proposition?
janKipo
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Re: King Hattusili I's Last Words in Toki Pona

Post by janKipo »

janMato wrote:The Hittite King Hattusili I's Last Words.

1. "Hashtayar" li meli "Labarna". Jan Lawa Suli "Labarna" li toki e jan "Hashtayar" e ni: meli o sina weka ala e mi. sina o, mi lawa sina.
All these proper adjectives need nouns to modify, so 'jan Hashtayar [Asitaja]' 'meli pi jan Labarna [Lapana]'
'toki e ni tawa jan Asitaja' probably don't need 'sina' for the imperative, just 'weka ala' Don't see the point of "O you, let me be your leader/head" or "Oh you, I am your leader.
2. mi wile e ni: jan lawa suli li toki ala ken e ike tawa meli pi ona sama. jan lawa suli li toki ala e ni: "kulupu li toki ike tawa meli pi ona sama". jan lawa suli li toki ala e ni: "Ona li wile e ni: meli pi sike suno mute li kama sona e ona meli"
What is the point of 'ken' in that position? The "may" seems to be covered by the 'wile'. 'sama' not needed as 'jan lawa suli' is only possible antecedent for 'ona' "about" is an ongoing problem, you've said, "not speak evil to her," maybe 'e ike pi meli ona' (which is vague, but it is hard to be more precise). ditto for the second case (until we get "about" settled). The witches don;t learn (come to know) her; they (presumably) teach her: 'pana e sona tawa ona'
3. mi wile e ni: jan lawa suli li toki e ni : "ona li toki tawa meli pi sike suno mute la mi sona ala."
This is probably equivalent, but the usual would be 'mi sona ala e ni: ona meli li toki ala toki ...'
4. tu la mi li ala ala! tu la mi li lawa e sina. Ala!
? I've no problem with 'ala' as a verb (Das Nichts nichtet, after all) but I don't understand this alone or in relation tot the trat below.
"Secondly, I am not nothing. Secondly, I lead you. Not" "Again" would be 'sin la'
5. mi pilin e ni: jan mute li lon ante mi li kulupu e mi. awen la sina li kama jo e sona tan ona ante la mi pana e nimi mute mi tawa sina.
False friend: 'ante' means "change, difference, other;" 'monsi' is "behind," 'kulupu e mi' means something like "recruit me, bring me into a group;" "allies" is just 'jan pona,' I suppose. Only problem is whether the first 'la' goes with the second or with the whole following sentence, not that it seems to make a lot of difference that I can see. "Reveal" is "cause to know" more than just "give words" ('sona' would be better than 'nimi' here, I think -- if I get the drift). 'ona ante' means "those others"
6. pona la sina o telo e sijelo mi. sina o jo e mi tawa sijelo sina. sina o awen e mi sewi ma jaki.
Don't really need the 'sina.' 'sinpin' or even 'nena mama' maybe better than 'sijelo.' 'lon sewi pi ma jaki'
janMato
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Re: King Hattusili I's Last Words in Toki Pona

Post by janMato »

1. jan "Hashtayar" li meli pi jan "Labarna". Jan Lawa Suli "Labarna" li toki e jan "Hashtayar" e ni: meli o sina weka ala e mi. sina o, mi lawa sina.
The pattern "sina o [verb]!" for imperative is well attested in the archives.
2. mi wile e ni: jan lawa suli li toki ala kin e ike tawa meli pi ona sama. jan lawa suli li tok ala e ni: "kulupu li toki ike tawa meli pi ona". jan lawa suli li toki ala e ni: "Ona li wile e ni: meli pi sike suno mute li pana e sona tawa ona meli"
I think I meant kin, not ken.
3. mi wile e ni: jan lawa suli li toki e ni : "ona li toki tawa meli pi sike suno mute la mi sona ala."
It would lose the conditional if I switched to "mi sona ala e ni: ...."
4. sin la sina li ala ala e mi! sin la mi li lawa e sina. Ala!
Oops. Reversed by object and subject. Still don't know how to say "Obey me!"
5. mi pilin e ni: jan mute li lon monsi mi li kulupu pona mi. awen la sina li kama jo e sona tan ona monsi la mi pana e nimi mute mi e sona mi tawa sina.
Ha! "I think this, people on my ass (um, my backers) are my good community (allies). If you will continuously learn from those to the behind, then I will give you a lot of words and knowledge to you."
6. pona la sina o telo e sijelo mi. sina o jo e mi tawa sijelo sina. [mi pilin e ni: mi moli.] sina o awen e mi lon sewi ma jaki.
The king was dictating to a scribe for the benefit of the next king, so "nena mama" would be very misleading for "hold me to your chest/hug me"

Hmm, I'm still at a loss for a word for "to obey"
janKipo
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Re: King Hattusili I's Last Words in Toki Pona

Post by janKipo »

"The pattern "sina o [verb]!" for imperative is well attested in the archives."
So is "ain't" in English. The 'sina' is unneeded and converts the whole into a weaker, hortative, construction "Oh would that you ..." which comes to pretty much the same thing, of course, especially since we don't know much about tp paralinguistics.

"It would lose the conditional if I switched to "mi sona ala e ni: ....""
But do you want the the conditional :"If they are talking, then I don't know it" vs. "I don't know whether they are talking" Again, sorta the same thing, though the first is problematic if they are not talking.

"Obey me" = (among other possibilities) 'pali e wile mi'

Coming along.
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