I came across a website called The *Bʰlog recently, a blog about Proto-Indo-European edited by a lecturer from the University of Kentucky’s linguistics department, Andrew Byrd. The *Bʰlog was started as a reaction to the success of an article on the website of the journal Archaeology, which featured sound recordings of two short texts Byrd made using a reconstruction of the Indo-European proto-language, one of the texts being Schleicher’s “The Sheep and the Horses”.

I found one of the texts presented on The *Bʰlog—“Everlasting Honey” by Erica Mattingly and translated into PIE (according to what we know about it) by Byrd’s 2014 PIE class—pretty neat and thought it may well be a nice, short text to translate into Ayeri. If you’re a longterm reader of my blog, you may remember a little translation on a similar topic—a 100-word story called “The Sugar Fairies”. I recommend you also try your hands on this other fun little text if you haven’t yet. The blog article, “Composing *Médhu n̥dhgwhitóm”, at The *Bʰlog also contains another, slightly longer story by Leah Hatch that may be of interest as a translation challenge for the more advanced conlanger or if you have a bit more time. I may try translating Hatch’s text again later, too.

Here is my translation of Mattingly’s text into Ayeri:

Biling saroyo

honey everlasting

‘Everlasting Honey’

Sa yomareng envan lanyana.

PT exist=3SG.INAN.A wife[TOP] king-GEN

‘There was the wife of the king.’

Ang səsarayo tadoy denan biling paso yena.

AT FUT-cease-3SG.N never fame[TOP] honey-GEN sweet 3SG.F.GEN

‘The fame for her sweet honey would never cease.’

Le veryaya patasang biling, nay ang saraya lepadayam nangaya yena.

PT.INAN smell-3SG.M bear-A honey[TOP], and AT go-3SG.M[TOP] taste-PTCP house-LOC 3SG.F.GEN

‘A bear smelled the honey, and he went to taste it at her house.’

Ang silvaye envan patasas nay paronayeng, ang tahaya nivajas paso.

AT see-3SG.F woman[TOP] bear-P and think-3SG.F.A AT have-3SG.M[TOP] eye-PL-P sweet

‘The woman saw the bear and she thought he had sweet eyes.’

Yam tapyyeng bilingley patas marin mehirya tibenanya.

DATT put-3SG.F.A honey-P.INAN bear[TOP] surface.of tree-LOC dawn-LOC

‘She put honey onto a tree at dawn for the bear.’

Ya sahaya lanyāng gino nanga, sa silvyāng patas si ang tahaya bilingley vinaya, lāya nay bantaya yana, nay lanyāng sigi.

LOCT come-3SG.M king-A drunk house[TOP] PT see-3SG.M.A bear[TOP] REL AT have-3SG[TOP] honey-P.INAN nose-LOC tongue-LOC and mouth-LOC 3SG.M.GEN and king-A furious

‘The drunk king came to the house and saw the bear, who had honey on his nose, tongue and mouth, and the king was furious.’

Ang praysaya tupoyas kayvo runuya-ikan, nay saraya patasang.

AT kindle=3SG.M[TOP] fire-P with smoke-LOC=much, and leave-3SG.M bear-A

‘He started a fire with much smoke, and the bear left.’

Silvoyya lanyāng gino, sahaya segasang kāryo sang sa gesyāng lanvaya

see-NEG-3SG.M king-A drunk come-3SG.M snake-A big REL-A PT rob-3SG.M.A queen[TOP]

‘The drunk king didn't see that a big snake came, which robbed the queen.’

Ang sa-sahaya nārya patas tombānyam segasena, nay ang ninya lanvayās mangasaha nangaya yena.

AT ITER~come-3SG.M but bear[TOP] kill-NMLZ-DAT snake-GEN and AT carry=3SG.M[TOP] queen-P towards house-LOC 3SG.F.GEN

‘But the bear came back for killing the snake, and he carried the queen to her house.’

Ang kutaye lanvaya patasas padangeri ikan, nay ang tavya patas ayonas.

AT thank-3SG.F queen[TOP] bear-P heart-INS whole, and AT become-3SG.M bear[TOP] man-P

‘The queen thanked the bear with her whole heart, and the bear became a man.’

The whole text without interlinear glossing:

Rendition of the text in Tahano Hikamu

Biling saroyo

Sa yomareng envan lanyana. Ang səsarayo tadoy denan biling paso yena. Le veryaya patasang biling, nay ang saraya lepadayam nangaya yena. Ang silvaye envan patasas nay paronayeng, ang tahaya nivajas paso. Yam tapyyeng bilingley patas marin mehirya tibenanya. Ya sahaya lanyāng gino nanga, sa silvyāng patas si ang tahaya bilingley vinaya, lāya nay bantaya yana, nay lanyāng sigi. Ang praysaya tupoyas kayvo runuya-ikan, nay saraya patasang. Silvoyya lanyāng gino, sahaya segasang kāryo sang sa gesyāng lanvaya. Ang sa-sahaya nārya patas tombānyam segasena, nay ang ninya lanvayās mangasaha nangaya yena. Ang kutaye lanvaya patasas padangeri ikan, nay ang tavya patas ayonas.

References