Rrldha Babel Text

From Langmaker

Rrldha is a conlang I created (with Langmaker's help) for a science-fiction novel I'm writing. It's the official language of the Myilo, a felinoid race. Translated by Tom Corcoran.

Babel Text

1. Estyesh jye zbin egeik estyesh jye bye'o trzhrrld nrr m'zdimeith nal m'lhrsai lrrzlae'rrn.

And [acc] language one and [acc] word [pl] common [act] [def. art] whole [gen] [def. art] world [past-] to have [-imperfect].

And the whole world had one language and common words.

2. Estyesh prrjr siblelh nal meihh nrr chrr'r la'rrzlekhr'ach, jye hloib zhrr m'shlotrrsku nal Shinrr nrr chrr'r lrr'ughrr'rrn, estyesh zhrr dazae nrr chrr'r lalhrrzdhogr'es.

And when from [gen] [def. art] east [act] they [past-] to travel [-progressive], [acc] field [loc] [def. art] region [gen] Shinrr [act] they [past-] to find [-imperfect], and [loc] there [act] they [past-] to dwell [-perfect].

And when they were travelling from the East, they found a field in the land of Shinar, and they settled there.

3. Estyesh jye lhrrln nal chrr nrr rrpludh egeik lrrzbagrrn: rmp rhaolh, jye mrlelhrthr nrr ye'rr tu zdhu estyesh tu rrshle. Estyesh na m'mrlelhrthr rngrrl trr oimrrzdhye kla chrr'r la'rrstae'in, estyesh na m'zboi kla trr rgya chrr'r la'rrstae'in.

And [acc] friend [gen] he [act] man one [past-] to say [-imperfect]: [imperative mood] to accompany, [acc] brick [pl] [act] we [cohortative mood] to make and [cohortative mood] to bake. And [pas] [def. art] brick [pl] as [dat] stone [abl] they [past-] to use [-imperfect], and [pas] [def. art] mud as [dat] glue [abl] they [past-] to use [-imperfect].

And one man said to his friend: come, let us shape bricks and bake them. And the bricks were used by them as stone, and the mud was used by them as glue.

Note: The Myilo use their word for glue whenever they speak of our mortar-they don't use mortar. Some of the younger generation have adopted a new word, "mrrta", but its use is still considered improper in formal speech and writing.

4. Estyesh nrr chrr'r lrrzbagrrn: rmp rhaolh, jye mrrng estyesh jye hhath chastek kla trrngye'rr nrr ye'rr tu lrrhh, estyesh zhrr m'drrstyemrld nrr m'ngrspazh nal m'hhath tu zyi; estyesh jye srglughrrl chastek kla trrngye'rr nrr ye'rr tu zdhu, kitrrl grr zhrr m'plyasrrblod nal m'lhrsai jye trrngye'rr nrr ye'rr rnt jrr'aonrrn.

And [act] they [past-] to say [-imperfect]: [imperative mood] to accompany, [acc] city and [acc] tower for [abl] ourselves [act] we [cohortative mood] to build, and [loc] [def. art] sky active [def. art] head [gen] [def. art] tower [cohortative mood] be; and [acc] symbol for [abl] ourselves [act] we [cohortative mood] to make, lest around [loc] [def. art] whole [gen] [def. art] world [acc] ourselves [act] [subjunctive mood] [present-] to scatter [-imperfect].

And they said: come, let us build a city and a tower for ourselves, and the tower's head shall be in the sky; and let us make a sign for ourselves, lest we scatter ourselves around the whole world.

Note: The Myilo express the idea "make a name for oneself" by an idiom which means "make a sign for oneself". This refers to their practice of using blazes (markings carved into tree-trunks) to stake out their tribal hunting lands; one's blaze being widely known meant one was famous.

5. Estyesh jye m'mrrng estyesh jye m'hhath nal myilo, nrr Chrrtrrngchrr lalrrzlodr'in estyesh lrryedrgrrn.

And [acc] [def. art] city and [acc] [def. art] tower [gen] [def. art] person [pl], [act] YHWH [past-] to come [-imperfect] and [past-] to see [-imperfect].

And YHWH came down and saw the city and the tower of the people.

Note: Chrrtrrngchrr literally means He-Himself, and is the name of God in the majority Myilo religion; its meaning is roughly equivalent to that of YHWH, as both are essentially shorthand for God's ontological self-sufficiency (aseity).

6. Estyesh pizgol zhrr Trrngchrr'r nrr Chrrtrrngchrr lrrzbagrrn: jye rrlk egeik rmp yedrg, jye zbin egeik nrr mrrlk hhop zlae; jye ailh nrr chrr'r jrr'aghrr'rrn. Estyesh zhrr rrjr, jye srlgr nal chrr'r lho kla chrr'r rrj-zrrslaos latrrth.

And among [loc] Themselves [act] YHWH [past-] to say [-imperfect]: [acc] nation one [imperative mood] to see, [acc] language one [act] [def. art] nation [participial mood] to have; [acc] this [act] they [present-] to begin [-imperfect]. And [loc] now, [acc] plan [pl] [gen] they away [abl] they [negative potentiative mood] to withhold.

And among Themselves YHWH said: See one nation, having a single language; this they start. And now their schemes cannot be withheld from them.

Note: Themselves and other plural pronouns are customarily used by the Myilo to refer to God.

7. Rmp rhaolh! Nrr ye'rr tu thukrrchib estyesh jye zbin nal chrr'r tu zlo, dodhyeng jye lhrrln nal chrr nrr rrpludh ghailh rrj-zrrslaos rrni.

[Imperative mood] to accompany! [Act] we [cohortative mood] pounce and [acc] language [gen] they [cohortative mood] to mix, so that [acc] friend [gen] he [act] man each [negative potentiative mood] to understand.

Come! Let Us pounce and mix their language, so that each man cannot understand his friend.

Note: The connotation of "descend" (see the note for this verse in the Verbatim English Babel text) is best represented by the Myilo word meaning "to surpise" or "to pounce".

8. Estyesh jye myilo nrr Chrrtrrngchrr lrr'aonrrn, estyesh siblelh nal Shinrr thrrgrth jye ghazae zhrr m'lhrsai nrr myilo lrrteikhrrlprrn, estyesh nal m'mrrng kla lrrhh nrr myilo lrrkhao'rrn.

And [acc] [def. art] person [pl] [act] YHWH [past-] to spread [-imperfect], and from [gen] Shinar to [acc] everywhere [loc] [def. art] world [act] [def. art] person [pl] [past-] to flee [-imperfect], and [gen] [def. art] city [abl] to build [act] [def. art] person [pl] [past-] to cease [-imperfect].

And YHWH spread the people, and the people fled from Shinar to everywhere in the world, and ceased the building of the city.

9. Odhyeng, jye m'zdaed nal m'mrrng thrrgrth jye Brrbel nrr chrr'r la'rrkei'in, dodhyeng zhrr dazae jye m'zbin nal m'zdimeith nal m'lhrsai nrr Chrrtrrngchrr lrrzlo'rrn, estyesh siblelh nal dazae na myilo lrr'aonrrn, thrrgrth jye ghazae zhrr m'lhrsai kla Chrrtrrngchrr.

Because of this, [acc] [def. art] name [gen] [def. art] city to [acc] Babel [act] they [past-] to change [-imperfect], because [loc] there [acc] [def. art] language [gen] [def. art] whole [gen] [def. art] world [act] YHWH [past-] to mix [-imperfect], and from [gen] there [pas] [def. art] person [pl] [past-] to spread [-imperfect] to everywhere [loc] [def.art] world [abl] YHWH.

Because of this, the city's name was changed to Babel, because there YHWH mixed the language of the whole world, and from there the people were spread to everywhere in the world by YHWH.