Mephaph
The Lord's Prayer in Meghean
by Andreas Johansson
I assume the text needs little introduction. This translation is, this far, easily the longest continuous text written in Meghean, and I think seeing it will convey the "feel" of the language in a way a linguistic description cannot. Not to leave the technical types out, however (I'm one myself, afterall), the interlinear following the text is accompanied by some grammatical commentary. For more info check out the Introduction to Meghean article. But without further ado, the text:
|
Mephaph do Hamalo, Rahes tul eo deur, Rachorthas tul an, Rashubhas tulimh ten, Oañh Ghenho oete do Hamalo, Mad mebhado ñhoicho acem, Oa parasean mehathenasano acem, Oete mepharasean acach, Nein atheun acem, Oa aba duchanhem odho ubhunaso, Si pareahem eus magelo. Amen. |
Interlinear and and comments
Below each line is given again, followed by a phonetic transcription, a morpheme breakdown (note that mutations and infixes are "extracted"), a morpheme-for-morpheme translation, and a smooth English translation. The smooth translation follows the Meghean quite closely - as you will note, I have kept closely to traditional English renderings.
NB: Pronunciations are given according to the CXS system of phonetic transcription, except that [P] has been prefered over [p\] for the bilabial voiceless fricative. I'd prefer IPA, but, since support for that is still anything but universal, clunky ASCIIifcations will have to do for now.
Abbreviations used:
ACC accusative PAS passive PERF perfect PL plural POSS Possessive SA Subjunctive auxiliary
Mephaph do Hamalo, [me'PaP do ja'malo] me- paph do h- amal -o our father in the heaven ACC "Our Father in Heaven,"(Note that Meghean requires an explicit article on "heaven" here. Do amalo could only mean "in a heaven".)
Rahes tul eo deur, [ra'es tul jo dZur] ra- es tul eo deur your name SA is holy "Your name be holy,"(Note the subjunctive auxiliary tul. It's use here is modelled on the original; I'm not sure if it is the most natural native Meghean construction here. It occurs also in the two following lines. Note also that ra- is strictly a singular pronoun "thou". It also occurs again in the following lines.)
Rachorthas tul an, [ra'xorTas tul an] ra- corthas tul an your kingdom SA come "Your kingdom come," Rashubhas tulimh ten, [ra'huBas tuliB~ tSen] ra- subhas tul -imh ten your will SA PAS do "Your will be done,"(Note how the passive marker -imh goes on the auxiliary. The indicative counterpart would be rasubhas tenimh "thy will was/is done".)
Oañh Ghenho oete do Hamalo, [waG~ 'ZeD~o 'wete do ja'malo] oañh h- genh -o oete do h- amal -o on the earth ACC like in the heaven ACC "on Earth like in Heaven," Mad mebhado ñhoicho acem, [mad me'Bado 'G~ojxo 'atSem] mad me- bad -o h- ñoch -i- -o ac -em give our bread ACC the day POSS ACC to us "Give to us our bread of the day,"(Having both a possessive pronoun and a following genitive on bado "bread (acc)" may be a bit unusual, but then this line has always been hard on translators!)
Oa parasean mehathenasano acem, [wa para'San meja'Tenasano 'atSem] oa parasean me- athenas -an -o ac -em and forgive our sin PL ACC to us "And forgive us our sins,"(Note the acts forgiven as direct object, and the people forgiven as a prepositional argument. The word athenas "sin" breaks down as a-ten-as "un-do-ing" - a more literal translaton would be "illdeeds".)
Oete mepharasean acach, ['wete mePara'San 'akax] oete me- parasean ac -ach like we forgive to them "Like we forgive them," Nein atheun acem, [nejn a'Tewn 'atSem] nei -n athen -u- ac -em who PL sin PERF to us "Who have sinned against us,"(The verb athen "sin" is of course literally "un-do", but that translation just doesn't work! Note also that the same proposition ac is used regardless of the thing done is beneficial to the people it is done to or not; there is no variation corresponding to English "to/for someone" vs "against someone")
Oa aba duchanhem odho ubhunaso, [wa 'aba 'duxaD~em 'oDo 'uBunaso] oa aba duchanh -em odho ubhanas -o and not lead us into temptation ACC "And lead us not into temptation" Si pareahem eus magelo. Amen. [Si 'parjaem jus ma'dZelo 'amen] si parea -em eus magel -o amen but save us from evil ACC amen "But save us from evil. Amen."("Amen" is a left untranslated, as is traditional. Note that pareahem is three syllables - ['par.ja.em].)
