Lesson 42: Time Out 7

Vocabulary

You will have noticed, in "homana" (dessert), the word "hom" (nectar).

Text

Daleyodewan Diídinethu

Bíi zha letho Máthu wa. Ham láad le hathóolethameth bath i hathóoleth boó. Ril den le Másha, hena lethath, i Shahina, edin lethath; mebud lezh daleyodewaneth yodeyod diídinethuda. Didi thul letha medinime meham batha shin hiwethaha, i medinime meham hum i bada shin hiwethohahé. Íi medinime meham hed ilida humeha rayil i hed rushida badaha rayil. Dinime ham ni e yobeda e zhuda bathaha rayil. Dinime ham rin hathameha i bin beha rayil.

Bíi dush áya daleyodewan bróo eril memahin Mathul i Berídanid Ánetheni i Hothul sháalede shin eril sháaledi ril; mehabaháalish belid wum wi. Aril ham deheni i thili i yáazh i thulana balinemidethu wáa. Íi ham udemeda onelaleden, i medalayun, i mud bremedaden, i bal i hob. Homana thuzh ahanathu i thizh doyuthu. Aril umeháalish daleyodewan, hulehul.

Bíi ril thódidi Mathul ledi wil dam le shalehé wa. Bíilan methéenosháad with menedebe hothede nedebe udathihéeya hi--i ben woho onida letha wáa.

Mehabelid Hothul Shuzhéth, Mathul i thulid letha Máshaden (ham láad Másha hathóoletham bud) i leden, i Berídan Ánetheni (henahid Mathuletha; eril shebasheb eba betho) Shahinaden (ham láad be hathóoletham nib) nuhóoha.

Mehabelid Berídanid Máyel (be hena thulidetha letha) i eba betho, Berídan Méri, hunehoneha melaha thoma; methi bezh háawitheth boó: Nem, Oyimahina, i Elízhabeth. Berídanid Máyel wíitham; ulanin Berídan Méri ehom.

Mehabelid Berídan Therísha (hena thuletha letha) i Thíben (wobun woheba betho) Halishónaha shéeha thoma; methi ra bezh háawith. Bel Berídan Ánetheni bezheth hozhazhede nudi mazhenan. Widahath meham Berídan Therísha i Berídanid Thíben nuha, mehabelid bezh botheha.

Ril loláad le thena bróo aril nebithim le onida lethath.

Morpheme-by-Morpheme Analysis

Free Translation

Holiday Table

My name is Matthew. I'm six years and three months old. I'm helping Marsha, my sister, and Rose, my cousin; we're setting the table for the holiday feast. My mother instructed me that the two forks should go on the left-hand side and the knife and two spoons should go on the right-hand side. Also the water glass should go above the knife and the wine glass should go above the spoons. The plate should go in the middle and the bowl above it.

The table has to be beautiful because Mom, Uncle Anthony and Grandmother have been cooking since the day before yesterday; the whole house is sooooo fragrant. There will be meat and fish and goose and turtle soup. Also there will be potatoes with cream, and carrots, and mushrooms with onions, and bread and butter. Dessert will be chocolate cake and apple pie.

Mom just instructed me to mind my manners. Many people will be arriving from several places this afternoon--and they all will be my family.

Living here are Grandmother Suzette, Mom and my father with Marsha (she's nine) and me, and Uncle Anthony (Mom's brother; his wife died) with Rose (she's eight).

Uncle Michael (he's my father's brother) and his wife, Aunt Mary, live in the northwest near the ocean; they have three children: Pearl, Violet and Elizabeth. Uncle Michael is a clergyman; Aunt Mary is studying education.

Aunt Teresa (my mother's sister) and Steven (her new husband) live in California near a desert; they don't have children. Uncle Anthony is driving them here from the airport. While Teresa and Steven are here, they'll stay in an hotel.

I'm happy because I'll be meeting my family again.

Comments

This is a whole lot of vocabulary, but I suspect you're tiring of being spoon-fed just a few words at a time.

You will have noticed, I'm sure, that sometimes Máthu refers to his uncle Ánetheni as berídanid (uncle), and at other times as "berídan" (aunt). English lacks a word for "the sibling of one's parent where the sibling is not disclosed to be of either gender." In Láadan, female is assumed (much as male is assumed in English), but we can use the un-masculinized version of a noun or pronoun to refer to a male person--just as we have been referring to men using the pronoun "be" for some time; we needn't convert it to "behid" every time the man is referred to. In fact, it could be argued that insisting on the "-id" suffix is a way to emphasize that he is male--in effect saying "how like a man..." with every noun or pronoun. This is similar to English speakers who insist on referring, for instance, to a woman sculptor as a "sculptress" as though to set her apart, to rate her work on a different scale than that applied to a "real" (ie "male") sculptor. The man saying, in Láadan, "Bíi le with wa," is not lying, even though he used "with" rather than "withid;" he's merely stating that he is a person, no gender declared.

In this story, we see a new idiom: "sháal ril" meaning "today". There is a set of related idioms: "sháal eril" means "yesterday", "sháal shin eril" is "the day before yesterday", and "sháal boó eril" is the day before that or "three days ago". On the future side, "sháal aril" means "tomorrow", "sháal shin aril" is "the day after tomorrow" and "sháal boó aril" is the day after that or "three days from now". Any case ending (such as "-ya" (Time Case) or "-de" (Source Case) or "-di/-dim" (Goal Case)) would go on the noun, "sháal".