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 Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 2:49 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 2:56 pm
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:20 pm
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This is everything I could rescue through Google caches.
Information might repeat, and some might not even be helpful, but I figured it was better to just grab anything I could.
Also, I have downloaded and saved the Methrahessi program, so if anyone needs it let me know and I can send it to you heart
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Home page
Language is a treacherous thing.
(Mark Twain, Following the Equator)
Welcome to Frithaes! - an Introduction to Colloquial Lapine! This should enable you to become reasonably fluent in the everyday language, which is known in Lapine itself as Naylte Hyao, literally "Today's Lapine". There is also a more complicated inflected dialect - Naylte Éan or "Old Lapine" - which is used in more formal settings, and for the telling of traditional tales (eg the stories of El-ahrairah). Many rabbits never become fluent in this dialect: Dandelion is quite exceptional in being fluent while still a yearling, and deserves his fame as a storyteller. I have largely avoided the inflected tongue, apart from odd phrases - the main exception being Unit 13, where I thought it interesting to compare the two dialects by reference to a very well known Lapine passage.
I usually cover two subjects in each Unit, although there is slight variation here in order to keep lengths reasonably comparable. I generally provide some example sentences in each Unit to give you an idea of using Lapine in context, and in most cases at least some of these will be accompanied by MP3s of my good self speaking them - look for the [LISTEN] symbol. You should note that the first couple of Units are rather more theoretical and, frankly, boring, than the later ones. I didn't really have any choice here, as some things - for example, pronunciation - have to be learnt before starting out on the living language. As soon as possible, however, I have adopted a mostly practical tone, giving examples which will be of genuine use.
If you want to use the language yourself, you might find it helpful to know that I have written a very basic Lapine-English / English-Lapine translation program for Windows called Methrahessi, which is available from wherever I end up putting the embleer thing.
You should note, as if it weren't pretty darn obvious anyway, that I am not qualified in this sort of thing. Any proper linguists reading will find some pretty jarring inconsistencies. I'm aiming this at WD fans first and foremost, and in most cases ease of use has been preferred to realism in examples etc. Here's my get-out clause: this is not a human language, so doesn't have to obey human languages' rules. (Yeah, I know that's feeble, but it's the best you're going to get!)
Units available so far
00: Background information; the Lapine alphabet; pronunciation
01: The present tense; personal pronouns; a greeting
02: The past tense; measuring time
03: The future tense; more about time
04: Numbers; talking about rabbits (1)
05: U methrah Rooli Roo ao pfeffil
06: Adjectives and adverbs; qualification
07: Questions; plant names; some rabbit names
08: Possessives; prepositions
09: Ability and compulsion; conjunctions
10: U methrah Rooli Roo ao flayrah ithé
11: Comparatives and superlatives; attributes (speed, "tharnness")
12: In the warren; talking about rabbits (2)
13: Frith's Great Blessing of El-ahrairah
14: Emotions and feelings; parts of the body
15: U Methrah Rooli Roo ao Methain Marli
16: Weather and the environment
17: The passive voice; reporting speech
18: Dialectal variations
19: Conditionals; more plant names
Appendix 1: Lapine proverbs and sayings
Appendix 2: Translating into Lapine
Dictionaries
Thanks to Rüdiger Grammes for his help with these!
Lapine - English dictionary (to Unit 18 )
English - Lapine dictionary (to Unit 18 )
Acknowledgements
I would first like to pay tribute to the work of Zoe Kealtan, on which a good chunk of my version of Lapine has been based - I highly recommend you check out her posts on the watershipdown Yahoo! Group (see the files section for her work - Yahoo! ID required).
I must also thank the members of that Group who have given me help and encouragement with the project - particularly (in alphabetical order!) Befrafa, Entei-rah, Hawthorn and Rüdiger Grammes. If I've forgotten you, let me know!
And, naturally, Richard Adams himself has to be credited with starting this whole thing in the first place! The man's a star!
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 25/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:21 pm
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Home page
Lapine Overview
Unit A1: Lapine Proverbs and Sayings
Conversation is a game of circles.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson, Circles)
In this Appendix Unit, we'll be looking at some of the most common sayings, idioms and so on that you're likely to come across in everyday Lapine. The emphasis here will simply be on recognition, so little formal grammar or vocabulary will be taught.
1) Let's get underway immediately with one that you will have seen, in another context, before:
[LISTEN] Hraeth ela mi!
This, of course, is from the opening part of Frith's Great Blessing, which you can read in full in Unit 13. These few words simply mean "Everything your enemy!" and are often used as a sort of exasperated sigh by a rabbit for whom everything seems to be going wrong today, rather as a human might say "Oh, why me?".
2) Next, another saying taken from the Blessing:
[LISTEN] Kasrahalt, kasrahil!
This is a contraction of laythi kasrahalt, a vatal kasrahil, which means "be cunning, and full of tricks". This saying is used as a reminder to rabbits to play to their strengths in using their trickery against elil, who are generally physically stronger. For example, it might be said as a good-luck charm to a party about to set out on a garden raid.
3) Of course, weather is of vital importance to rabbits, as we saw in Unit 16. So it's no surprise that there are Lapine sayings on the subject. One of the best known is "one cloud feels lonely":
[LISTEN] Bral'eth hral etheth
4) All rabbits feel at their safest underground, of course. The English version of the following saying is "rabbit underground, rabbit safe and sound", but the original Lapine is much snappier:
[LISTEN] Naylte ven, naylte yen
This literally means "rabbit in, rabbit now". Ven, as we know, can mean underground. Yen here is used to mean "alive in the here and now". Think of how the English word "live" is used in broadcasting, and you'll probably see why.
5) Sadly, death is a regular part of lapine life. There are usually no formal "funeral" services for rabbits - it is believed that the best way to honour a fallen comrade's memory is in a story. However, it is quite common for the following sentence to be uttered as a mark of respect:
[LISTEN] Sainte atha ma u Hrair, kan zyhlante hray u vahra ma hyaones
You're probably ahead of me here... yes, it means "my heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today."
6) A well known human saying is that someone is "young at heart". The equivalent idea exists in Lapine, in the saying:
[LISTEN] Pelil éan, atha néan
which means "old legs, young heart".
7) Here's another saying that makes reference to the heart. Loyalty and honour mean a lot to rabbits. So friendship is deeply valued, as the following saying shows:
[LISTEN] U vahra ma, rusati ma, ven atha ma
This means "my friend, my brother, in my heart" and is an expression of deep and serious friendship, not uttered lightly. To be called a rabbit's "heart-brother" (rusatitha) is a high honour indeed. The word for "sister", incidentally, is rusami, and so "heart-sister" is rusamitha.
8 ) In spite of all the dangers they have to face, rabbits as a whole are quite an optimistic lot, and dislike seeing anyone unhappy. To someone who seems depressed, one may say:
[LISTEN] Bralvaoil lay u zyhl éneeralt
which is "hopes are the death of unhappiness".
9) Naturally, running is extremely important to rabbits: for mere survival, of course, but also for the sheer exhilaration of racing across the fields with the wind in our fur. So one of the most common wishes a rabbit may bestow on another is:
[LISTEN] Layth hray hraray!
which means "may you [they, we etc] run fast!". It's often said by a mother to her newborn kittens, for example.
10) Above all else, rabbits believe that Lord Frith is watching over them wherever they may go, and that thanks to his promise to El-ahrairah, the race can never be destroyed. As the proverb has it:
[LISTEN] Frith lay ven, Frith lay silf, Frith lay ven u li
or, "Frith is underground, Frith is outside, Frith is in the head".
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2003-4. Updated 06/05/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:24 pm
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Home page
Lapine Overview
Unit A2: Translating into Lapine
Curled minion, dancer, coiner of sweet words!
(Matthew Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum)
I've had a number of requests to translate things into Lapine over the months, and while I always enjoy the challenge, some readers might like some guidance on how to go about it for themselves. So what we'll do in this (rather long) Appendix is to look at a complete poem that I was asked to translate. The poem, Devotion, is by Whitney Nellé, who has kindly given permission for me to use it here. It's not, by Whitney's own admission, anything exceptional, but it's interesting enough to present a challenge. I've added line numbers for easier reference later on.
Please be aware that I have no qualifications whatever in the field of translation - doing it professionally is an extremely skilled and difficult job, and I'm nowhere near that standard. I'm merely trying to give a basic idea. The poem seemed to me to have something of the air of a myth about it, and so I felt it would be best rendered into Naylte Éan.
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Devotion
1 No better lovers than each other,
2 Jeptum and Harrow run together,
3 Their devotion so great.
4 The kittens they raise
5 Are to rule too.
6 A devotion so great
7 Will not be broken.
8 Jeptum and Harrow
9 Own the sky to the sea.
10 Without Frith
11 This still would be.
12 A devotion so great,
13 Not only to each other,
14 But every breathing individual.
15 Owls to snakes to foxes:
16 Everything belongs in their devotion.
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Title: Titles can be very difficult to translate, especially when they include puns or concepts which don't exist in Lapine. I don't have that problem here, though: the title is a single word, so it's best to try to translate it as exactly as possible. The closest approach Lapine has to "devotion" is bralusi, which literally means "together-feeling" (usi is "together"), so I used that.
Line 1: This is where we come up against our first real difficulty. Whitney has used the word "lovers", but the concept of romantic love is simply absent from lapine society, so no direct translation is possible. The closest approach, it seems to me, is the idea of being a good mate, so I decided to use émaril, "mates". The word "than" doesn't need to be specifically translated - the different word order in Lapine to that in English ensures that there is no confusion. There is a special word, etha, meaning "one another", and "each other" is pretty much the same concept.
Line 2: Our first verb, and this being Naylte Éan (NÉ), it has to start the line. Names always present a problem - should they be "Lapinised" or not? If the rabbits involved are well-known characters such as Hazel or Clover, it's clear what to do, but here there's no such precedent to go on. In the end, I felt that they should be left as they were, partly because I didn't have a clue what "Jeptum" meant! *cough*.
Line 3: The big issue here was how to translate "great". Literally, it should be rah, but as we've seen throughout the course, that word is far more restricted in usage than in English, so here I interpreted "great" as "big", and used nos. I also reversed the order from "their devotion so great" to "so great their devotion".
Line 4: NÉ's general strangeness comes into play here. "To raise/grow" is hlathe. But we can't just say *Laythai u roolil, ai layth hlathe, because... well, because it looks bad. And in NÉ, such things matter. What we do is to inflect hlathe as well, and move ai to the end of the line. Except that we then have a line ending in hlathai ai. That's just asking to be contracted, but we can't lose ai entirely as we need to know who's doing the raising. So we use hlathai'i. You'll never hear such a word in ordinary speech, but it does happen here.
Line 5: Another bit of quirkiness. Usually, the word for "too" in the sense of "as well" is asith, but as you may remember from Unit 13, there's something of a prejudice against it in NÉ, on the grounds that it's ugly. Why this word should have been singled out, I don't know, but there we are. Casting about for an alternative, what presents itself is sithile - it means "second", so the kittens are the second rulers after Jeptum and Harrow themselves. Rah as a verb means "to lead, rule", but there was a slight hiccup with working out the relevant inflected form. Rahathai seemed slightly easier to pronounce than rahthai, but the latter might occur.
Line 6: Very straightforward, except that the "will" from the next line has to be moved to the start of this one for NÉ reasons.
Line 7: I had a difficult choice to make here. Normally, nahl precedes the verb it modifies - so it might have preceded laythe in line 6, but here I've left it with zyhl (which I used because "broken" was used in the sense of "ended"), as I think the aesthetics of the line work better that way.
Line 8: Koiai looks somewhat strange, because you would never get four successive vowels in a word in the colloquial language, even though it's really two sets of double vowels, and pronounced as such. Koi, "to own, possess, have", is a common word, so this often crops up in NÉ.
Line 9: "Sky" is hlafalt, literally "upness". "Sea" is a word I had to fiddle a bit, as it's clear from Watership Down itself that before the arrival of Kehaar the Watership rabbits had no comprehension of the concept. Still, it's pretty obvious what to use - losnos, literally "big water"!
Lines 10-11: Here, I bent the rules a bit, as one is surely entitled to do in poetry. The "to be" in line 11 should, strictly speaking, have been inflected and put at the start of line 10, but I felt that this would have robbed this section of its impact and necessitated compressing two lines into one (something like laythe um layth nahl Frith, which personally I think looks horrible). Instead, I changed the English words a bit to "even without Frith, this will be". (Not "would"? No, because Lapine doesn't have conditional tenses.) Putting Um layth as a line on its own seemed effective.
Line 12: In English, this is exactly the same as line 6, but here we don't have a verb to mess around with, so the lines are slightly different when translated.
Line 13: A very straightforward line - the only point of any note is that an can mean "only" as well as "but". (As it can in English - "he was but a child.")
Line 14: I inserted a "to" before "every" to make the line a little more balanced. "Individual" is simply "one", or eth. "Every" is oten translated as hrair in Naylte Hyao, but in NÉ you don't get that choice, and hraeth it is.
Line 15: "Owl" in Lapine is "night-hawk". That's nildeléao, then. Of course, the Lapine words are (except for hombil) longer than their English equivalents, so the line was in danger of overbalancing the whole poem. The way I got around that was to remove the two occurrences of "to", and replance them by commas.
Line 16: The final line of a poem, like the title, always needs a good deal of thought, and I tried several possibilities here. After careful consideration, I decided that I would turn the English order about - rather than say "everything belongs in their devotion", I would render it as "their devotion owns everything". That's a less attractive line than the original in English, but much better in Lapine - one of the things that makes translation so difficult is the need to appreciate the cultural differences involved as well as the merely linguistic. And it means we get to use lots of vowels again - in this case, koie! Note that the line could be read as "everything owns their devotion" - from context, it's clear that it doesn't mean this, but I found the slight air of uncertainty a rather attractive note on which to end.
So, having done all that, we now have a complete Lapine poem, ready to be published. And here it is:
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Bralusi
[LISTEN] Émaril nahl voir vao etha,
Hrayai Jeptum a Harrow usi,
Rul nos bralusi mai.
Laythai u roolil hlalthai'i
Rahathai u sithile.
Laythe bralusi rul nos
Nahl zyhl.
Koiai Jeptum a Harrow
U hlafalt il u losnos.
Ulé nahl Frith,
Um layth.
Bralusi rul nos,
Nahl an il etha,
An il eth hraeth anisth.
Nildeléaoil, silisil, hombil:
Koie hraeth u bralusi mai.
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Devotion copyright © Whitney Nellé 2003.
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2003-4. Updated 06/05/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:26 pm
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Unit 01: Introduction; the Present Tense
The beginning is the most important part of the work.
(Plato)
Welcome to your first lesson in colloquial Lapine! Before we begin, here are a couple of things to help you get started. Firstly, it would be handy if you got used to my accent, so here's a short welcome message in English [LISTEN]. You'll notice two things: one, that I can't roll my Rs properly - just call it an odd dialect, okay? - and two, that the microphone is a cheap'n'nasty one. Oh well...
Here, after Zoe Kealtan, are the inflected Lapine forms of the present tense (plus the imperative) for the verb flay, "to eat":
[LISTEN]
flaya - I eat
flayi - you (singular) eat
flaye - he (or it) eats
flayo - she eats
flayon - we eat
flayes - you (plural) eat
flayai - they eat
flay! - eat!
Points to note
a) The -o form is used only for "she", with -e standing for both "he" and "it". Rather sexist perhaps, but languages tend to be like that!
b) Unlike in many languages, there is no distinction between familiar and formal forms of "you," but merely a singular/plural distinction.
c) The imperative is the same as the infinitive.
Some features of Lapine are reminiscent of Welsh (which, out of interest, does indeed have e or o meaning "he", depending on dialect), and one notable feature of Welsh is the great difference between the "literary" and "colloquial" forms of the language, to the extent that some consider them to be separate tongues. So it is with Lapine: traditional tales (eg those of El-ahrairah) are commonly told in formal language, with everyday speech being less so.
One feature of colloquial Welsh that is very useful to the learner is the large number of tenses which can be formed by means of auxiliary verbs. (Indeed, in some dialects, every common tense can be formed in this way.) For example, in literary Welsh, "I sing" is canaf, while in the everyday tongue it is something like (depending on dialect) dw i'n canu, from yr ydw i, "I am" + yn canu, "singing". (Let's for the moment ignore the fact that "I sing" and "I am singing" can mean slightly different things in English.)
Lapine's personal pronouns are straightforward: the subject pronouns are simply the endings of the inflected verb, and the object pronouns are the same words with the addition of m- to the front. Here's the complete list:
[LISTEN]
a, ma - I, me
i, mi - thou, thee
e, me - he (or it), him (or it)
o, mo - she, her
on, mon - we, us
es, mes - you, you
ai, mai - they, them
This use of m- explains m'saion, "we meet them", found in Watership Down. This is a contraction of mai saion - which literally translates as "them meet-we" - see note d) below for a little more on this word order.
Now, think about the English verb "to be". In most dialects of English we have to say "I am singing", "we are singing", "he is singing" and so on. But one of my local dialects, that of the Black Country (the urban area to the west of Birmingham), simplifies things still further and regularises throughout, so that one says "I am", "we am", "they am" etc. This also happens in Lapine: we simply use lay in every case, with the personal pronoun being the only indicator of person.
Putting all this into practice, then, we can see that, while the formal (inflected) Lapine for "I sing/I am singing" is haina, the colloquial form is a lay hain, literally "I be singing". To illustrate this further, I have made up some sample sentences. Thray, "to bite", and aydir, "pike", are the two extra words you'll need.
English - Naylte Hyao - Naylte Éan
[LISTEN] I see the cars - A lay hay u hrududil - Haya u hrududil
[LISTEN] We go out to feed after moonrise - On lay silflay fu Inlé; - Silflayon fu Inlé
[LISTEN] She sees the nice groundsel and eats it - O lay hay u sayn narn a flay me - Hayo u sayn narn a m'flayo
[LISTEN] Foxes? They stink! - Hombil? Ai lay embli! - Hombil? Emblai!
[LISTEN] The moon is shining outside - Inlé lay hy silf - Hye Inlé silf
[LISTEN] Are you (pl.) does? - Es lay marlil? - Layes marlil?
[LISTEN] They see a stupefied badger - Ai lay hay lendri tharn - Hayai lendri tharn
[LISTEN] We meet them! - On lay sai mai! - Mai saion! (--> M'saion!)
[LISTEN] Cats are enemies - Pfeffil lay elil - Layai pfeffil elil
[LISTEN] The pike bites the hedgehog - U aydir lay thray u yona - Thraye u aydir u yona
Points to note
a) As in Welsh, there is no word for "a" - "a badger" is simply lendri.
b) Basic questions are indicated merely by tone of voice.
c) Adjectives follow the noun (eg marli tharn). An exception to this is when special emphasis is required - and in the case of embleer, its "swearword" status means that it always carries such emphasis, so always precedes the noun. This also explains why Fiver's O embleer Frith! was so shocking.
d) Note how inflected Lapine uses object pronouns - by the use of mai etc before the inflected verb. Where the person is obvious (as in the third sentence above, or in Bigwig's song - we know it refers to a "them", as u embleer Hrair have already been mentioned), this indicator can be shortened to m'.
e) In formal Lapine, the inflected verb, lay if necessary, begins the sentence, except when an object pronoun takes precedence.
f) Look, it's a particularly stupid pike, all right? = razz
Bonus extra bit!
As a reward for sticking with me this far, here's a common general-purpose greeting - Frithaes! [LISTEN] What? Well, it's a shortening of Frith a mes!, meaning "Frith and you!", rather as "Goodbye" is a contraction of "God be with ye", and with much the same meaning. This can be used for both greeting and farewell, along the lines of "all right!" in some dialects of English. (Incidentally, this is one of the very few common words in Lapine that contains the double vowel ae.) And as you'll hopefully have noticed, it's the title of this very course!
That's all for now, folks. Frithaes until next time! = smile
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 27/04/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:27 pm
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Unit 02: The Past Tense; Measuring Time
Every instant of time is a pinprick of eternity.
(Marcus Aurelius, Meditations)
What I have called "the past tense" corresponds to the English "I sang", "they ran" and so on, though in fact the structure I am describing here is more like the imperfect ("I was singing" etc). This is the main way of expressing events in the past in colloquial Lapine.
We saw in Unit 01 how to form the present tense by means of the verb lay, "to be". The "past marker" in Lapine is the ending -nt and (unlike practically every other language around!) lay is regular, meaning that "was" translates as laynt. We already know the personal pronouns (for a reminder, see Unit 01), so it's a simple matter to form past tense sentences. Before we do that, though, let's look at something else: time. Rabbits don't have clocks, of course, but we do need to know how to measure the passage of time, and indeed Lapine has quite a complex system of such words and phrases. Here is a selection of the most common words - we'll meet others later in the course:
The words than, ni- and fu refer to "before", "mid-" and "after" respectively. Note that ni-, unlike the other two, attaches itself to the following word, so that we have ni-Frith, "midday", but fu Frith "morning" (lit. "after sunrise"). Than is what is known as a "false friend", a word which appears, but is not, the same as one in English. Remember to pronounce it with the hard "th" of "think"! These words can be put together:
fu ni-Frith - afternoon
ni-fu ni-Frith - mid-afternoon
or even than fu ni-Frith - before [the] afternoon!
There are a few special cases:
thanléao - evening (literally "before night")
fuléao - dawn ("after night")
nInlé (note spelling) - midnight
(Actually, nInlé really ought to mean "at the zenith of the moon", but it actually means "midnight", and can in fact refer to any time which would be described as "the middle of the night".) Now then, a load more vocab for you:
neorsé - a little while
fu neorsé - after a little while
hithra - a long while
léao - night
hyao - day
Hyao can also mean "once [upon a time]", and is often seen in the set (and fossilised) phrase hyao, ver sie methai, meaning (roughly) "once, so they say" (meth means "to speak, to say"), which is the traditional way in which to begin a story.
hrudao - year
Inlérao - month (not Inlé-rah, which is a different kettle of fish entirely!)
marlao - week
You might be surprised to learn that rabbits do have a word for "week" - marlao. This literally means "doe time", because does are particularly receptive for mating about every seven days. If you add u before most of these words, combining with a past tense sentence, you can convey an idea of how long ago something happened - u Inlérao can mean "a month ago", and so on.
Finally, here are the names of the seasons - the derivations should be fairly obvious but I've explained them anyway:
Nangeer - spring ("leaf season")
Fritheer - summer ("Frith's season")
Hombeer - autumn ("fox season")
Eleer - winter ("evil season")
Note that u Eleer can mean "in the winter" or "a winter ago", depending on context.
Now for some sample sentences - from now on, I'll generally only give the colloquial translation to save space. Some of the sentences are a bit nonsensical, but they'll give you the idea.
English - Lapine
[LISTEN] After a little while (before midday), he ate the nice groundsel - Fu neorsé (than ni-Frith), e laynt flay u sayn narn
[LISTEN] In the spring, the cats watched at night - U Nangeer, u pfeffil laynt hay u léao
[LISTEN] Stinking winter! [A favourite catchphrase] - Embleer Eleer! (Remember: embleer precedes the noun - see Unit 01)
[LISTEN] Once upon a time, a badger said "Great Frith!" - Hyao, ver sie methai, lendri laynt meth "Frithrah!"
[LISTEN] After a week, they saw a tharn pheasant - Fu marlao, ai laynt hay hawock tharn
[LISTEN] I saw a small pike a day ago [ie yesterday] - A laynt hay aydir roo u hyao
Note that hay can mean "watch" as well as "see". Next time, we'll be looking at how to form the future tense. Until then, it's Frithaes!
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 26/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:29 pm
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Unit 03: The future tense; More about Time
Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act, and serve the future hour.
(William Wordsworth, The River Duddon)
Many languages, among them French and English, have a very simple way expressing a future idea without having to use a separate tense at all: by means of the verb "to go". For example, we can say "tomorrow, I am going to swim" - let's use this as our example for Lapine too. Colloquial Lapine also makes heavy use of such a construction. You'll remember from Unit 02 that the phrase u hyao, literally "the day", can express the idea of "yesterday" when used with a past-tense sentence. Similarly, it can mean "tomorrow" when used with the future tense. The verb "to go" in Lapine is zayn, and "to swim" is hla, so our example sentence looks like this:
[LISTEN] u hyao, a lay zayn hla - tomorrow, I'm going to swim
This use of the same word, hyao to express opposite ideas may seem confusing, but this sort of thing also happens in English: compare "in the spring, I swam" and "in the spring, I'm going to swim". However, because of the potential for confusion, it's very common to borrow these more precise forms from inflected Lapine:
hyaont - yesterday
hyaones - today
hyaoth - tomorrow
léaont - last night
léaones - tonight (present)
léaoth - tonight (future)
Note that the last two convey slightly different ideas of time - broadly, you should use léaones if it is already night time, otherwise léaoth. With all six of these words, the preceding u is entirely optional, though it often occurs because of the influence of the colloquial tongue.
One other borrowing from inflected Lapine which is very common is layth, "will be". This is considered a little more formal than the zayn formation, and is not used as much as lay zayn in very casual chatting, though it certainly does occur. To illustrate the point, I've taken a simple sentence - "tonight, you (pl.) will feed above ground" and rendered it in several ways, with increasing formality:
[LISTEN] u léao, es lay zayn silflay
[LISTEN] léaoth, es layth silflay
[LISTEN] léaoth, silflayesth
Note the "sth" combination in the most formal example - this sequence is very unusual in English, and in one of the few common words containing it - "asthma", is not usually fully pronounced. Remember, in Lapine, all letters are pronounced - listen to the MP3 to see what I mean. Right, everybody, I'll let you off early this time, as we've got a lot of work to get through in our next unit. I want to see evidence of revision, you hear? = wink
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 26/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:30 pm
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Unit 03: The future tense; More about Time
Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act, and serve the future hour.
(William Wordsworth, The River Duddon)
Many languages, among them French and English, have a very simple way expressing a future idea without having to use a separate tense at all: by means of the verb "to go". For example, we can say "tomorrow, I am going to swim" - let's use this as our example for Lapine too. Colloquial Lapine also makes heavy use of such a construction. You'll remember from Unit 02 that the phrase u hyao, literally "the day", can express the idea of "yesterday" when used with a past-tense sentence. Similarly, it can mean "tomorrow" when used with the future tense. The verb "to go" in Lapine is zayn, and "to swim" is hla, so our example sentence looks like this:
[LISTEN] u hyao, a lay zayn hla - tomorrow, I'm going to swim
This use of the same word, hyao to express opposite ideas may seem confusing, but this sort of thing also happens in English: compare "in the spring, I swam" and "in the spring, I'm going to swim". However, because of the potential for confusion, it's very common to borrow these more precise forms from inflected Lapine:
hyaont - yesterday
hyaones - today
hyaoth - tomorrow
léaont - last night
léaones - tonight (present)
léaoth - tonight (future)
Note that the last two convey slightly different ideas of time - broadly, you should use léaones if it is already night time, otherwise léaoth. With all six of these words, the preceding u is entirely optional, though it often occurs because of the influence of the colloquial tongue.
One other borrowing from inflected Lapine which is very common is layth, "will be". This is considered a little more formal than the zayn formation, and is not used as much as lay zayn in very casual chatting, though it certainly does occur. To illustrate the point, I've taken a simple sentence - "tonight, you (pl.) will feed above ground" and rendered it in several ways, with increasing formality:
[LISTEN] u léao, es lay zayn silflay
[LISTEN] léaoth, es layth silflay
[LISTEN] léaoth, silflayesth
Note the "sth" combination in the most formal example - this sequence is very unusual in English, and in one of the few common words containing it - "asthma", is not usually fully pronounced. Remember, in Lapine, all letters are pronounced - listen to the MP3 to see what I mean. Right, everybody, I'll let you off early this time, as we've got a lot of work to get through in our next unit. I want to see evidence of revision, you hear? = wink
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 26/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:31 pm
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Unit 05: U Methrah Rooli Roo ao Pfeffil
Those who tell the stories rule society.
(Plato)
Well, look at that - our first unit with a Lapine title! You should be able to work out most of it by now, but two things will need explaining: firstly, that "and the", which by rights should be a u is usually condensed to ao for easier pronunciation; and secondly, the word methrah. This one we'll leave until a little later on in the unit, though you might well be able to guess its meaning already.
It's very nearly time, then, to reveal the surprise I promised at the end of Unit 04, but first... yes, folks, you've guessed it, it's off to vocab corner once more! Pay close attention to this list, as it contains several extremely common and useful words:
vahl - yes
nahl - no
an - but
aisi - or
asith - with
na - (in order) to
il - to(wards)
hlienes - home
Notes
a) Remember my comments earlier on about how Lapine contained quite a few elements reminiscent of Welsh grammar? Well, one infuriating thing about Welsh is its lack of simple, universal words for "yes" and "no". Lapine, thank goodness, has more sense.
b) The word asith derives from a sithile, "and second".
c) It is very important to distinguish between na and il - although they can both be rendered as "to" in English, they convey very different ideas. Note also that you must use il if moving towards a destination is implied - so that "I'm going home" is a lay zayn il hlienes.
d) Yes, aisi and asith are rather similar, aren't they? Be careful!
All right - the wait is over. Time to reveal the secret. And it is... our very first Lapine story! Not a very exciting one at all - in fact, it's the sort of thing infant kittens tell each other - but it's a start. I said in Unit 04 that the use of rah was restricted to those situations in which a respectful tone was necessary. And we'll meet one such special circumstance now. We've already met meth as a verb, "to say, talk, speak", but in fact it can also be used as a noun to mean, if you like, "a piece of language" - a similar idea to our own noun "a saying". It is a measure of the high regard in which stories are held by rabbits that the Lapine for "story" is methrah, literally "a great saying". Time for the story itself, then - see if you can work out most of the Lapine (which is simply naylte, "rabbit" in Lapine, by the way) without looking at the following English translation. Settle down, and lie your ears flat. Here we go!
[LISTEN]
U methrah Rooli Roo ao pfeffil (NAYLTE)
Hyao, ver sie methai, Rooli Roo laynt hay si pfeffil - pfeffa nos a pfeffa roo.
"Es lay elil?" e laynt meth.
"Nahl, nahl," laynt meth u pfeffa nos. "I lay zayn flay asith mon, aisi nahl?"
"Vahl," laynt meth u rooli, ar ai laynt zayn silf na flay.
An fu neorsé, u pfeffa roo laynt meth. "A lay zayn flay mi, naylte roo," e laynt meth... an u rooli laynt hray il hlienes!
The story of Rooli Roo and the cats (ENGLISH)
Once, so they say, the little kitten saw two cats - a big cat and a small cat.
"Are you elil?" he said.
"No, no," said the big cat. "Are you going to feed with us, or not?"
"Yes," said the kitten, and they went outside to feed.
But after a little while, the small cat spoke. "I'm going to eat you, little rabbit," he said... but the kitten ran home!
Notes
a) A ("and") before a vowel often expands to ar for easier pronunciation (as with ao, mentioned above). This also happens in a few other circumstances for the same reason - for example, "you (sg.) and me is usually ir a ma rather than the strictly correct i a ma.
b) Aisi nahl means "or not" - literally "or no", which is occasionally used in English, and in fact appears in Watership Down itself, when Richard Adams speaks of Fiver being "...more than ever governed, whether he would or no, by the pulse of that mysterious world...".
Well done! As I said before, this might not be a very interesting story, but that's not really very important. In the warren, a kitten's first story is a rite of passage to compare with a human baby's first tooth, so you've achieved something really quite significant in this unit. I think you can now justify making up a huge banner screaming to all the world that "a lay meth Naylte!" ("I speak Lapine!").
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 26/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:32 pm
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Unit 06: Adjectives and adverbs; Qualification
When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights,
And beauty making beautiful old rime,
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights
(William Shakespeare, Sonnet 106)
Rather important parts of speech, adjectives and adverbs, and happily they're generally very easy to form in Lapine, though as usual English-speakers will find things slightly restrictive on occasion. We've already met quite a few adjectives in previous units, but let's have a few more now - you'll see that these words come in related pairs, which makes things easier:
vao - good
nao - bad
éan - old
néan - young
hraray - fast
bray - slow
Notes
a) The general word for "good" is vao - narn is confined to occasions where English would use "pleasant" (eg when talking about the tastiness or otherwise of food). You can generally use vao for meanings covered by narn, but not usually vice versa. There is no direct opposite of narn - use nao.
b) The e-acute which starts éan indicates that the letters should be pronounced separately.
c) Although néan is the correct word for young, roo ("little") is very common, especially when referring to non-rabbits - as I mentioned back in Unit 04, the usual way of referring to a cat kitten is pfeffa roo, "a little cat".
d) Hraray derives from hray, "to run". The phrase hray hraray ("fast runner") is dreaded by those of us who can't roll our Rs properly!
e) Be careful with bray - it's another "false friend".
That should be enough to allow some illustrative examples - dray (another false friend!) means "to hop" (rabbit-style, not bouncing up and down on one leg!):
[LISTEN] U homba lay flay u hawockil néan - The fox is eating the young pheasants
[LISTEN] U lendril laynt éan, a laynt embli - The badgers were old, and stank
[LISTEN] Layth hray hraray! - Be a fast runner! (lit. "Going to run fast!") - a traditional blessing on kittens
[LISTEN] Thlayli lay meth methrah nao - Bigwig is a poor storyteller (lit. "Bigwig tells a bad story")
[LISTEN] Hlao-roo laynt dray bray il hlienes- Little Pipkin hopped home slowly
Notes
a) The adjective must directly follow the verb or noun it refers to - *Hlao-roo laynt dray il hlienes bray would translate as "Little Pipkin hopped to slow home"!
Not at all difficult, is it? And it gets easier still, because the distinction between adjectives and adverbs in Lapine is almost non-existent - bray, for example, is used for both "slow" and "slowly", so that we have (remember that layth, "will be" is a slightly formal version of lay zayn, "is going to"):
[LISTEN] U Naylte Rah lay tarli bray - the Chief Rabbit is a slow buck
[LISTEN] U Naylte Rah layth silflay bray léaoth fu Inlé - the Chief Rabbit will silflay slowly tonight (future) after moonrise
Qualification
Perhaps we want to make it clear that something was very big, or that someone was not very fast. And it would also be handy to be able to say that something was fairly small. We can accomplish all these things in Lapine by means of three suffixes, which are attached to the adjective/adverb in question - they are nyt, "very"; ryt, "a little, slightly" and byt, "fairly". (Don't confuse nyt with ni-!) Once more unto the examples, dear friends:
[LISTEN] U pfeffa ethile laynt nos-byt - The first cat was fairly big
[LISTEN] Sayn lay narn-nyt - Groundsel is very nice
[LISTEN] Nahl (u) nayltil laynt éan-nyt - None of the rabbits were very old
[LISTEN] U nayltil laynt néan-ryt - The rabbits were a little young
Notes
a) You can use nahl to mean "no", "not" or "none of the", according to context. U is optional in this case - it shouldn't really occur, as nahl covers it, but you do quite often hear it, especially when it aids pronunciation.
b) Compare the different effects of the only slightly different in language sentences 3 and 4.
All right, folks, that'll do us for today. More on parts of speech next time around - and we'll (finally) have some plants other than that embleer groundsel, too!
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2004. Updated 26/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:37 pm
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Unit 07: Questions; Plant (and Rabbit!) Names
And have they fixed the where and when?
And shall Trelawny die?
Here's twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why!
(RS Hawker, The Song of the Western Men)
We've already seen the most simple way to ask questions in Lapine: merely by changing the tone of one's voice:
Sayn lay narn, marli! - Groundsel's nice, mother!
Sayn lay narn, marli? - Is groundsel nice, mother?
However, this only allows us to ask certain types of question (at least, without a good deal of roundabout phrasing), so we need to learn the Lapine for the most common basic question words: "where?", "why?" and so on. Here they are:
bleth? - what?
pli? - who?
yao? - where?
hloth? - why?
ureth? - which?
lung? - how?
lungeth? - how many?
blair? - when?
Notes
a) British readers are allowed one "humorous" remark at blair - then you can stop sniggering, all right?
Let's move straight on to some examples - all the vocab here has been mentioned either in previous units or in Watership Down itself:
[LISTEN] Blair laynt Hrairoo hay u yona? - When did Fiver see the hedgehog?
[LISTEN] Hloth lay u Rah asith u marlil? - Why is the Chief with the does? (hey, I said no sniggering!)
[LISTEN] Ureth nayltil lay éan-nyt? - Which (of the) rabbits are very old?
[LISTEN] Pli laynt meth "i lay embli"!? - Who said "you stink"!?
[LISTEN] Lungeth roolil lay hraray? - How many kittens are fast?
No need for any explanatory notes here, I think - it all looks pretty obvious to me. (As ever, tell me on the watershipdown Yahoo Group if you disagree.) That means that we can go on to something really important: plant names. As I'm sure you're heartily sick of being told by now, sayn is groundsel. Two very common and useful words to learn are preen, "tree" (careful not to pronounce it in the English way!) and efath, "plant" (in general).
Onto the names themselves then - you might just be able to work out my main criterion for selection! In general, bucks are named after plants and does are given more poetic or descriptive names, and although there are exceptions to this rule (Fiver and Clover, for example) it's fairly reliable. Given the importance of most of these words to all of us, I'm conscious of a considerable responsibility in getting this bit right, so please let me know if I've done something stupid here. I've decided to make the list rather longer than it might have been, for reasons which will become apparent:
threar - rowan
thrennion - rowan berry
flayfath - grass (lit. "food-plant")
kothen - hazel
kothennion - hazelnut
dahloi - dandelion
brek - bramble
brekennion - blackberry
tardrayn - buckthorn
mayth - oak
maythennion - acorn
hehlant - speedwell
duhreth - hawkbit
syrién - strawberry (plant)
syriénnion - strawberry (fruit)
kranahl - cowslip
hleengar - holly
pathun - bluebell
preenahlarny - laburnum
Notes
a) To get the word for the fruit, nut etc of a plant, add the ending (e)(n)nion. The double N is a bit of an oddity for a (more or less) phonemic language, but Adams introduced it, and I can hardly contradict the Great Man!
b) The word for "rowan berry", thrennion, is slightly irregular - this is just one you have to learn. Plurals are formed as per usual, so that "cowslips" is kranahlil and "acorns" is maythennionil. The buck Strawberry is named after the fruit, so that he is saddled with one of the longest names in Lapine, the five-syllable Syriénnion - something of a reminder of his decadent origins, perhaps. (But see note e below!)
c) We are told in WD itself that "laburnum" translates as "poison-tree". We can see this if we break down Preenahlarny into its constituent parts: preen-nahl-narn-nyt, literally "tree-not-nice-very" (nahlarny is indeed Lapine for "poison").
d) We are, of course, still missing one name from the original party, "Silver". His Lapine name is Thlaynlé, literally "fur-moon".
e) What, me? Nice of you to ask. As it so happens, I share with Strawberry the distinction (if such it can be called) of a five-syallable Lapine name: Loganberry translates as Brekytennion, which literally means "fruit of the nearly-bramble". My decadence or otherwise is probably not for me to comment on!
Here are the second lot of example sentences for this unit - new words are thayrte, "river" and ven, "in(side)" - note that the opposites silf and ven are not a "matched pair" (see Unit 06):
[LISTEN] Dahloi lay zayn meth mon methrah syriénnionil nos-nyt! - Dandelion's going to tell us a story about giant strawberries!
[LISTEN] Laynt Preenahlarny naylte vao aisi nao? - Was Laburnum a good or bad rabbit?
[LISTEN] Blair Kothen-rah ao hrair me laynt hla u thayrte? - When did Hazel-rah and his crowd (lit. "the thousand of him") swim the river?
[LISTEN] Hloth lay nahl Tardrayn a Pathun ven u Owsla? - Why aren't Buckthorn and Bluebell in the Owsla?
Notes
a) The fourth sentence is something of a "lesson by stealth" - if you read carefully, you'll see that you now know how to form possessive adjectives (eg "my") - there'll be a proper section on this later on, but suffice it to say that the noun followed by the relevant object pronoun generally does the trick.
b) "His crowd" is an approximate translation; you might equally say "his lot" or similar. It's a slightly informal usage, even by colloquial Lapine standards, but very useful.
And finally, a question that you ask entirely at your own risk! I can accept no responsibility for ripped ears, random maimings (what? See efrafa.org) etc resulting from this part of the unit:
[LISTEN] Yao lay hrair, Kranahl? - Where is everybody, Cowslip?
Phew! This unit's been quite a slog in places, hasn't it? You deserve a rest now. Until next time, then, it's Frithaes from me. (And it's Frithaes from him... this joke makes no sense whatsoever unless you know the BBC TV series "The Two Ronnies".)
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 26/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:39 pm
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Unit 08: Possessives. Prepositions
What thou art is mine.
(John Milton, Paradise Lost)
If you read Unit 07 carefully, you'll have noticed that, almost in passing, I mentioned that possessive adjectives ("my", "his" etc) were formed very simply: by following the noun with the relevant object pronoun. Here's the full set, then - and you'll also note that there are two words for "father" - dialectal variants; they mean exactly the same thing. Parli is preferred by the great majority of Watership Down RPGs, so it's best to use that word in those circumstances, but aside from that, the two words are entirely interchangeable:
parli ma - my father
tarli mi - your (sg.) father
tarli me - his / its father
parli mo - her father
parli mon - our father
tarli mes - your (pl.) father
parli mai - their father
Easy or what? But what happens if we want to use the possessive pronoun instead - "mine", "yours" and so on? Well, luckily enough that's straightforward too. The word ol means "of" or "from", and though it's not used in Lapine as much as in English (because it can be left out in some cases - u zen fuléao, "the dew of dawn"), you'll often see it used here. It attaches itself to the beginning of the object pronouns as follows:
olma - mine (lit. "of me")
olmi - yours (sg.)
olme - his / its
olmo - hers
olmon - ours
olmes - yours (pl.)
olmai - theirs
We're rattling through this at a fair old rate, aren't we? Time for the first few example sentences. Sarlil means "parents", by the way, and remember that layth is a slightly more formal way to express the future than lay zayn (refer back to Unit 03 if required).
[LISTEN] Sarlil pli lay Hyzenthlay a Kothen-rah? Olmon! - Whose parents are Hyzenthlay and Hazel-rah? Ours!
[LISTEN] Flayfath mi lay silf - Your (sg.) grass is outside
[LISTEN] Roolil mo layth hray hraray! - Her kittens will run fast!
[LISTEN] A lay ven u Owsla - u kranahlil lay olma, nahl olmes! - I'm in the Owsla - the cowslips are mine, not yours (pl.)!
More prepositions
We already know a few prepositions - we saw ven, "in", used in the last example sentence, for example. But they're very common words, so a few more would be extremely useful. As usual with common vocab, there's no real rhyme or reason to the word structure - you just have to put in the revision.
ven - in, inside, into
silf - out, outside, out of
thaf - on, on top of
isth - under, beneath
hlow - in front of
hrow - behind
Notes
a) Make sure you don't mix up hlow and hrow - apologies to any Japanese readers here!
b) "Without" doesn't have a word of its own - use nahl asith, "not with". "Next to" is also without its own word - asith is used here too. At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, context is all.
All right, then, as I'm feeling really generous, I think I'll give you a present... another load of sentences! Quite a few new words to learn first, though, so concentrate:
bryhl - hill
bryhlath - down (as in Watership Down, not the opposite of up!)
éath - valley
éathyhl - combe
preetar - hedge
ithé - man
paf - to stamp
Notes
a) The word for "down" comes from bryhl flayfath, "hill of grass", and that for "combe" (which, in case you don't already know, is a valley cut into the side of a hill) derives from éath-bryhl or "valley-hill". You can, of course, use the usual modifiers to give words such as bryhl nos, "mountain" and so on.
c) Rabbits don't usually distinguish between the human sexes (or ages), so ithé is usually used for all humans. If you need to be specific, you can use ithé marli and so on.
d) Paf is a nice satisfying word, isn't it? Onomatopoeic, of course.
Right then, here we go with Return of the Killer Sentences. Some of these are rather longer than previously, as we can make more complex sentences now:
[LISTEN] Hrairoo, marli me Vilthuril a roolil mai laynt thaf u bryhlath, flay flayrah! - Fiver, his doe Vilthuril and their kittens are on the down, eating flayrah!
[LISTEN] Fu neorsé-nyt, Brekennion laynt paf. "Elil, elil!" e laynt meth. "Si hombil lay hray il mon hrow u preetar!" - an instant later, Blackberry stamped. "Elil, elil!" he said. "two foxes are running towards us behind the hedge!"
[LISTEN] Thlayli laynt hay ithé hlow u preen roo ven u éathyhl - Bigwig saw a man in front of the little tree in the combe.
[LISTEN] U Threarah layth silflay asith mon ni-Frith. Sai ma isth u hleengar than. - The Threarah will be silflaying with us at noon. Meet me under the holly beforehand.
Notes
a) Notice in the last sentence that than on its own can mean "beforehand". Equally, fu on its own can mean "afterwards".
This has been a long, hard Unit I know, but I think you'll agree that it was worth it, and that the words introduced this time have given you the capacity to write something approaching a connected narrative for the first time. Frithaes!
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 30/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:40 pm
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Unit 09: Ability and compulsion
Must! Is "must" a word to be addressed to princes?
(Queen Elizabeth I [attrib.])
You may remember, way back when (actually, it was at the end of Unit 05), that I told you that the phrase a lay meth Naylte meant "I speak Lapine". And so it does, but what we really mean in this case is "I can speak Lapine", so we need the verb "to be able to". This is veth. While we're at it, it would be handy to learn the related verb, "to have to", which is drao. And finally, let's have tring, "to want (to)", as well. As usual, these can be used in all three tenses:
A laynt drao zayn il hlienes - I had to go home
A lay drao zayn il hlienes - I have to go home
A lay zayn drao zayn il hlienes - I will have to go home
Not hard at all. Now then, conjunctions. We already know two of the commonest, a, "and", and an, "but". A few more would come in very useful, though, so here we go again:
os - if
kan - because
zoth - therefore, then, so
As in English, the word zoth can sometimes be omitted altogether (new word: flayeer, "hungry"):
Os a lay flayeer, [zoth] a lay flay - if I'm hungry, [then] I eat
Finally, we're going to look at how to say "here", "there", "this" and "that". Here are the words you'll need:
um - this, these
thum - that, those
hli - here
thli - there
Notes
a) Even though "this" and "that" work like adjectives, they go before the noun - um nayltil nos, "these big rabbits".
b) As in English, phrases such as "there are" can also be formed using thli etc - thli lay aydiril ven u los, "there are pike in the water". Compare French, where you have to decide whether to use il y a or là-bas.
c) There are no separate plural forms of um and thum.
Before we get to the final lot of sentences for this unit, there are two new bits of vocab to introduce. The first is the verb zyz, which is an onomatopoeic word like paf ("to stamp"). You can probably guess that it means "to sleep"! The second new word is less straightforward, as it doesn't have a direct English translation. Veheer is an adjective meaning, very roughly, "having the gift of second sight" - its etymology is ven-hay-eer, literally "inner seeing", and as it has no exact English version, I propose to "adopt" it into English from now on, as with other peculiarly Lapine concepts such as tharn. Incidentally, it's fairly common to see veheer used as a noun, as in o lay veheer, "she's a veheer", which means that you'll encounter the plural form, veheeril. Strictly speaking, though, o lay naylte veheer, "she's a veheer rabbit" is more gramatically correct.
[LISTEN] Frithaes, Hlao! A lay tring zyz um fu ni-Frith! - Bye, Pipkin! I want to sleep this afternoon!
[LISTEN] Syriénnion a Hleengar laynt veth hray hraray-nyt thaf u flayfath roo - Strawberry and Holly could run very fast on the short grass
[LISTEN] "Ithé lay hli! Nahl the, hrair - e lay asith thum preenil" - "A man's here! Don't move, anyone - he's beside those trees"
[LISTEN] Hloth on lay drao hla um thayrte? Kan Hrairoo u veheer laynt meth - Why do we have to swim this river? Because Fiver the veheer said so.
That's all for today. Next time we'll have another full story for you, and this time it'll be considerably longer than the last one - and I'll be reading the MP3 at full speed! You shouldn't have any trouble in coping with that, though, as you've learnt a lot these last four units. Here we are, pioneering a whole new language - actually rather exciting, isn't it?
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 30/03/04.
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Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 7:42 pm
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Unit 10: U methrah Rooli Roo ao Flayrah Ithé
And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
(Luke 24:11)
And so we reach double figures! Welcome once again to what Kehaar might call "Stories vith Meester Dando". In today's thrilling instalment, our hero's showing off lands him (as it usually does) in big trouble. You'll notice I've changed his name slightly, from u rooli roo to simply Rooli Roo, "Little Kitten". I think we know him well enough by now to give him a proper name, don't you? = wink Anyway, before we start there are four items of vocab to be learnt:
yen now, immediately. Also "suddenly"
uthow to hear, listen
-kyt nearly. This is a suffix, like -nyt etc.
sisi again (lit. "two-two")
Right then, let's get going. As in Unit 05, I'll give the Lapine story first, followed by an English translation. It's considerably longer than the previous tale - over 200 words - and this time, I'll be a little more idiomatic in the English, so don't expect an exact word-for-word match. I'm sure you're capable of working things out, though - Watership Down readers are, by definition, the most intelligent people on the planet in any case! The MP3 is split into two parts for convenience - the asterisks mark the break.
[LISTEN - part one] [LISTEN - part two]
U methrah Rooli Roo ao Flayrah Ithé
Hyao, ver sie methai, Rooli Roo laynt zyz ven hlienes. An fu hithra-nyt, e laynt zayn silflay. Maythennion a Pathun laynt thli, flay flayfath.
"Hay il ma, es si!" laynt meth Rooli Roo. "A lay zayn flay u flayrah ithé, ar a lay zayn thli yen!"
"Nao, Rooli Roo," laynt meth Maythennion.
"Nahl zayn thli, Rooli Roo!" laynt meth Pathun. "Ithéil lay elil-nyt. Nahl zayn!"
An Rooli Roo laynt nahl uthow, a laynt meth, "es nahl lay veheeril. A lay veth zayn, a lay tring zayn, ar a lay zayn zayn!"
Zoth, u naylte roo laynt hray il flayfath nos ithé, laynt hay u flayrah, a laynt flay. A flay. A flay. Fu neorsé, e laynt zyz asith brek.
* * *
Yen, e laynt uthow paf. "Rooli Roo! Rooli Roo!" E laynt Maythennion. "Thli lay hrair ithéil thli!"
"Yao? Yao?" laynt meth Rooli Roo, kan e laynt nahl veth hay u ithéil - an e laynt veth uthow mai, meth a hain.
"Isth u kothenil. Nahl the, Rooli Roo!"
Rooli Roo laynt tharn-kyt yen, an fu hithra u ithéil laynt zayn il hlienes, ao naylte roo laynt hray il Maythennion a Pathun.
"O, o, o!" laynt meth Rooli Roo. "Es si laynt vao, ar a laynt nao-nyt! A lay zayn uthow il mes yen!"
An fu neorsé-nyt, e laynt zyz... sisi!
The Story of Little Kitten and the Man's Flayrah
Once upon a time, Little Kitten was asleep at home. But eventually he went to silflay. Acorn and Bluebell were there, eating grass.
"Look at me, you two!" said Little Kitten. "I'm going to eat the man's flayrah, and I'm going there now!"
"No, Little Kitten," said Acorn.
"Don't go, Little Kitten," said Bluebell. "Men are serious elil. Don't go!"
But Little Kitten would not listen, and said, "you're not veheers. I can go, I want to go, and I'm going to go!
So, the little rabbit ran to the man's lawn, saw the flayrah, and ate. And ate. And ate. After a little while, he fell asleep by a bramble.
* * *
Suddenly, he heard stamping. "Little Kitten! Little Kitten!" It was Acorn. "There are hrair men there!"
"Where? Where?" said Little Kitten, because he couldn't see the men - although he could hear them talking and singing.
"Under the hazel trees. Don't move, Little Kitten!"
Little Kitten was almost tharn by now, but after a long while the men went home, and the little rabbit ran over to Acorn and Bluebell.
"Oh, oh, oh!" said Little Kitten. "You two were right, and I was very wrong! I'm going to listen to you now!"
But almost immediately, he fell asleep... again!
Copyright © David "Loganberry" Buttery 2002-4. Updated 30/03/04.
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