Tengkrr perähem zìsìt amip . . . As the New Year arrives . . .

Kaltxì nìmun, ma frapo.

Before the year ends (at least here in Los Angeles!), I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year, and also express some personal thoughts and feelings that have been on my mind and in my heart the last few months. And we’ll have a bit of new vocabulary along the way as well.

räptum (adj., räp.TUM) ‘coarse, vulgar, socially unacceptable’

This word refers to behavior, whether in action or in word, that offends the Na’vi sense of politeness, propriety, and social ceremony. Not using honorific language in a ceremony where such language is called for would be considered räptum, as would not deferring to rank and authority, taking too much food during a social meal, using vulgar language, etc.

Note this idiom, an admonition to children: Rä’ä räptum! ‘Don’t be impolite!’

(Child to aged adult:) Ngal new peut?
‘What do you want?’
(Child’s parent responds:) Rä’ä räptum, ma ’eveng! Tsaylì’u ke lu muiä!
‘Don’t be impolite, child! Those words are improper!’

txanlokxe (n., txan.lo.KXE) ‘clan or tribal domain; country’

This word is derived from txan (great) + olo’ (tribe, clan) + atxkxe (land). It refers to the entire territory of Pandora that is under the control of or dominated by a particular clan. On earth, txanlokxe may be used for ‘country.’

tsamsä’o (n., TSAM.sä.’o) ‘weapon of war’

tìtxurnga’ (adj., tì.TXUR.nga’) ‘powerful’ (not for people)

Both txantur and tìtxurnga’ mean ‘powerful.’ The difference is that the first word is only for people, while the second is for things. (Compare tstew and tìtstewnga’.) So a powerful woman is tuté atxantur, while a powerful idea is säfpìl atìtxurnga’.

leym (vin.) ‘call out, cry out, exclaim’

As a verb of speaking, leym generally requires the same kind of syntax as plltxe—that is, san . . . sìk constructions.

nìzen (adv., nì.ZEN) ‘necessarily’

kenzen (adv., ken.ZEN) ‘not necessarily’

 

Ma oeyä eylan ayawne,

Tengkrr zìsìt leratem, sìlpey oe tsnì zìsìtìl amip awngaru nìwotx zamiyevunge txana fpomit sì fpomtokxit, ulte tsnì mipa fìzìsìt sìltsan lìyevu to pum a ’ìlmi’a. Slä oe zenänge pivlltxe san zusawkrrìri txopu si oe nìtxan. Oeri lu ayskxe mì te’lan.

Tìfkeytok a mì tanlokxe oeyä alu Amerika längu txewm sì lehrrap. Fkol ftxolängey na eyktan tutanti a tìeyktanìri ke lu pxan kaw’it. Kifkeyri fìtutanìl ayaymak ke tslam stum ke’ut, ulte ke new nivume nì’ul. Po yawne lu snor nì’aw; fpom txanlokxeyä ke tsranten. Plltxe po nìtengfya na ’eveng a’ewan, ke na fyeyntu. Pori lu snolup räptum, ulte mawl aylì’uä ke lu ngay. Ran peyä lu kawng. Frapor a ke sunu por zoplo si. Fratsengmì a tsane po kä, ’ul tìve’kì.

Tìeyktanìri aysäfpìl peyä lu reng, aysìhawl lu fe’ran. Ulte ftxoley pol ayeyktanayti a lu stum nìftxan kawng na po. Nìngay lu po skxawng.

Slä tsranten frato, tsatutan layängu ye’rìn eyktan a txantur frato ’Rrtamì, ulte pori aysamsä’o atìtxurnga’ frato mì hifkey layu mì syokx. Kempe po sayi? Ke omum, slä lu oer sngumtsim a pol Amerikat skiyeva’a, ulte kxawm kifkeyti nìwotx nìteng.

Zun Eywa’evengit oel tivok, zel leym san Srung si ayoeru, ma Eywa sìk! Slä ’Rrta ke lu Eyweveng. Ha kempe tsun sivi set? Nìrangal lirvu oer tì’eyng. Zerok awngal nìwotx krrit a poltxe Tseyk san Eo ayoeng lu txana tìkawng sìk. Tì’efumì oeyä, fìtìfkeytok a eo ayoeng set lu steng. Na’vi kempe soli? Wolem. Zene awnga wivem nìteng—zene fya’ot rivun. Ulte wä sìkawng a fìtìwusemìri, zene awnga nìwotx fìtsap släpivan.

(TSERI RUTXE: Faysäfpìl faysì’efusì lu pum oeyä nì’aw, kenzen pum suteyä a zamolunge awngar relit arusikx alu Uniltìrantokx.)

With hopes for, somehow, a better 2017 . . .

Mipa Zìsìt Lefpom, ma frapo.

Hayalovay.

ta Pawl

Edit Jan. 5: ayeyktanay –> ayeyktanayti  (Irayo, ma Plumps!)
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18 Responses to Tengkrr perähem zìsìt amip . . . As the New Year arrives . . .

  1. Vawmataw says:

    Mipa zìsìt lefpom ma Karyu Pawl! Fìsänumvi irayo seiyi ngaru.

  2. Wllìm says:

    Ngeyä pamrel lu tìtxurnga’ nìtxan, ma Pawl. Irayo seiyi ngaru. Oeri teya si txe’lanur fwa mi fkeytok txantslusama aysute a tsyär fìfnetìve’kìt a virä nìwin ka kifkey.

    Oeyä txanlokxemì nìteng fko tsun tsive’a futa ‘ul tìve’kì. Slä nìteng zene ‘ivì’awn säsìlpey awngaru. Spaw oel futa ‘awa tute nì’aw ke tsun skiva’a wotxit kifkeyä, sì futa mi fkeytok pxaya tute a new tsan’eykivul kifkeyt.

    Ha, mipa zìsìtìri lìyevu ngaru lrrtok apxay!

  3. Blue Elf says:

    Ma karyu alu Pawl, mipa zìsìtìri new pivlltxe ngaru (ulte, kezemplltxe, frasuteru alahe nìwotx nìteng) san Fraporu livu fpom sì fpomtokx ulte Nawma Sano’k awngar lrrtok sivi fratrr sìk. Lolu oer sngum nì’it pehem len, krra txana krr ftem ta hama postì….

    Sngumìri ngeyä oe tslam, mipa eyktan Amerikayä ke sunu oer nìteng. Slä fpìl oel futa Amerikar lu tìtxur letam fte tìftang seyki pot, krra po fe’a kem si. Kop fpìl oel futa po tsakem seri tsafya fte kivanom mokrit apxay fte slivu eyktan ulte pänutìng hemit a ke tsun teya sivi. Krra slu eyktan nìngay, zayene pivlltxe sì kem sivi nìfya’o aketeng, txokefyaw ke layu eyktan txankrr. Tsamit po ke tsun sngeykä’i, tsakrr ‘oli’a sre tana krr li.
    Kawnga tutet fkol ska’a, ye’rìn fu hawngkrr nì’ul, spaw oe.

    And finally, some nitpicking:
    here seems -a- to be forgotten: Pori lu snolup aräptum.
    nìzen and kenzen sounds familiar – we have lekin and kelkin (necessary, unnecessary, both adjectives) – wouldn’t be forms *nìlekin, *nìkelkin more predictable? How nìzen/kenzen were created, are they coming from new root?

    • Wllìm says:

      My guess would be: nìzen < nì + zene and kenzen < ke + nìzen. This would imply that lekin / kelkin can be used like kin (as in, something is (not) needed for achieving some goal), while nìzen / kenzen are used like zene (as in, something that must (not) be the case).

      For example, in the phrase ‘kenzen [faysäfpil] suteyä a …’ – ‘not necessarily [the thoughts] of the people that …’, using *nìkelkin seems weird to me, as this seems to mean something like their thoughts are unnecessary.

    • SGM (Plumps) says:

      I think what Wllìm said is correct.

      And the seemingly missing –a-: I think it’s a normal sentence with the topic taking over the genitive case, i.e. peyä snolup lu räptum. ‘His personal style is coarse.’

  4. Alyara Arati says:

    Ma Karyu Pawl sì Frapoya,

    Nivew oe pivlltxe san txopu rä’ä si, sngum rä’ä si, sìk, slä nìkeftxo, ke tsun. Pxìm nìsok lam oer na kifkey tok hapxìmì litx tstalä. Slä mi lu oeru tìsìlpey. Spaw oel futa keng mì ton avawm frato, atan nrr. Nìngay, krro krro nrr mipa sanhì talun tìvawm foru tìtxen si. Awngal rasyun fya’ot a nrr nìtxanatan. Ke tasyung awngal futa tìkawng var yivora’. Tafral, rä’ä ngä’än nìwotx. Awnga a’awsiteng tsun livu fkew, tsun leykivatem kifkeyat.

  5. Prrton says:

    Aylì’u agnay nìwotx, ma Karyu. Lu tìkin a wem, slä frapori snolupìlä sneyä, ulte nìsilpey tsamsä’oluke nìwotx nìteng. Ngä’än rä’ä, RUTXE.

  6. Nìk (Wind12) says:

    Mipa zìsìt lefpom ngaru ma Karyu Pawl.

    Ngeyä aysäfpìlìri, Oe irayo seri, ulte Oe mllte. Oe sìlpey tsnì fìsrr ke lu fe’ nìtxan.

  7. Pawl says:

    Irayo nìtxan, ma frapo. Ayngeyä lora aylìu alor oeru teya soli nìngay. Mllte oe, zene livu awngar tìsìlpey. Ulte kxawm ke lu tìfkeytok nìftxan fe’ na tìlam. Tsafya sìlpey oe.

    We need a nice Na’vi idiom for “Time will tell.” 🙂

    The distinction between “unnecessarily” and “not necessarily” may be a bit confusing, so let me explain. (Wllìm was on the right track—irayo, ma tsmuk!)

    The meanings of kenzen ‘not necessarily’ and nìkelkin ‘unnecessarily, needlessly’ are quite different, as they are in English. Nìkelkin refers to an action that is in essence superfluous–it doesn’t need to be done. For example, “He called me unnecessarily (nìkelkin), since I already knew what he was going to tell me.” Kenzen, on the other hand, tells you not to make an assumption that might otherwise seem obvious. For example, “Rich people are not necessarily (kenzen) generous.” That is, one might assume (naively, of course) that rich people, because they have a lot of money, are uniformly generous, but in fact that’s not the case; some of them are quite the opposite.

    Hope that helps!

  8. Tanri says:

    Zìsìtìri amip seykxel sì nitram ngaru, ma Karyu!

    Sìlpey oe tsnì fìzìsìtmì ke liyevu awngaru tìkin a ngop fneaylì’uti amip fte sliva’tsu kawnga hemit atxewm. Tsalsungay smon oeru tìyawr alu san ’Awa tawtute tsun livu txantslusam, pxaya sawtute ’awsiteng lu snumìna nì’aw sìk…
    Nìtengfya aynga, zusawkrrìri asìltsan oe mi spaw sìlpeysì.

    ftxey fpìlfya ftxey lì’fya – ’Ivong Na’vi 🙂

  9. Shelley Bibeau says:

    Irayo, ma karyu alu Pawl.

  10. SGM (Plumps) says:

    Tsìmeri oel hì’ia kxeyeytsyìpit alahe …

    *. . . ftxoley pol ayeyktanay a lu . . . sweylu txo livu ftxoley pol ayeyktanayti a lu, kefyak?

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