Kaltxì, ma eylan! Here’s Part 2 of our Zama Lì’u Amip—°40 (32) more new vocabulary items, at least some of which I hope will be useful to you. Since John and I are leaving for France tomorrow, May 1, to celebrate John’s °120a ftxozä (that looks even more impressive in Na’vi!), and since I want to keep my promise about 64 new words this month, I’m going to make this a briefer post than usual, leaving out examples for items that seem straightforward and self-explanatory.
Here are the mipa aylì’u sì aylì’fyavi, in alphabetical order (except for derivations):
fnelan (n., FNE.lan) ‘male’
fnele (n., FNE.le) ‘female’
We’ve had a number of pairs of words where male and female are distinguished by the endings -an and -e respectively: tutan/tuté, ’itan/’ite, evengan/evenge, etc. But up to now we haven’t seen words for ‘male’ and ‘female’ by themselves. These two words, obviously built on fnel ‘kind, type,’ serve that purpose.
The corresponding adjectives are the expected ones:
lefnelan (adj., le.FNE.lan) ‘male’
lefnele (adj., le.FNE.le) ‘female’
fwìng (n.) ‘humiliation, embarrassment, loss of face’
Raluri fwa tìfmetokit ke emzola’u längu fwìng atxan.
‘Ralu’s not passing the test was a great humiliation (to him).’
fwìng si (vin.) ‘humiliate’
fyawìntxuyu (n., fya.wìn.TXU.yu) ‘guide’
A fyawìntxuyu is a person who guides you, not an abstract principle that can serve as a guide. So you can’t use fyawìntxuyu for things like “This rule is a guide to proper behavior.”
han (vtr.) ‘lose’
This important verb fills a long-standing gap. We already have a verb for ‘lose’ as the opposite of ‘win,’ but han is ‘lose’ in the sense of not having something you once had. You can han something out of forgetfulness or through some other process—for example, losing someone who has died.
The noun is:
tìhan (n, tì.HAN) ‘loss’
Maw tìhan sa’nokä, Txewì afpawng sarmängi zìsìto apxay.
‘Sadly, after the loss of his mother, Txewì grieved for many years.’
hipx (vtr.) ‘control’
Karyu asìltsan zene tsivun aynumeyut hivipx mì numtsengvi.
‘A good teacher has to be able to control (his/her) students in the classroom.’
The derived noun is:
tìhipx (n., tì.HIPX) ‘control’
Another related noun is:
snotipx (n., sno.TIPX) ‘self-control’
This is derived from sno+ tìhipx, where the ìh part has become elided over time.
Ke fkeytok tìeyktan atìflänga’ luke snotipx.
‘Successful leadership does not exist without self-control.’
kämunge (vtr., kä.MU.nge, inf. 2, 3) ‘take’
Kämunge is the opposite of zamunge. Munge by itself is neutral as to direction, and can mean either ‘bring’ or ‘take.’ Zamunge is specifically munge towards the speaker; kämunge is munge away from the speaker.
kawnomum (adj., kaw.NO.mum) ‘unknown’
This is derived from ke+ awnomum (omum with the infix <<awn>>, changing ‘know’ to ‘known’).
le’awtu (adj., le.’AW.tu) ‘alone, on one’s own, lone, by oneself; lonely’
From a profitable discussion I had with our own Neytiri:
Le’awtu has a range of meaning. As ‘alone, lone, on one’s own,’ it’s neutral as to positive or negative connotations: it simply means ‘solitary.’ However, it also has the potential to be used negatively to mean ‘lonely.’ Context should tell you the intended meaning, perhaps with the help of <<äng>>.
Oe ‘efu le’awtu.
‘I feel alone.’ (Could be a bad thing, could be ok.)
Oe ‘efängu le’awtu.
‘I feel lonely.’
Oe lu le’awa tute a tsun srung sivi, ulte ‘efu le’awtu nìngay.
‘I’m the only one who can help, and I feel really alone.’
This could also be translated, ‘. . . I feel really lonely,’ since the context shows sadness about the aloneness. <<äng>> would be optional if you wanted to emphasize the sadness/loneliness.
Le’awtua talioangìri lu kifkey tsenge lehrrap.
‘The world is a dangerous place for a lone sturmbeest.’
lie si (vin., LI.e.si) ‘experience’
This has a wide range of objects: you can experience an event, a feeling, even a person. As with other si-verbs, the object is in the dative.
Tute a keftxo frato lu tsapo a tìyawnur lie ke soli kawkrr.
‘The saddest person of all is the one who has never experienced love.’
liswa (n., li.SWA) ‘nourishment’
liswa si (vin. li.SWA si) ‘nourish, provide nourishment’
Fì’ewll liswa si Na’viru.
‘This plant provides nourishment to the People’
meuia si (vin., me.U.i.a si) ‘honor’
Ngeyä faylì’u atìtstunwinga’ oeru meuia soli nìngay.
‘These kind words of yours have honored me greatly.’
meyptu (n., MEYP.tu) ‘weakling’
A meyptu can be either physically weak or have a weak character.
nafpawng (adv., na.FPAWNG) ‘grievingly, with grief’
This word is a contraction of *nìafpawng.
nìt’iluke (adv., nìt.’I.lu.ke) ‘never-endingly, forever’
The derivation here is nì+ tì’iluke ‘never-ending, endless.’ Nari si! Don’t confuse this adverb with nìtxiluke ‘unhurriedly, leisurely’! The two words are not pronounced the same. They provide a good exercise in distinguishing an ejective from a glottal stop.
nongspe’ (vtr., nong.SPE’, inf. 1, 2) ‘pursue with an intent to capture’
Obviously a compound of nong ‘follow’ + spe ’‘capture.’
Taronyul yerikit narmongspe’, slä tsun yerik hivifwo.
‘The hunter was pursuing a hexapede, but the hexapede was able to escape.’
tìsyortsyìp (n., tì.SYOR.tsyìp) ‘break, small rest or relaxation’
From the verb syor ‘relax, chill out’ with the noun-creator tì– and the diminutive suffix, this word literally means a ‘little relaxation’—i.e., a break.
Tìkangkem soli oe kawl nìtxan, ’efu ngeyn, ulte kin oel tìsyortsyìpit.
‘I’ve worked hard, I’m tired, and I need a break.’
to tìtseri (idiom; to tì.TSE.ri) ‘than is apparent, than you are aware of’
This is a useful idiom, literally meaning ‘than awareness.’ It indicates that something is different from what a person may think or assume, or that something isn’t what it seems.
Lu poe na nga nì’ul to tìtseri.
‘She’s more like you than you think (or: than you know).’
tswal (n.) ‘power’
Although there is some overlap, tswal is different from tìtxur ‘strength, power.’ Tswal can imply not just physical prowess but also psychological, emotional, or political power. There are two related adjectives meaning ‘powerful,’ one for people and one for things.
letswal (adj., le.TSWAL) ‘powerful (ofp)’
tswalnga’ (adj., TSWAL.nga’) ‘powerful (nfp)’
tswesya (n., TSWE.sya) ‘current’
tswesya si (vin., TSWE.sya si) ‘flow’
Nari si, ma ’itan. Kilvan tswesya si nìwin nìtxan.
‘Be careful, son. The river is flowing very swiftly.’
txe’lankong (n., txe’.LAN.kong) ‘heartbeat’
Clearly from txe’lan+ ’ekong.
txurtu (n., TXUR.tu) ‘strongman/woman, brawny person’
Like its opposite meyptu, a txurtu can be either physically strong or have a strong character.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to respond to questions or comments for a while, although I will as soon as I can. But as always, if you spot any typos or other obvious goofs (which aren’t unlikely, since I’ve posted this more quickly than usual), please let me know.
Hayalovay, ma smuk!
ta Pawl
Kaltxì ma Karyu Pawl!
Furia aylì’u amip oe ngaru irayo seiyi! Oeru sunu nìpxi fwa melì’u alu “kawnomum” sì “txe’lankong.” To point out the few typos I noticed: the pronunciation guide for lefnele is incomplete, there’s a misspelling of pursuing in the example for nongspe’, ulte there seems to be a spot for a further description of meyptu that is empty.
I’m also really interested in the variety of meanings for le’awtu. Forgive my possibly-uninformed question, but I was curious, are there other adjectives that take on different meanings when used with a verb with mood infixes?
Ngaru sunu nì’ìnglìsì “France” nìtxan nìsìlpey!
Irayo nìtxan sì frakrr,
Txawey
Irayo nìtxan, ma Txawey! All three errors are now fixed. 🙂
You ask an interesting question about adjectives that might change their meaning with different mood infixes. No other examples come immediately to mind, but I’ll have to think about it. There might be others!
Oel ngati kameie ma Karyu Pawl!
Faylì’uri irayo seiyi ngaru. Lì’ut a’a’aw kolin ayoel nìtxan.
Oeru lu tìpawmtsyìp: Srake liswa lu na syuve?
Nìvingkap Tsyanìri seykxel sì nitram. 😉 Sìlpey oe tsnì ziyevawprrte’ mengane fìtìsop.
Kìyevame ulte Eywa ngahu!
Dear Paul,
There might be an minor typo here : lie si (vin., le.E si) ‘experience’
I suppose it would be (vin., li.E si) instead.
Kind regards,
/R One
I wanted to point that out as well, but expect it to be LI.e si, since lie ‘experience’ is stressed on the first syllable (LI.e).
Also, in that example . . . a tìyawnur ke lie soli kawkrr. shouldn’t the ke come between lie and soli?
Nì’aw new pivlltxe oe san Aylì’uri sì postìri amip irayo seiyi, ma Karyu anawm!
kaltxì ma karyu,
faylì’u leiu lesar nìtxan! irayo!
tse, poltxe nga mì aysäplltxevi aham san (I’ll add these new words to the next post to make sure no one misses them.) sìk. tsaylì’uri lam fwa nga tswola’, slä tsuktslam lu talun ngeyä sìsop azusa’u! makto zong!
Wow, mipa aylì’u zola’u nìmun! Irayo nìtxan, ma karyu!
What I’ve found interesting is idiom Lu poe na nga nì’ul to tìtseri. First I thought there’s mistake, as nì’ul is not used with to, but after short thinking I see it is ok, as there’s no adjective in the example. Can be such usage generalized? I have no idea for another such example, but maybe you have something on the stock. If yes, can you share it?
Related to tswal definition, its derivations seems to be related to fkew, isn’t it? Can you confirm or show differences?
Lora postì nìngay! Tìpängkxori letrrtrr faylì’u lu lesar nìtxan.
Kxì nìmun ma Karyu. Oe irayo si ngaru fpi mipa aylì’u. Sìlpey tsnì mengaru livu txana tì’o’ mì France.
And then there’s the one who posts in Ìnglìsi…
Great set of words! 🙂
Mipa fralì’ul tsan’eykul awngeyä lì’fyati alor.
Are the ‘male/female’ words only for people? Or can they be used to distinguish, e.g. a male from a female talioang?
What is the difference between liswa (si) and yomtìng?
What is the difference between nongspe’ and fewi?
Enjoy your trip to France! And congratulations to John 🙂