Kaltxì, ma frapo!
Sìlpey oe, ayngaru livu fpom nìwotx.
It’s been a while since we’ve had any new vocabulary, slä nì’i’a, here are some new words I hope you’ll find useful.
First, one that’s long been missing but which you may have guessed at:
lìngtskxe (n., LÌNG.tskxe) ‘unobtanium’
This clearly comes from lìng ‘float’ + tskxe ‘rock.’
säfmong (n. sä.FMONG) ’theft (particular instance)’
We’ve already seen tìfmong, the abstract concept of theft. Säfmong is a particular instance of stealing.
Poeri säfmong lora tsafkxileyä lolu na ayskxe mì te’lan.
‘For her, the theft of that beautiful necklace was like stones in her heart.’
Srake lu ngay fwa tìfmong ke fkeytok kip Na’vi?
‘Is it true that theft does not exist among the Na’vi?’
kakan (adj., KA.kan) ‘rough’
Don’t confuse kakan with ekxtxu. Ekxtxu is rough in the physical sense, as in a rough surface as opposed to a smooth (faoi) one. Kakan is the opposite of flrr ‘gentle’ and refers to behavior. It’s used for both people and things.
Kakana aylì’uri a poltxe oel nìsti, tsap’alute.
‘I apologize for the rough words that I spoke in anger.’
nìkakan (adv., nì.KA.kan) ’roughly’
txaw (vtr.) ‘punish’
Sempulìl asìltsan sney evengit ke txaw nìkakan.
‘A good father doesn’t punish his children roughly.’
tìtxaw (n., tì.TXAW) ‘punishment’
ra’un (vtr., RA.’un, inf. 1,2) ’surrender, relinquish, give up’
It may seem we already have a word for ‘surrender, give up’—namely, velek. But the two words are different. Velek is vin.—intransitive, i.e., not taking an object. So to say, “I give up. I surrender. You win,” you use velek. On the other hand, ra’un is vtr. and takes an object: it refers to giving up or surrendering something:
Fìatxkxeti ke raya’un ayoel kawkrr!
‘We will never give up this land!’
tìra’un (n., tì.RA.’un) ’surrender, relinquishment’
Peyä tìra’un tìeyktanä leyewla lu nìtxan.
‘His surrender of leadership is very disappointing.’
’älek (adj, ’Ä.lek) ‘determined’
This refers to someone who has made a firm decision that is not subject to change.
Tìfläri lolu po ’älek.
‘She was determined to succeed.’
tì’älek (n., tì.’Ä.lek) ‘determination’
Peyä tì’älek oeru rolo’a nìtxan.
‘His determination impressed me greatly.’
nì’älek (adv., nì.’Ä.lek) ‘determinedly, with determination’
pung (vtr.) ‘hurt, injure’
This verb means the same as tìsraw seyki but has a simpler syntax.
Ngal perung oet fìfya pelun?
‘Why are you hurting me like this?’
Teya si oer fwa ngal pawnunga ayioangit zong.
‘It moves me that you save injured animals.’
lewng (n.) ‘shame’
Lewng is the opposite of nrra ‘pride.’
Munge fnawe’tul lewngit soaiaru sneyä.
‘A coward brings shame to his/her family.’
There are two different adjectival forms for ‘shameful’—one for people, one for things.
lelewng (adj., ofp, le.LEWNG) ‘shameful’
lewnga’ (adj., nfp, LEW.nga’) ‘shameful’
(Here, lewng + nga’ has coalesced to lewnga’.)
So: tute lelewng ‘a shameful person’ but voìk alewnga’, ‘shameful behavior.’
swapxì (n., swa.PXÌ) ‘family member’
This is a contraction of soaia + hapxì. The steps in the derivation are:
soaia + hapxì > soapxì > swapxì.
Ayswapxìl oeyä tok fìtsenget nìwotx.
‘All the members of my family are here.’
sweyn (vtr.) ‘keep, preserve’
Ayngal syuvet sweyn peseng fteke ayioang tsivun tsat kivanom?
‘Where do you keep the food so that animals can’t get it?’
Sweyn can also be used in the sense of ‘leave alone’ or ‘not disturb’:
Tsayayotsrulit sweyn, ma ’itan.
Don’t disturb that bird’s nest, son.
Oey fpomit sweyn!
‘Leave me alone! (I.e., ‘Do not disturb my peace!’)
(Recall that an equivalent version of the last example, using the verb txung ‘destroy, disrupt, bother,’ is:
Oey fpomit txung rä’ä!
‘Leave me alone!’ OR ‘Don’t bother me!’)
Finally, when you want to attract someone’s attention, how do you say ‘excuse me’ or ‘hey’ in Na’vi? There are three levels of politeness:
- Addressing a stranger using honorific language:
manawmtu (intj., ma.NAWM.tu) ‘excuse me sir, excuse me madam’
Manawmtu, srake luyu ngenga eyktan fìolo’ä?
‘Excuse me, sir, are you the leader of this clan?
2. Addressing a stranger using neutral language, neither overly polite nor overly familiar:
matu (intj., ma.TU) ‘excuse me, hey’
Matu, ngal hawntsyokxit tìmungzup.
‘Excuse me, you just dropped your glove.’
3. Addressing someone you’re close to or superior to. Be careful with this, since in the wrong situation it can be impolite and rude (unless that’s your intention!).
manga (intj., ma.NGA) ‘hey, hey you’
Manga! Kempe si?
‘Hey! What are you doing?’
That’s it for now. I have some great material from members of the lì’fyaolo’ that I hope to publish soon. Tsakrrvay, makto zong, ma eylan.
Wou, so many new words! There will so useful.
The only thing that confuses me are the last two example sentences of “sweyn”:
Tsayayotsrulit sweyn rä’ä, ma ’itan.
Don’t disturb that bird’s nest, son.
Oey fpomit sweyn!
‘Leave me alone! (I.e., ‘Do not disturb my peace!’)
In the first one it has a negation, int the second one not, but in both they have the same meaning of “keep X!” -> “do not disturb X!”. I would not have expected the “rä’ä” in the first one, because like this it sounds for me like “Don’t keep that bird’s nest! Destroy it!” But I guess context makes it clear that it is not meant like that?
Hayalovay,
ta Tekre
‘Ä’! Irayo, ma Tekre! Kezemplltxe ngaru tìyawr. Rä’ä does not belong in that example for sweyn. I had “not disturb” in my mind, and I must have been thinking of txung ‘disturb,’ where rä’ä would be necessary. I added the example with txung for comparison. Good catch!
Vospxìvomun lefpom ma Karyu Pawl!
Tsaylì’uri lesar irayo ngaru!
This is one step towards the translation of ‘What is love’ by Haddaway: rä’ä pung oeti / pung oeti nulkrr. Now it’s going to be a festive Friday near the Tree of souls (along with tsaw leiu kato txonä)!
I was also wondering if ‘älek had anything to do with the name Alec? It might just be me though.
Hayalovay!
😊
I was unfamiliar with Haddaway and “What Is Love,” but I found it on YouTube. I see how pung will come in handy for the translation!
Faylì’uri irayo seiyi! So’ha lì’ut alu sweyn oel nìpxi. I love it that we can now say, “Hey, man/ dude/ buddy/ whatever, keep your cool!”
I think “Manga, mawey!” works pretty well for, “Hey man, keep your cool!” 😊
Wou! Lesar nìwotx. Nìpxi sunu oer tsapxelì’u alu manawmtu, matu, manga. Sasyar, irayo!
Furia fpìl ngal futa faylì’u amip lu lesar, oe ‘efu nitram. 😊
Fìatxkxeti ke raya’un ayoel kawkrr!
‘We will never give up this land!’
Fìtseng srefirvey oel kemlì’uvit alu -asy-, natk. “Ayoe ke wasyem.”
Pum alu -ay- fìtseng lumpe lu swey?
Irayo nìtxan ma Karyu! Sìlpey tsnì Nga livu kosmana zìskrrtsawn!!
Late to the party but wanted to say how useful these are and will be! Thank you for them.
I’m just updating the Annotated Dictionary and I was wondering about the derivation of swapxì: why is it not a form of hapxìtu, our original word for ‘member’?
Also, concerning sweyn. The ‘leave me alone’ translation is quite pictorial. Is Oeti sweyn also valid?
Makto zong tì’i’avay krrä!
In the second example sentence «tìfkeytok» should be «fkeytok» kefyak?
Ngaru tìyawr! Irayo, ma Zángtsuva. (I’m surprised no one caught this blunder until now! 😊 )