Kaltxì, ma eylan!
Sìlpey oe, ayngaru lu fpom nìwotx.
Once again, I need to apologize that other things have kept me away from Na’viteri for too long. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been away from Na’vi! It’s been a pleasure to work on the Na’vi-language aspects of the new video game debuting on December 7th, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
As you can probably predict, I myself am not an experienced gamer, but all indications are that FoP is going to be really good. (Just so it’s clear, I have no stake in the game other than wanting the Na’vi in it to be accurate and appropriate.) Among the fun things I’ve been doing is coming up with Na’vi names for dozens of new fauna and flora! They’re going to amaze you.
I will get to the large backlog of questions some of you have asked both publicly and privately, but for right now, let me give you some new vocabulary and expressions I hope you’ll find useful.
First, some words relating to those flora and fauna I mentioned:
pek (n.) ‘fin (of an aquatic animal)’
lak (n.) ‘shell, hard covering of a plant or animal’
Note: Lak is a more general word than sum, which refers specifically to seashells from the ocean.
zeng (n.) ‘crest on the head of a bird or animal’
yawr (n.) ‘feather’
Note: There’s been discussion of whether we’ve actually seen birds on Pandora. One such discussion is here, where some participants have noted that there are lots of birds visible in Fya’o Payä.
txim (n.) ‘spike, thorn of a plant’
Don’t confuse txim with txìm! But there is a proverbial expression that exploits the similarity between the two words:
na txim a txìmmì
‘like a thorn in the butt’—that is, something extremely annoying
wuwuk (n., WU.wuk; RN: wùwùk) ‘lizard; any of a variety of lizard-like creatures’
And now some miscellaneous words and expessions:
asip (n., A.sip) ‘tall thin mass or pile of something; tower’
Tuteol asipit aytäremä txolula mì na’rìng.
‘Someone built a tower of bones in the forest.’
fyufye (vin., FYU.fye, inf. 12; RN: fyùfye) ‘splash’
Ranu kilvanmì fyarmufye na tsawla payoang apìsaw.
‘Ranu was splashing in the river like a big clumsy fish.’
tslikx (vin.) ‘crawl’
This word makes an appearance in a well-known rhyming expression parents recite to their children as a lesson:
Tslikx, tìran, tul;
Ftu yì ne yì tsan’ul.
As you see, this literally says, ‘Crawl, walk, run; from level to level get better.’ The meaning is that when learning something new, you have to proceed from step to step: baby steps first, then bigger ones. (Note: The stress on tsan’ul is normally on the first syllable, but for the rhythm of this little poem, it shifts to the second: tsan.’UL. Things like that happen in poetry.
kara (vin./vtr., ka.RA, inf. 12) ‘resist’
Note that the stress is on the second syllable.
Fol ngati spole’e a krr, nga lumpe ke kara?
‘When they captured you, why didn’t you resist?’
Aysälatemit a zamolunge Sawtutel nga fmi kivara. Längu keltsun.
‘You try to resist the changes brought by the Sky People. Sadly, that’s impossible.’
tìkara (n., tì.ka.RA) ‘resistance’
Tìkara lu ätxäle palukanur.
‘Resistance is futile.’
kawngkem (n., KAWNG.kem) ‘evil deed, crime’
Don’t confuse kawngkem with kangkem! But here too there’s an expression that exploits the similarity between the two words:
Pori kangkem lu kawngkem.
‘For him, work is a crime.’
That’s just an idiomatic way of saying Po lu ngong nìngay, ‘He’s really lazy.’
layl (adj.) ‘innocent’
Tsakawngkemìri lu oe layl!
‘I am innocent of that crime!’
tìlayl (n., tì.LAYL) ‘innocence’
nìlayl (adv., nì.LAYL) ‘innocently’
tokat (adj., TO.kat) ‘guilty’
tìtokat (n., tì.TO.kat) ‘guilt’
nìtokat (adv., nì.TO.kat) ‘guiltily’
The two adverbs nìlayl and nìtokat serve to modify the word zawprrte’ ‘be enjoyable’ to show the psychological state of the one receiving pleasure:
zawprrte’ nìtokat fkone ‘be pleasurable to one in a guilty way’
This is an expression for schadenfreude—taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune.
Entul fot ve’kì ulte sänui feyä zolawprrte’ nìtokat pone.
‘Entu hates them and their failure brought him pleasure.’
A much nicer expression is just the opposite:
zawprrte’ nìlayl fkone ‘be pleasurable to one in an innocent way’
This expresses the idea of taking pure pleasure in someone else’s good fortune or achievements without the slightest hint of envy or jealousy.
Tìmuntxa mefeyä zolawprrte’ Marune nìlayl. Ke lu por kea fmokx kaw’it.
‘Their marriage brought Maru pleasure. She felt no jealousy at all.’
That’s it for now.
Vospxìvomun lefpom! Ulte Eywa ayngahu nìwotx, ma smuk.
Hayalovay!
Kaltxì ma Karyu Pawl,
Faystxeliri alu aylì’u amip irayo si ayoe ngaru nìtxan. Faylì’u lekin sì lesar lu a fì’uri oe ‘efu am’ake.
Since we have the expression zawprrte’ nìlayl fkone, I’m actually wondering what would be the expression for ‘guilty pleasure’ in Na’vi.
Hayalovay!
Irayo nìtxan, ma Vawmataw!
For “guilty pleasure,” I guess we could say za’u nìtokat a prrte’, although that’s not very concise. Literally, it would simply be prrte’ atokat. Would that work for you?
Kaltxì nìmun,
If guilty is not meant too literally here (like something ethically bad or unlawful), but instead like something that others will judge you for, I think it can work.
Tewti! Nìngay oeti ‘eykefu nitram fula fkeytok ayswiräteri a tsaylì’u, yawr nìpxi! Oel tsat kerin txankrr. Kop txasunu oeru pam lì’uä alu wuwuk, ulte tsalì’fyavi a fpi eveng prrte’ lu. Irayo, ma Karyu. 🙂
Oel uvanit alu Tew Eywa’evengä sero’ha fìtxan. Mipa senge, mipa ayioang sì ewll, mipa vur, layu lawnol am’aluke.
Irayo nìtxan, ma Ney! Fula sunu ngar faylì’u sì aylì’fyavi amip oeti ‘eykefu nitram nìteng.
Ulte sìlpey oe, tsauvan zìyevawprrte’ frapone nìwotx!
Kxì! Could Kara fkxara/Fkxara kara be used as a phrase? Similar to hakuna matata?
Resist stressing out, relax, chill out, don’t worry. Irayo!