Hanleni halsen (introduction)

The Valdyan original

List of direct translations

Géarthnuns

Douglas Koller

Informal version:

Che jrelöths la sök shíabsöd ésh chök dvatrebsöng ngíman,
Cha funsav cha segensas chau mídars las röth,
Chö shebsöv chí shíbals la chauk latursauch çíl,
Cheths la chí veshkalsít chök ömbíötsöing hötel? 

che jrelöths     la      sök          shíabsöd               ésh
the starling-nom present indef-art-pl deed-postpositional/pl about 
 
chök   dvatrebsöng      ngíman,
the-pl hero-genitive/pl sing 
 
cha funsav        cha segensas    chau mídars    las            röth,
the rain-locative the morning-gen the  heron-nom pres/reflexive wash
 
chö shebsöv   chí shíbals  la   chauk  latursauch çíl,
the night-loc the lark-nom pres the-pl sta-acc/pl worship
 
cheths  la   chí veshkalsít      chöik  ömbíötsöing hötel?
who-nom pres the true.nature-acc the/pl bird-gen/pl see-interrogative

Poetic version:

Jrelöths che dvatreböshíabsöch chök ngíman la,
Segenafunsav cha mídars chau röth las,
Shíbals chí shebsöv chö latursauch chauk çíl la,
Cheths chí veshkalsít ömbíötsöing chöik hötel la?

Jrelöths     che dvatreböshíabsöch chök   ngíman la,
starling-nom the hero.deed-acc/pl  the/pl sing   pres

Segenafunsav     cha mídars    chau röth las,
morning.rain-loc the heron-nom the  wash pres/refl

Shíbals chí shebsöv   chö latursauch  chauk  çíl     la,
lark    the night-loc the star-acc/pl the/pl worship pres

Cheths  chí veshkalsít      ömbíötsöing chöik  hötel      la?
who-nom the true.nature-acc bird-gen/pl the/pl see-interr pres

Notes

The first translation is literal, natural and conversational. The second is what it might look like pounded into a poetic format. Condensing some nouns into compounds, placing most articles after their nouns (a standard Géarthnuns poetic device), and placing the verbal particle at the end of the line (archaic/poetic, but legitimate usage) seem to do the trick. With a little fudging, this could probably even be set to the original melody and this preserves the "a" sound in the last syllable of each line as in the original Valdyan.

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