Senu Yivokuchi Corpus

Extract from the Dao De Jing

The Way that becomes a way
Is not the Immortal Way
The name that becomes a name
Is not the Immortal Name
The maiden of Heaven and Earth has no name
The mother of all things has a name
Thus in innocence we see the beginning
In passion we see the end
Two different names
For one and the same
The one we call dark
The dark beyond dark
The door to all beginnings


Running translation

inic o incamo
inic tecaruri alde
el o elamo
el tecaruri alde
bet ivo itoinech ela gon alde
ner yivore deri ela gon de
raur uzelirbirir yivelti fide
udaumaidi kai yisetoach fide
el sase rema
gasa ganiyo
och kai duelen reile
reile udau reile
cog gobelet deri


Interlinear translation

 1. inic o    inc -a -mo
    way  that way-NDF-INC
    [the] way that a-way-becomes

 2. inic te=ca=rur-i   al -de
    way  immortal -DEF NEG-COP
    the way immortal is-not

 3. el   o    el  -a  -mo
    name that name-NDF-INC
    [the] name that a-name-becomes

 4. el   te=ca=rur-i   al -de
    name immortal -DEF NEG-COP
    the name immortal is-not

 5. bet    i-  vo     it- oine -ch  el-a     go- n   al- de
    maiden GEN-heaven GEN-earth-DEF name-NDF ALL-OBJ NEG-COP
    [the] maiden of-heaven [and] of-the-earth a-name to-it [there-]is-not

 6. ner    yi- vore  der  -i   el-a     go- n   de
    mother GEN-thing every-DEF name-NDF ALL-OBJ COP
    [the] mother of-thing[s] all a-name to-it [there-]is

 7. raur u-zel=ir=bir-ir yi- velt     -i   fi    -de
    thus ESS-innocence   GEN-beginning-DEF seeing-COP
    thus in innocence of-the-beginning [we]-are-seer[s]

 8. u-  daumaid-i   kai yi- setoa-ch  fi    -de
    ESS-passion-DEF we  GEN-end  -DEF seeing-COP
    in passion we of-the-end are-seer[s]

 9. el   sase rem  -a
    name two  other-NDF
    name[s] two [different-ones]

10. gasa ganiyo
    ALL-one-NDF ALL-same
    for-one [and] for-[the-]same

11. o   -ch  kai du=el-en reile
    that-DEF we  name-OBJ darkness
    the-one-that we call[-it] dark

12. reile    u-  dau   -0   reile
    darkness ESS-beyond-CON darkness
    [the] dark beyond dark

13. cog  go- belet     der  -i
    door ALL-beginning every-DEF
    [the] door to-beginning[s] all


Notes:

tecaruri 'the immortal' consists of te- (negative prefix, 'in-'), ca 'possible, -able', and rur 'dying', so 'unable-to-die' or 'undying' would be more exact a translation.

There's a typical possessive construction in lines 5 and 6, employing the allative/dative and the copula: ela gon alde 'a name to it [there] is not' = 'it does not have a name'.

uzelirbirir 'in innocence' (line 7) is the essive of the absolute participle of selirbir, which in turn breaks up into sel 'child' and bir 'know', joined by the connector -ir-; the translation of selirbir implies 'know as a child knows, apprehend the basics through intuition', and figuratively 'know with no prejudice, accept things as they appear up front'; thus 'innocence' is simple knowledge with no bias, as opposed to ideologically and intelectually filtered knowledge.

yisetoach is from tetoa 'end', which literally means 'no more', implying 'exhaustion, consummation'; in physics it may be used to mean 'thermodynamic equilibrium', or 'heat death' in cosmology.