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Original Poetry in Degaspregos


Weros Weioso

Sunekat wiros kwéos saweloto weidat,
sterotoikwe okwom weosom yekat;
Stelebat gwiros kweos menokis, ai, kerdoso
urom selardantam habat gweokis.
Tosikwe kweosi gwerom, ai, weiomkwe, eti
sweosoi sagoremnon Swosna wrakwat,
Bat toksoi kweobis Weios Weras wantam gnomre
beratani, leukom skeidakwintam.

Rough translation:

The man succeeds who looks into the sun, / who casts his eye into the stars. / The woman finds place who for the mind, indeed, has the heart's soul-burning desire for her. / These who value the natural spiritual aspect, indeed, life, above / their countless searches for the Self, / it is these to whom True Life growing knowledge / brings, the light hidden in shadows.

Structure: odd lines, iambic hexameter with an extra half-foot; even lines, trochaic pentameter; a bit of alliteration here and there; and some assonance and rhyme, but not in a regular pattern (that is, just there by chance).

Here's a morpheme by morpheme breakdown of the poem. Row information:
(a) the text;
(b) morpheme boundaries;
(c) morphological meanings;
(d) literal syntax translation;
(e) good English translation;
[(f) any miscellaneous information]

System of notation follows immediately.


line 1:
(a) Sunekat      wiros              kwéos             saweloto      weidat,
(b) sunek:at     w:ir:o:s           kw:e:o:s          sawel:o:to    weid:at
(c) succeed:Pres MASC:person:N:NOM  REL-PR:Pron:N:NOM sun:N:ALL     look:Pres
(d) Succeeds     [the] man          who               into [the]sun looks
(e) The man succeeds who looks into the sun
(f) [the accent on _kwéos_ is used only to dediphthongize the vowels there, 
    for the sake of meter (though note this is allowable in the language 
    generally too)]

line 2:
(a) sterotoikwe          okwom     weosom             yekat;
(b) ster:o:to:i:kwe      okw:o:m   w:e:o:so:m         yek:at
(c) star:ALL:PL:and      eye:N:ACC MASC:Pron:GEN:ACC  throw:Pres
(d) and into [the] stars eye       his                throws
(e) who casts his eyes into the stars
(f) [plural marking is not mandatory in Degaspregos; also, the genitive 
    is used in connection with other cases as pseudoadjectival suffix, which 
    is used to create possessive adjectives like weosos, "his"]

line 3: 
(a) Stelebat               gwiros           kweos           menokis,       ai,   kerdoso
(b) stel:eb:at             gw:ir:o:s        kw:e:o:s        men:o:kis      ai    kerd:o:so
(c) place:Pros::Pres       FEM:person:N:NOM REL-PR:PR:N:NOM mind:N:BEN     [ai]* heart:N:GEN
(d) is-going-to-find-place [the] woman      who             for [the] mind truly of [the] heart
(e) The woman finds place who for the mind, indeed, [has] the heart's
(f) [the particle "ai" can have a variety of functions, here, relating to the 
    truth of the statement, or for emphasis]

Line 4:
(a) urom         selardantam                habat     gweokis.
(b) ur:o:m       sel:ard:ant:a:m            hab:at    gw:e:o:kis
(c) desire:N:ACC soul:burn:Prog-Ind:ADJ:ACC have:Pres FEM:Pron:N:BEN 
(d) desire       soul-burning               has       for her.
(e) soul-burning desire for her. [see above]

Line 5: 
(a) Tosikwe          kweosi            gwerom,    ai,   weiomkwe,     eti
(b) t:os:i:kwe       kw:e:o:s:i        gwer:o:m   ai    wei:o:m:kwe   eti
(c) this:kind:PL:and REL:Pron:N:NOM:PL gwer:N:ACC ai    wei:N:ACC:and above
(d) these            who               spirit     truly and life      above
(e) These who [value] the natural spiritual aspect, indeed, life, above
(f) [_gweros_ embodies a concept not entirely translateable into any one English
    word; it means roughly the *aiwos ("vital force") of PIE but means that 
    spiritual force which is produced by nature, by animals and plants (and 
    humans too).]

line 6: 
(a) sweosoi            sagoremnon       Swosna              wrakwat,
(b) sw:e:o:so:i        sag:o:rem:non    Sw:o:sna            wr:a:kw:at
(c) self:Pron:N:GEN:Pl seek:N:PREP:IND  self:N:ASS          value:CON:Trans:Pres
(d) their              [many] searches  concerning the Self value,
(e) their countless searches for the Self,
(f) [the indefinite-finite number suffix -non is used here, indicating a great 
    many, but unknown how many exactly]

line 7:
(a) Bat     toksoi         kweobis        Weios      Weras        wantam                gnomre
(b) b:at:   t:o:kso:i      kw:e:o:bis     wei:o:s    wer:a:s      w:ant:a:m             gn:o:m:re
(c) be:Pres this:N:PRED:PL REL-Pron:N:DAT life:N:NOM true:ADJ:NOM grow:Prog-Ind:ADJ:ACC know:N:ACC:INH
(d) is      these          to whom        life       true         growing               knowledge
(e) It it these to whom True Life growing knowledge

Line 8:
(a) beratani,      leukom      skeidakwintam.
(b) ber:at:ani     leuk:o:m    skeid:a:kw:int:a:m
(c) carry:Pres:APP light:N:ACC shadow:CON:Trans:ADJ:ACC
(d) carries,       [the] light shadowed.
(e) brings, the light hidden in shadows

================================================================

Gloss for the gloss: ( :) )

Pres        Present tense verbal suffix (-at)
MASC        Masculine prefix (w-)
N           nominal suffix (nominalizes the root)
ADJ         adjectival suffix
NOM         nominative case
ACC         accusative case
ALL         allative case (into X)
GEN         genitive case (simple possession)
BEN         benefactive case (for X)
DAT         dative case
PREP        prepositional case (the big "black box" case which
              governs all prepositions)
ASS         associative case (about, concerning X)
REL-Pron    relative pronoun root
Pron        base pronoun root (exhibited in all pronomial stems)
PL          plural form
Pros        prospective aspect (going to X)
Prog-Ind    progressive indicative participial suffix
IND         indefinite finite number suffix (mentioned above)
CON         connective epenthetic vowel (functions just to connect
              any two otherwise phonotactically disallowed segments)
INH         inherency clitic (indicates the concept involved is one inherently
              bound up in the statement, where _gnos_ "knowledge" is thought 
              here to be some special knowledge, having some inherent quality 
              as described here to be growing)
APP         apparental evidentiality clitic which indicates the subject draws 
              his statements from inferred evidence, though not seen overtly 
              with the senses.


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