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
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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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"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."