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Note: Philip Newton has a special page for this text, including an translation of the original text, among others, at http://shavian.org/verdurian/relay6/
About the stars
There are four kinds of stars.
The first kind is called "Movers", because they always move across
the night sky.
The second kind is called "Stayers", because they are far from the
sun.
The third kind is called "Diers" or "Fallers", because they keep falling
to the earth from the sky.
The fourth kind is called "Strange Ones", because they become visible
far away from the night sky and only for a brief while. These stars are
the broda of the world, which a goddess has burned most furiously.
Eta soî curulî
Eu par kestî curulië.
So pere kest zet nome "Bezhecî", prokena dénuo bezhü
tra syel nochii.
So ftore kest zet nome "Nozhuvecî", prokena eu retî azh
ënomain.
So tvere kest zet nome "Shushchecî" iy "Tombecî", prokena
dénuo tombü almean de syelán.
So chetve kest zet nome "Urzî", prokena ocu lelî reazh
syelán nochii er rho sul pro breven fuayulán. Ci-curulî
eu soa broda almee, kiom adha yatá tshurne so mudhe gurishece.
Interlinear grammatical analysis:
MASC, FEM = masculine, feminine gender
NOM, GEN,
DAT, ACC = nominative, genitive, dative, accusative
case
SG, PL = singular, plural number
3SG, 3PL = third person singular, third person plural
PRES, PAST = present, past tense
Eta soî
curulî
eta so-FEM.NOM.PL curulë-NOM.PL
Eu
par kestî curulië.
esan-3PL.PRES par kest-NOM.PL curulë-GEN.PL
So
pere
kest zet nome
So-MASC.NOM.SG pere-MASC.NOM.SG kest-NOM.SG zet noman-3SG.PRES
"Bezhecî", prokena dénuo
bezhü
tra syel
"bezhec"-NOM.PL prokena dénuo bezhir-3PL.PRES tra syel-ACC.SG
nochii.
nochy-GEN.SG
So
ftore
kest zet nome
So-MASC.NOM.SG ftore-MASC.NOM.SG kest-NOM.SG zet noman-3SG.PRES
"Nozhuvecî", prokena eu
retî
azh ënomain.
"nozhuvec"-NOM.PL prokena esan-3PL.PRES ret-FEM.NOM.PL azh ënomai-DAT.SG
So
tvere
kest zet nome
So-MASC.NOM.SG tvere-MASC.NOM.SG kest-NOM.SG zet noman-3SG.PRES
"Shushchecî" iy "Tombecî",
prokena dénuo tombü
"shushchec"-NOM.PL iy "tombec"-NOM.PL prokena dénuo tombir-3PL.PRES
almean de syelán.
almea-DAT.SG de syel-DAT.SG
So
chetve
kest zet nome
So-MASC.NOM.SG chetve-MASC.NOM.SG kest-NOM.SG zet noman-3SG.PRES
"Urzî",
prokena ocu
lelî
reazh
"urze"-FEM.NOM.PL prokena ocan-3PL.PRES lele-FEM.NOM.PL reazh
syelán nochii
er rho sul pro breven
fuayulán.
syel-DAT.SG nochy-GEN.SG er rho sul pro breve-MASC.DAT.SG fuáyul-DAT.SG
Ci-curulî eu
soa broda
almee,
ci=curulë-NOM.PL esan-3PL.PRES so-FEM.NOM.SG broda-NOM.SG
almea-GEN.SG
kiom adha
yatá tshurne
so mudhe gurishece.
kio-ACC adha-NOM.SG yatá tshuran-3SG.PAST so mudhe gurishece.
Glossary:
(m), (f) = masculine, feminine noun
(adj), (adv) = adjective, adverb
(prep) = preposition
(v) = verb
adha (f) goddess
almea (f) earth, world
azh (prep) away from
bezhir (v) to move
breve (adj) short, brief
broda (f) (untranslatable; best keep as
"broda")
chetve (adj) fourth
ci- (prefix) this, these
curulë (f) star
de (prep) from (marks
the source of movement)
dénuo (particle) marks a habitual,
continual, or repetitive action
e 3SG.PRES of "esan"
esan (v irregular) to be
ënomai (f) sun
er and
eta (prep) about, concerning
(takes nominative)
eu 3PL.PRES of "esan"
ftore (adj) second
fuáyul (m) a while, a short time
gurishece (adv) angrily, furiously, wrathfully
iy or
kest sort, kind, type
kio relative pronoun (in this
text, a nonrestrictive meaning is
intended;
that is, the relative clause gives additional
information
about something rather than identifying it. The
pronoun
agrees in case with the role it has in the relative
clause.
It is invariable in number (no singular/plural
difference).)
lele (adj) visible
mudhe see "so mudhe"
nochy (m) night
nomen see "zet nomen"
nozhuven (v) stay, remain (in a place)
ocan (v) to become (temporarily)
par four
pere (adj) first
pro (prep) (with expressions
of time) for
prokena because
reazh (prep) far away from
ret (adj) far
rho sul (adv) only
shushchan (v) to die
so definite article;
"the"
so mudhe most
sul see "rho sul"
syel (m) sky
tombir (v) to fall
tra (prep) across, over
tshuran (v) to burn
tvere (adj) third
urze (adj) strange
yatá (perfective particle)
marks a completed action
zet nomen (v) to be called (literally "to name oneself")
Grammar:
For the verbs used here (in -an/-en/-ir), -e is the third person singular form (unmarked for present tense, and -ne for the past tense of verbs in -an/-en), -u/-ü is the third person plural form, and -ec is the present participle, which is used here for "the one who does". So from sfahen "to speak" would come the forms sfahe "he/she/it speaks", sfahne "he/she/it spoke", and sfahec "one who speaks; a speaker". Esan "to be" is irregular; the third person plural present form is simply "eu". If no subject is present, its meaning is existential: "there are".
The dative case is used for the destination of a verb of movement, as well as after most prepositions (the exception in this text is "eta", which takes the nominative). The genitive case is used for possession or to indicate what something consists of or is characterised by. The accusative in connection with some prepositions marks movement (e.g. felec tra zëa[acc] "to sail across the sea" vs esan tra zëin[dat] "to be across the sea, on the other side of the sea").
"So" is the definite article (masculine nominative singular; fem.nom.sg is "soa", masc/fem.nom.pl is "soî"); there is no indefinite article. The definite article is usually omitted after locative prepositions (so "im atunán" can be "in a room" or "in the room") and before a genitive (so "so cuon uestui" can mean "the dog of a man" or "the dog of the man").