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Introduction to Glossing

In order to understand many of the posts that will be on this blog, one must first understand glossing--as it is seldom that languages have ...

Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

The Creation of the World, the First Giants, the Betrayal, and the Coming of the Young Giants

The Creation of the World, the First Giants, the Betrayal, and the Coming of the Young Giants

In the beginning, there was Indal, the Great Mother, who lived alone in the waters of chaos. The waters filled her, and after a time, she gave birth the Great Mountain, known as Vizgul, the moon, Rem, the sun, Zun, and the stars. But Vizgul was made without anything on it. It was empty, devoid life or form. This saddened Indal, and she cried, her tears falling to the world. As they fell, the waters of chaos infused themselves with them, and as they hit the world, they created all of the mountains and valleys, the rivers and oceans, the plants and animals. This filled Indal with joy, as she was able to see her children thrive. However, with time, she grew tired of not being able to speak with anyone. She could not have discussions about life, or love, or the beauty of the world. There was no sentient life on Vizgul. Absent from this world were giantoids.

So, Indal decided to change this. She went down to Vizgul, and in a river valley, she took a mountain, and shrunk it down to the size of a giant. She shaped it to look like her, in her glorious form. But her child did not have any limbs, only a frame. She looked around her, thinking of what to do, and looked at a small tree. She took from it four branches, which she affixed to her child, creating arms and legs. She then took leaves from the tree, and created fingers and toes. Finally, fully formed, she kissed her child upon her brow, and poured her love into her, giving her life. Thus was how Wondul, the Good Daughter, was born.

Indal loved Wondul greatly, and they lived for a long time together on Vizgul. However, Wondul was unhappy. She loved her mother, but she did not have any brothers or sisters to play with or to talk to. After many years, she finally told her mother about her sadness. Indal told Wondul that she had not considered having more children, but she was at once filled with gaiety at the thought of having even more children in which to converse with and to love. So, Indal set to work, and created the first giants, the Indaled Cynoigyn. Chief among these first giants was Mjegunezyl.

The first giants lived for many years together, and they built a great civilization, with the Great Mother as their leader. However, ambition had rooted itself in the heart of Mjegunezyl. He grew envious of his mother and the power that she had. So he began to plot against her. He talked about all of the great things that he could bring to the world, and to the Indaled Cynoigyn if he had the power of Indal. Soon, he was able to win several other first giants to his side, known as the Mjegunezyled Cynoigyn and when he thought his power was enough, he moved to take power away from Indal.

Mjegunezyl and his followers came to the palace of Indal in the night, and while she was asleep, he killed her. The next morning, he declared himself Vizbaba, the Great Father. But save for his followers, his brothers and sisters rejected Mjegunezyl’s rule. Led by Wondul, those first giants still loyal to Indal fought back against the tyranny of the Vizbaba. This led to time of great strife, known as Vizgwax, or the Great Injury.

At the end of this time, all but Wondul and Mjegunezyl. Mjegunezyl had just slain the last of the free first giants, and had Wondul on the ground, and the mercy of his blade. Filled with cruelty and malice, he raped Wondul, filling her with his seed, and impregnating her. For the next nine months, Wondul lived as Mjegunezyl’s slave, until it came time for her to give birth. After a month of labor, Wondul gave birth to a hundred children, the first of the current giants, the Wagugul Gyval. During the final hours of her giving birth, Wondul knew that she would not live through the process, and thus, plotted to kill her brother. She waited for him to grab the last child, and as she pushed it out, she pushed a blade of stone that she had made in secret into the back of Mjegunezyl, killing him.

As both Mjegunezyl and Wondul left Vizgul, they arrived in the world after the world, Indalorr, where Indal awaited them. They stood before her, in Indalorr, and she cried before them. Indal told Mjegunezyl that he had done awful things, and asked him why he had been so evil. Mjegunezyl spat at her, and told her that it was her fault for making the world unequal. Taken aback, Indal split the world after the world in two, and cast Mjegunezyl, the Fallen Son, into the lower reaches, now known as Mjegunezlorr. She bound him there, and told him that his task was to take those who had strayed as he had, and to help them understand the wrongs that they had done. If he did this, then he would eventually be able to return to Indalorr.

Then, Indal turned to her daughter, Wondul. Again, she cried, embracing her daughter. She told her daughter how much she loved her, and how sorry she was that Wondul had to undergo the horrific things that Mjegunezyl did to her. In return for her devotion and goodness, Indal split Indalorr again, created another realm for Wondul, now known as Wondulorr. It would be Wondul’s to rule over for all of time. She was tasked by Indal to help those who had done wrong, who acknowledged their wrongdoing, and were wanting to make amends to do so, so that they might one day rejoin the Great Mother in Indalorr.

Back down on Vizgul, the Wagugul Gyval spread, given protection by Indal and Wondul. Unlike their first giant foremothers, the Wagugul Gyval did not have immortal lives. Still blessed with longevity, they were still fated a mortal existence. Those that were rightious, that were loving and good, were to rejoin Indal in the afterlife. Those who had done awful things, but wanted to redeem themselves would go to Wondul. And those who were wicked and held no remorse for their actions, those few would go to Mjegunezyl.

Thus is how the world was made, and what happens to us when we die.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

The Lord's Prayer in Graedjoan Giantish

Here is a translation of The Lord's Prayer into Graedjoan Giantish. Note that some elements have been changed for giant culture and mythos. The same general idea, however, is being conveyed as closely as is possible. In the footnotes of this post there will be explanations as to some of the changes that were made.

English:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Gloss:

3PL.POSS POSD.mother* INE.heaven**, 3PL.ERG honor.NPST name.ACC GEN.2SG. ABS.love*** GEN.2SG fated.NPST arrive.NPST. ABS.will GEN.2SG fated.NPST do.NPST.PERF, world.ADE like INE.heaven. give.NPST 3PL.ACC today 3PL.POSS POSD.bread day.ADJ. CONJ end.NPST judgement.ACC GEN.2SG 3PL.DAT 3PL.POSS POSD.PL.debt, like 3PL.ERG end.PST.PERF judgement.ACC GEN.3PL PL.debtor.DAT GEN.3PL CONJ NEG guide.NPST 3PL.ACC INE.time GEN.trail, but save.NPST 3PL.DAT from mjegunezyl.ACC****


Translation:

dzadzadyv gylvizmumu dziindalorr, dzadza indax uvened cydje. bebirr cydje  zol warn. begevox cydje zol zvadyrd, vizgulirr il dziindalorr. codze dzadzaged condo dzadzadyv gyldivyn damvijud. uzg vod avaled cydje dzadzarun dzadzadyv gylozozilox il dzadza vodvadyrd avaled cydzadza wavozoziled cydzadza uzg gax remax dzadzaged dziralv cynul idzh ombal dzadzarun ulv mjegunezyled.

*Mother is used here, instead of father, as the giants do not worship a father-like god. Instead, they believe that the world was created from The Great Mother, Indal, who gave birth to everything.

**If you look, the word for heaven translates literally to “place of Indal,” as this is where the giants believe they will go if they follow the path of righteousness correctly, as given by The Great Mother.

***The reason that love is used here, instead of kingdom, is because there is no conceptualization of a kingdom of The Great Mother that will come to the world at some point in the future. Rather, her love will descend, and bless all of those in the world with eternal life and happiness.

****mjegunezyl is used here, as the concept of “the evil one,” or rather, The Devil, is not quite the same is in Christian mythology. Instead, there is mjegunezyl, the Fallen Son, who rejected the love of his mother, and then, as punishment, was made to rule over the part of the afterlife that those who have not stuck to the path of the Great Mother, and make them suffer until they acknowledge and understand their errors, so that they might pass to wondulorr, and begin their redemption, and eventually accession to indalorr.