Learn Mando'a

So I've decided that, along with memorizing words by rote and trying to write in it maybe translation would help. I've gone and translated a short prayer I've written.

Mando'a:

Bev'oya, ruus'goor
Gehatijorhaa, miit'goran,
Tay'haai b'kurshika, baar'ur
Goran, Goran be'pel'gam
ad b'Ethliu, buir'Strill be'Cullan
Ni ijaati kaysh, Lugh te Munit'irad

English:

Spear-wielder, stone-flinger
Storyteller, poet
Knower of herbs, healer
Brass-beater, leather-shaper
Son of Ethliu, father of Cú chulainn
I honor you, Lugh the Long-armed

Also his other epithets that I'm aware of as well:

T'an Kartaylur - The All Skilled
Te Kandosii Kartaylur - The Equally All Skilled (Samildánach just puts even more emphasis on the fact that Lugh knows all skills, arts, and knowledge)
Te Verd'ika - The Boy Warrior
Te Mesh'verd - The Beautiful Warrior
Te Kandosii Trac'nynur - The Fierce-striker (it specifically references his ability to create lightning, hence the addition of trac)
Te Strill'ad - The Hound-son (I can't find a word for dog, so strill was substituted because Iron Age Irish use of dogs is similar to how the Mando'ade use strille)

I added the article te to all his epithets because those seem like things that would be ritualistically given the very rarely used definitive article. To really emphasize that Lugh IS the one. Beyond all else he IS this thing. It's not some other random person.

For more attempts Lugh's magical items:

Bev - Slég (it just means spear, thinking I have to emphasize the speariness of it because that seems to be the point of its name in irish. would doubling it to bev'bev work? or adding the infinitive te?)
Gra'tuaan - The Answerer/Retaliator (specifically the weapon has to deal with vengeance, hence the attempt to turn gra'tua into someone who does vengeance)
Shonar'hokaanur - Wave-sweeper

A thing I know I am having trouble with is figuring out how to turn verbs into nouns, and nouns into nouns that mean a person is using this thing or doing this thing.

Bev'ne? :p

The reason you're having issues indicating something is being used is because original Mando'a doean't use the passive voice at all, so there's no precedent. Tal'jair made a grammar for that iirc, but the language doesn't make it easy.

Really, it looks pretty good so far.

Ahhh. Yes the entire lack of passive voice would explain part of the difficulty then. I'm very used to having that option around...I'll have to go and look into that grammar you mentioned for that. For ideas of how to maybe go about it.

Also bev'ne? What would that mean?

I am happy that it looks ok so far. Confidence comes a bit hard for me, but I'm not going to get scared off by mistakes dammit. Still that is a good thing to hear someone say.

Aondeug wrote: Also bev'ne? What would that mean?

The spear-iest

Ohhhhh. Thank you. I need to jot down that suffix...

Another attempt, again with another prayer. This time to a fictional character, because while I don't think she's literally real I do find a use in what is termed "popculture magic". Symbols are strong things.

Mando'a:

Ja'haili Te Regonoreth'ad
Haar Troan be Kyr'am Kemi
Naast be Jetiise, Cyare be Vheh'riduur
Alor'ika be Knorthe, Buir be Merikite
Ta'raysh bal Alor'ad, Talyc Ulii'ad be Cin
Kaysh atin, mhi atin
Kaysh kale kad'la, cuun kale kad'la
Kaysh mirdala, mhi mirdala
Koti Dar'manda bal aruetiise
Koti jahaatane, hut'uune, bal dar'torane
Naasta val yaime bal aliite
Bal oritsi cuun arue
Kaysh kotepi mhi, Kaysh shuku mhi
Oya! Jamethiel Knorth, Solus b'Ehn

English:

Hail Regonoreth-Incarnate
The Face of Death as It Walks
Priests'-bane, Earth Wife's Favorite
Knorth Lordan, Father of Merikit
Ten and Ran, Rider of Madness
Keep our backs straight
Our claws sharp
Our minds focused
Pull down the dishonored
The liars and cowards and unjust
Tear down their works
And raise up a mocking cry
Embolden us and break us
The Knorth Jamethiel, One of the Three

The construction Talyc Ulii'ad be Cin is awkward, but I couldn't really think of a way of getting across that concept without being very direct about the implications. "Rider of Madness" being a reference to the fact that Jame rides a rathorn, a sort of violent, meat eating and armored unicorn. The symbol of her house is a white rathorn, which is basically synonymous with madness and death. There isn't a word for madness that I know of so the blood and white part of the rathorn has been focused on instead.

Naast be Jetiise isn't quite the same connotation wise as Priests'-bane is for her culture, but there isn't an equivalent of priest in Mando'a; priests being a particularly hated but required class of their society. So Jetiise had to be picked. And really she'd probably be the worst nightmare of the Jedi.

Still not entirely sure how to make nouns out of verbs or adjectives so jahaatan for liar and dar'toran for unjust.

The breaking comment is meant entirely to be a positive. As the avatar of That-Which-Destroys she operates almost entirely via destruction. However her motto is "some things need to be broken", and her breaking often is a positive. The intent here being the idea that we are broken down and destroyed utterly, so that we may pull ourselves back up and remake ourselves as something far greater than what we were before. But first we must be broken.

Other note is that the idea was that the prayer is referring to Jame in the second person instead of the third, like here in the Mando'a. I continue to fuck up these two pronouns and I am not entirely sure as to why, since I normally don't have issues picking up pronouns. I am leaving it in the third though because I like the heavy alliteration in the middle of the prayer.