| Site | Proto-Hambah  |
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| Language | Proto-Hambah |
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| Year | 2004 |
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| Translator | Tom Little |
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| Introduction | Word order is VSO. PH is an isolating language, with particles inserted between the main words to indicate qualifications and relationships. |
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| Verse 1 | Mle hrehég wogó plamò? esódum ha simip do je dodit dadin. |
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| Verse 2 | Gu flakòr go pépas fa dre?òn, guflit go pé bókun té Sinar be plimókus go pé té se. |
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| Verse 3 | Hrehég wogo pé si pé: Ho! Nrekus wota kla wohra nonag be nrakrit wota kla se asunef. Tinub go pé nonag nru sodèn je duken nru nrekelad. |
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| Verse 4 | Mle hrehég go pé: Ho! Nrekus wota kla hra kihlot li kla, si trinròmóg mlò ja?lig di se fa srinut, mlò nrekus wodi kla hra dihóh li kla be gogrèr wofudi kla fa plamò? esódum. |
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| Verse 5 | Kró nrubel go téhan fa plamò? mlò tijas di pé kihlot je trinròmóg li pépas. |
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| Verse 6 | Hrehég go téhan: Nrekus ti pé hra sa me hrehég pépas do ha simip dadin, tèfrón fudi pé gle bedos nri nrekus ta pé hra se. |
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| Verse 7 | Ho, flakòr ta kla fa sè be gogrèr ta kla gle simip li pé mlò tirem fudi pé pé. |
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| Verse 8 | Jè gogrèr go téhan pé pu sè fa plamò? esódum, be nrekus wofugo pé hra kihlot. |
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| Verse 9 | Me se, pi?at sè Babel, me gogrèr go téhan pu sè gle simip li plamò? esódum. Gogrèr go téhan pé pu sè fa plamò? esódum. |
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| Interlinear Translation 1 | Then speak [plural+imperfect] place all by-means-of language one and word same |
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| Translation 2 | When travel [perfect] clan toward east, find [perfect] [3rd person] field in Sinar and settle [perfect] [3rd person] in [weak demonstrative]. |
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| Translation 3 | Speak [plural+perfect] [3rd person] with [3rd person]: [exclamation] make [plural+intentional] [1st person] [plural+"for the sake of"] brick and bake [plural+intentional] [1st person] [weak demonstrative] good. Use [perfect] [3rd person] brick instead-of rock and tar instead-of mortar. |
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| Translation 4 | Then speak [perfect] [3rd person]: [exclamation] make [plural+intentional] [1st person] for-the-sake-of city [possessive] [1st person], with tower so-that rise-up [potential] [weak demonstrative] toward sky, so-that make [plural+potential] [1st person] for-the-sake-of fame [possessive] [1st person] and disperse [plural+negative+potential] [1st person] toward place all. |
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| Translation 5 | But come [perfect] god toward place so-that see [potential] [third person] city and tower [possessive] clan. |
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| Translation 6 | Speak [perfect] god: Make [conditional] [third person] for-the-sake-of [near demonstrative] because speak clan one by-means-of language same, lose [negative+potential] [3rd person] concerning anything if [make] [intentional] [3rd person] for-the-sake-of [weak demonstrative]. |
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| Translation 7 | [exclamation] travel [intentional] [1st person] toward [distant demonstrative] and disperse [intentional] [1st person] concerning language [possessive] [3rd person] so-that understand [negative+potential] [3rd person] [3rd person]. |
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| Translation 8 | So disperse [perfect] god [3rd person] from [distant demonstrative] toward place all, and make [plural+negative+perfect] [third person] for-the-sake-of vity. |
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| Translation 9 | Because [weak demonstrative] to-be-named [distant demonstrative] Babel, because disperse [perfect] god from [distant demonstrative] concerning language [possessive] place all. Disperse [perfect] god [3rd person] from [distant demonstrative] toward place all. |
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| English Paraphrase 1 | Then all places were speaking using one language and the same words. |
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| Paraphrase 2 | When the people travelled to the east, they found a field in Sinar and they settled in it. |
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| Paraphrase 3 | They spoke to themselves: "Listen! Let's make bricks and bake them good." They used brick for rock and tar for mortar. |
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| Paraphrase 4 | Then they spoke: "Listen! Let's make our city, with a tower so that it rises to the sky, so that we might make our fame and not be scattered to all places." |
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| Paraphrase 5 | But a god came there to see the city and the tower of the people. |
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| Paraphrase 6 | The god said, "If they do this because one people speak using the same language, then they might not fail concerning anything if they want to make it. |
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| Paraphrase 7 | Listen, I will travel to there and scatter their language, so that they may not understand themselves." |
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| Paraphrase 8 | So the god scattered them from there to all places, and they did not build the city. |
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| Paraphrase 9 | Because of this, it is named Babel, because from there the god scattered the language of all the world. The god scattered them from there to all places. |
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| Notes 1 | Plurals are often not indicated unless needed for clarity or emphasis. So the plural particle "wo" is used with "plamò? esódum" (all places), but only implied in "dodit dadin" (the same word). |
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| Notes 2 | "bókun" (field, farm) is used for plain because it was a common term for any flat, workable area of land, and it reinforces the idea of permanent settlement. |
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| Notes 3 | "Hrehég wogo pé si pé" (they talked with them): personal pronouns are used reflexively without change in form. "Ho" is a general exclamation to get someone's attention, "listen" is a poor translation. "Hey!" is better, but doesn't suit the tone of the text. "asunef" (good) is an adjective, modifying "se" (it, them). Adjectives were applied to most adverbial functions. |
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| Notes 4 | "mlò" (so that, in order that) introduces both the clause describing the tower and the clause describing the people's motives. Proto-Hambah does not have relative pronouns, and various types of clauses were pressed into service instead. |
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| Notes 5 | There are no articles, and since the Hambah culture is polytheistic, "téhan" would be interpreted as "a god" rather than "God". The phrase "kihlot je trinròmóg li pépas" (the city and tower of the clan) as the object of "see" is another recasting to circumvent the relative pronoun. |
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| Notes 6 | The phrase "me hrehég pépas do ha simip dadin" (because one clan speaks the same language) is a recasting of the original; verbal clauses such as this were normally used where other languages use participles or verbal adjectives. |
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| Notes 7 | This text has a certain elegance in Proto-Hambah, since "gogrèr" (to disperse, break apart) is also used with the particle "gle" (concerning, regarding) to convey making something confused, unclear, or disorganized. |
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| Notes 8 | The Proto-Hambah version has "nrekus wofugo" (they didn't build), which lacks some of the subtlety of the English version, but still conveys the point. |
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| Notes 9 | Since "Babel" means nothing in Proto-Hambah, this verse would probably be confusing to most listeners without explanation - as indeed it is in most languages the text has been rendered into! |
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| Submitted By | Tom Little |
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| Date Submitted | Saturday, December 04, 2004 |
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| Date Edited | Saturday, December 04, 2004 |
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| Date To Headline | Saturday, December 04, 2004 |
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