Help With D'ni Translation

Lehnah · **Posted:** Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:09 am

Hey folks,

So I'd like to make a logo for my D'ni Art Archive site which would include the D'ni translation of the site name. Now, it's been a while since I've tried my hand at D'ni translation and I'm not particularly good at languages anyway :roll:

so I thought I'd double check this before I make the thing up.

So, the basic translation as I understand it would be

D'nee (D'ni) gehstoy (Art) chiso (Archive).

However, as "chiso" is a verb (to archive) I'd need to change it into a noun as it's a name, so it'd be "chisoeth". Also, as it's the name of the site - as in THE D'ni Art Archive - "d'nee" would need to be "rehd'nee."

So, the whole thing written out in D'nenglish would be

rehd'nee gehstoy chisoeth

Does this look right? I've gone over several resources but, as I said, language is not a strong point for me (or, rather, understanding how it works isn't) so this could very well be wrong. :mrgreen:

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tweek · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 12:11 am **Posts:** 2633

I could have sworn I read something many, many years ago that the D'ni word for art would be something different as gehstoy is Art in the sense of Age Writing not painting.

My memory is fuzzy there though.

Talashar · **Joined:** Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:24 pm **Posts:** 91

The difference between gel 'write' and sel 'Write (an age)' suggests that the D'ni word for normal art might be different from gestoy, but if so, I don't think we have any idea what it might be. (timel is 'gallery').

The suffix -th is only added to adjectives. For a verb like chiso, you add the suffix -tahv, so chisotahv 'archive'. There are verbs where you don't need any suffix to form a noun, but -tahv is more common.

I'd go with a genitive construction, so "the archive of D'ni art". With the adjective d'nee following the noun gestoy, that's

rechisotahv okh gestoy d'nee

Lehnah · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:23 am

Awesome. Thanks very much, folks. :mrgreen:

I honestly thought that Art as in writing an Age we just rehgestoy. :roll:

korovev · **Posted:** Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:01 am

It is, it’s the rest that might not be called gestoy.

Khreestrefah · **Joined:** Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:01 pm **Posts:** 163

The somewhat subtle point is that if the art of writing Ages was the only thing referred to by gestoy then there would be no reason to use the definite article. Calling it regestoy "the art" suggests that is a specially important or even preeminent example among a larger category of gestoytee "arts" in general.

Shorah,
Khrees

Khreestrefah · **Joined:** Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:01 pm **Posts:** 163

We've received some further information on words having to do with "art" subsequent to this thread.

RAWA has confirmed the following three words (the first successfully guessed by Larry Fontenot) that each appear to contain the word gestoy :

krogestoy = "dance, the art of dancing";
prådgestoy = "sculpture";
fengestoy = "acting, the art of playing a role."

Interestingly enough, RAWA also observed that without the final syllable toy these are the corresponding verbs for the actions involved in the particular forms of art:

kroges = "I dance";
prådges = "I sculpt";
fenges = "I act, I play a role."

The compounds are only broadly similar in construction — kro is a verb "I move"; pråd the noun "rock"; while *fen is similar to fenah "story" — so they probably developed by analogy as the different kinds of art were invented or differentiated. RAWA also mentioned the three derived nouns:

krogestahn = "dancer";
prådgestahn = "sculptor";
fengestahn = "actor."

This probably gives us the names of two of the Minor Guilds:

Telprådges = "Guild of Sculptors" (short for tel-okh-prådges-tahn-tee) and
Telfenges = "Guild of Actors" (short for tel-okh-fenges-tahn-tee).

Shorah

Tai'lahr · **Posted:** Tue Jul 02, 2019 2:51 pm

Thank you so much for getting and sharing this information, Khreestrefah. It's always exciting to get new D'ni words and these are great ones to have. Thanks!

Khreestrefah · **Joined:** Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:01 pm **Posts:** 163

Just to clearly give credit where due, it was Larry Fontenot who got these words from RAWA, after sharing his guess about krogestoy = "dance" with him. Larry posted the confirmed words in the Guild of Linguists' Pub on Facebook.

When I was entering these words in my D'ni Dictionary it occurred to me that they were relevant to what had been discussed in this thread.

Shorah,
Khreestrefah

korovev · **Posted:** Wed Jul 03, 2019 8:26 am

Khreestrefah wrote:

RAWA also mentioned the three derived nouns:

krogestahn = "dancer";
prådgestahn = "sculptor";
fengestahn = "actor."

Which (of course

) raises the question: what could be the meaning (if any) of krogestahv, prådgestahv and fengestahv?

And why prådgestoy is not the “art of sculpting”?

Khreestrefah · **Joined:** Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:01 pm **Posts:** 163

The basic meaning of the word "sculpture" in English is just that: "the art of sculpting"; but "dance" or "acting" can also refer to the comparable activities even when not engaged in as art. So the point of adding the phrase to the definitions of these two words is to clarify a particular meaning.

The implication seems to be that krogestahv and fengestahv could be used to talk about "dancing" or "acting" even when not referring to the artistic activities. The same would be true of prådgestahv but in that case it would not be translated as "sculpture." The meaning would by more like "rock-carving" which would only be termed prådgestoy "sculpture" if the carving was intended as or considered to be art.

Shorah,
Khrees

Help With D'ni Translation

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