The Origin of the Wind
October 2009
From: The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning XI-XX: XVIII. Um uppruna vindsins. Source.
1. English:
Then said Gangleri: "Whence comes the wind? It is strong, so that it stirs great seas, and it swells fire; but, strong as it is, none may see it, for it is wonderfully shapen."
Then said Hárr: "That I am well able to tell thee. At the northward end of heaven sits the giant called Hræsvelgr: he has the plumes of an eagle, and when he stretches his wings for flight, then the wind rises from under his wings, as is here said:
Hræsvelgr hight he / who sits at heaven's ending,
Giant in eagle's coat;
From his wings, they say, / the wind cometh
All men-folk over."
2. Ayeri translation
Epang naraya ang Gangleri: "Sahayo siyan pinang? Adanyāng mico kadāre ang mangyo karonyeas apan nay ang kāryisayo tupoyyeas. Nay nārya adanyāng mico-ing ang ming silvoyyo ranya yos yanoyam dahasreng yona kepau."
Guraca ang Hār, "Le ming sarajang kovaro adanya vayam. Ang nedraya kāryamaya sina garanang Resvelgir pangya temis lenona. Ang tahaya nunamyeas ku-marangas nay bata ang tinkaya navuryeas yana nunayam, kada ang gihayo pin mangasara avan navuryēa yana.
Ku-tahanraley —
'Garanang yana Resvelgir.
Ang nedraya pangya lenona.
Kāryamayāng tovaya marangena.
Ang sarongyo pin avan navuryēa yana
Manga eyraya keynamya-hen.'"
3. Morpheme breakdown
The following section contains words typeset in Ayeri's native writing system, via a new technique that allows dynamic embedding of fonts. This means, you do not need to install a font file on your system in order for it to be used by your web browser because it is loaded from the website's server instead of your computer. Legally, this usage is still in its infancy, only few fonts' licences cover it yet. The kind of dynamic font embedding used here works with the most recent versions of popular browsers, such as Firefox 3.5.*, Opera 10, Safari 4 and possibly a few other less known ones. Note however that Internet Explorer 8 does not support this technique to date and to my best knowledge. The font file provided on this site is technically still beta software, as it is not yet fully optimized, but you can download it for manual installation anyway.
Epang
epang
after
after
naraya
nara-ya
say-3s:m
says
ang Gangleri:
ang Gangleri
AGT <name>
Gangleri
"Sahayo
saha-yo
come-3s:n
comes
siyan
siyan
where
where
pinang?
pin-ang
wind-AGT
the wind
Thereafter says Gangleri, "Where does the wind come from?
Adanyāng
adanya-ang
that-AGT
That
mico
mico
strong
strong
kadāre
kadāre
so that
so that
mangyo
mang-yo-Ø
move-3s:n-FOC
moves
karonyeas
karon-ye-as
water-PL-PAT
waters
apan
apan
wide
wide
kāryisayo
kāryisa-yo
enlarge-3s:n
enlarges
tupoyyeas.
tupoy-ye-as
fire-PL-PAT
fires
It is strong so that it moves the wide waters and it enlarges fires.
nārya
nārya
although
although
adanyāng
adanya-ang
that-AGT
it
mico-ing
mico=ing
strong=so
so strong
silvoyyo
silv-oy-yo
see-NEG-3s:n
does not see
ranya
ranya-Ø
nobody-FOC
nobody
yos
yos
3s:n.PAT
it
yanoyam
yanoyam
because
because
dahasreng
dahas-reng
shape-AGT:inan
the shape
yona
yona
3s:n.GEN
its
kepau."
kepau
weird
strange
And although it is so strong, nobody can see it because of its strange shape."
Guraca
gurat-ya
answer-3s:m
answers
ang Hār
ang Hār
AGT <name>
Hárr
sarajang
sarag-yang
explain-1s.AGT
I explain
kovaro
kovaro
easy
easily
vayam.
vayam
2s.BEN
to you
Hárr answers, "That I can explain easily to you.
nedraya
nedra-ya
sit-3s:m
sits
kāryamaya
kāryamaya-Ø
giant-FOC
the giant
sinā
si-Ø-nā
REL-AGT-GEN
of which
garanang
garan-ang
name-AGT
name
Resvelgir
Resvelgir
<name>
Hræsvelgr
pangya
pang-ya
end-LOC
at the end
temis
temis
northern
northern
lenona.
leno-na
heaven-GEN
of heaven
At the northern end of heaven sits a giant, the name of which is Hræsvelgr.
tahaya
taha-ya-Ø
have-3s:m-FOC
he has
nunamyeas
nunam-ye-as
feather-PL-PAT
feathers
ku-marangas
ku=marang-as
like=marang-PAT
like eagle
tinkaya
tinka-ya-Ø
open-3s:m-FOC
opens
navuryeas
navur-ye-as
wing-PL-PAT
wings
yana
yana
3s:m.GEN
his
nunayam,
nuna-yam
fly-BEN
for flying
gihayo
giha-yo
blow-3s:n
blows
pin
pin-Ø
wind-FOC
the wind
mangasara
mangasara
from
from
avan
avan
under
under
navuryēa
navur-ye-ea
wing-PL-LOC
wings
yana.
yana
3s:m.GEN
his.
He has feathers like an eagle, and if he opens his wings to fly, then the wind blows from under his wings.
Ku-tahanraley —
ku=tahan-raley
like=write-3s:inan.PAT
like it is written
'Garanang
garan-ang
name-AGT
name
yana
yana
3s:m.GEN
his
Resvelgir.
Resvelgir
<name>
Hræsvelgr
Like it is written: 'His name is Hræsvelgr.
nedraya
nedra-ya-Ø
sit-3s:m.FOC
he sits
pangya
pang-ya
end-LOC
at the end
lenona.
leno-na
heaven-GEN
of heaven
He sits at the end of heaven.
Kāryamayāng
kāryamaya-ang
giant-AGT
the giant
tovaya
tova-ya
coat-LOC
in coat
marangena.
marang-ena
eagle-GEN
of eagle
The giant in eagle's coat.
sarongyo
sara-ong-yo
come-SUBJ-3s:m
(supposedly) comes (from)
pin
pin-Ø
wind-FOC
the wind
avan
avan
under
under
navuryēa
navur-ye-ea
wing-GEN-LOC
wings
yana
yana
3s:m.GEN
his
manga eyrarya
manga eyrarya
MOTION above
over
keynamya-hen.'"
keynam-ya=hen
people-LOC=all
all people
There (supposedly) comes wind from under his wings over all people.'"
3. Calquing the names
Since I like calquing names as a game, I asked a friend who knows Icelandic and a bit about Old Norse about the meanings of the names that appear in this short excerpt of the Edda. He said, that Hárr simply means 'high, tall' (Icel. hár). Gangleri consists of ganga 'to walk' + leri 'weak, weary', making him a 'weary wanderer' of sorts. Hræsvelgr seems to be a compound of hræ 'corpse' and svelgja 'to swallow', that is, 'corpse swallower'. Accordingly the Ayeri equivalents are:
- Hárr — Nakedan ( ) ← nake, 'large, tall' + -dan, generic masculine name suffix. I chose to 'translate' it this way because I had calqued this name before, for Sanskrit विपुल vipula, which similar in meaning (I generalized a lot), when I translated monomorphemic (Indian) names for inspiration once; the proper list of those is yet to be published. As of now, a preliminary version can be found here (PDF!).
- Gangleri — Asampisuan ( ) ← asano, 'traveller' + pisu, 'exhausted, tired' + -an, general nominalizing suffix
- Hræsvelgr — Akatakayān ( ) ← aka- 'to swallow' + taka, 'shell, corpse' + -maya, masculine agentive nominalizer + -yan, generic masculine name suffix