Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: lujvo

From: "Jorge Llambias" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 15:44:20 PDT

la ivAn cusku di'e

>But if the
>language is not a Christian one (loose turn of phrase here, but
>you know what I mean), a literal translation of `Mother of God'
>might not be appropriate. The Sanskrit <devamAtar> means `mother
>of [Hindu] gods'.

And {cevmamta} even sounds a little like it. :)

>And Lojban has no particular connexion to any
>religion. So I don't expect `Our Lady of Mercy' to make sense
>if translated.

Well, it all depends on the context. In many contexts
that I can think of I would translate the words, yes. If it
is the name of something else (Our Lady of Mercy Hospital
or something), then the words might not mean much translated,
but if it is within some Christian writing, then translating
the meaning is probably the right thing to do.

> > I also don't see what could be offensive about {lo mamta be lo
> > cevni} = "a mother of a god" and similar expressions, but then
> > people do tend to be touchy about godly matters.
>
>I don't see that as offensive either, although I wouldn't use it
>myself (not of Mary, that is).

I can think of contexts where I would use it, but they are
contrived. In the usual contexts when speaking of Mary one
does not assume that there are many mothers of gods, so
{lo mamta be lo cevni} does sound strange, but not totally
unthinkable.

>Nor do I see anything unusual in
>a god having a mother -- among the world's gods (that is, beings
>that have been imagined and worshipped in one place or the other)
>those without mothers are a distinct minority.

i ie i mi za'o darxi lo morsi xirma

co'o mi'e xorxes

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com