Message-Id: <199402071858.AA00196@eli.CS.YALE.EDU>
Date:         Mon, 7 Feb 1994 13:56:05 -0500
Reply-To: Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN%CUVMB.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.YALE.EDU>
From: Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Subject:      Re: My decoding of the Lojban cryptogram.
To: Erik Rauch <rauch>
In-Reply-To:  <199402071507.AA16178@nfs1.digex.net> from "Colin Fine" at Feb 7,               94 01:30:58 pm
Status: RO

SPOILER WARNING!  THE SOLUTION TO THE CRYPTOGRAM IS CONTAINED HEREIN.
If you are still working on the cryptogram, read no further!

Are you sure?

la kolin. cusku di'e

> Here is my translation.
> (The decoding into Lojban is solid. The Englishing is highly tentative, being
> as I haven't a clue what it all means.

No more do I, frankly.  For that matter, I doubt the author was that concerned
with "meaning"; he wanted an allusive text with translations into several
languages.  My Lojban is far more flatfooted than the English, with several
out-and-out errors.  I didn't bother to check the text before using it, but
simply ran it as-is.  (I could weasel and say this simulates the typical
conditions of cryptographic transmission....)

> There seems to be an error in the last line. I have emended the first group
>  MERME
> into MEUME: this makes it valid Lojban, but hardly meaningful - perhaps
> the emendation is not correct.)

There is indeed an error:  the first four letters of the first group of the
last line are a "stutter", and should be removed.  Note the identity to the
last four letters of the last group of the penultimate line.

Here's the original, the Lojban plaintext, and the usual interlinear gloss:

night circles night
ni'o loi nicte cu mluni loi nicte
[paragraph] part-of-the-mass-of-all Nights is-a-satellite of
 part-of-the-mass-of-all Nights

names speak the names of voices
.i lo cmene cu bacru lo cmene be lo voksa
some name(s) utter some name(s) of some voice(s)

clouds hide clouds of the voices of names of the night
.i lo dilnu cu gacri lo dilnu be le voksa be lo cmene be le nicte
some cloud(s) is-a-cover-for (some cloud(s) made-from (the-specified voices
        of (some name(s) of the-specified night)))

silence builds from silence
ni'o lo ka smaji cu zbasu fi lo ka smaji
[paragraph] some quality/ies-of something-being-quiet constructs [something-
        unspecified] from the quality-of something-being-quiet

Note:  "builds" throughout the English poem is ambiguous:  I have chosen to
render it as "zbasu" throughout, but "selzenba" = "is the property by which
something is augmented" may be the author's intent.

life dreams the life of magic
.i loi nu jmive cu senva le nu lo makfa cu jmive
some-part-of-the-mass-of-the event-of something-being-alive dreams
        the-event-of some magic-thing(s) being-alive

memories frame the memories of the magic of the life of silence
.i lo selmorji cu manri le selmorji be fi le makfa
        pe le nu loi ka smaji cu jmive
some remembered-thing(s) are-a-reference-frame-for the-specified remembered-
        things [by someone-unspecified] about-subject the magic
        associated-with the-specified event-of some-part-of-the-mass-of
        qualities-of something-is-quiet being-alive

what silence circles builds from night
ni'o da poi loi ka smaji cu mluni da cu zbasu fi loi nicte
[paragraph] something such-that (some-part-of-the-mass-of-the quality-of
        something-is-quiet is-a-satellite-of it) constructs [something-
        unspecified] from the-mass-of-night

voices of magic name the life that speaks in dreams
.i lo voksa be lo makfa cu tercmene fi le nu jmive poi bacru ci'e lo seljmive
some voice(s) of some magic-thing(s) are-name-givers to the-specified event-of
        something-being-alive such-that [it] utters in-system-specified-by
        some dream(s)

Note:  The final "seljmive" should have been "selsenva"; a translator's slip.
Colin rendered the text correctly as I gave it.

clouds frame the memories they hide
.i lo dilnu cu manri lo selmorji poi ri gacri
some cloud(s) are-a-reference-frame-for some remembered-thing(s) such-that
        the-last-mentioned[-clouds] are-a-cover-for [it]

for the beauty of their structure
ni'o ki'u le nu le stura be le se go'o cu melbi
[paragraph] justified-by the-specified event-of ((the structure-of the
        second-thing-in-next-sentence [the trees]) is-beautiful)

Note:  There is a missing "kei" at the end of this: plus Colin seems to have
misread "ki'u" as "ku'i", leading to his translation of this line and the
next as: "But [the fact] that their structure is lovely to me, cries out and
blesses the trees."  In fact "mi" belongs with the next clause, and the text
as written has two selbri and so is ungrammatical.

I cry and bless the trees
mi krixa gi'e zandapma le tricu
I cry-out and (favorably-curse the-specified tree(s))

Note:  I found out later that "klaku" (weep) was intended by the author.

I join the present and I sing
.i tu'a mi cu rinka lo nu mi jorne le cabna .ije mi sanga
something-done-by-me is-a-cause-of some event(s)-of me being-joined-with
        the-specified thing-simultaneous-with [something-unspecified].
        And I sing.

Note:  I'm not sure why Colin read "mi jorne le cabna" as "[I make] myself
present and actual", as if "le" were "je" or something.

green calls to green
ni'o lo ka crino cu bacru cusku lo ka crino
[paragraph] some quality/ies of something-being-green utteringly express
        to-some quality/ies of something-being-green

Note:  Translator's blunder here.  Should have been "cusku fi lo".

stars light the stars of secrets
.i lo tarci cu tergusni lo tarci pe lo selmipri
some star(s) is/are-illumination-for some star(s) associated-with some
        hidden-thing(s)/secret(s)

paths point to paths of the secrets of the stars of green
.i lo pluta cu stidi lo pluta pe le selmipri *ipri pe le tarci pe lo ka crino
some path(s) is/are-indicator(s)-of some path(s) associated-with (some
        hidden-thing(s) associated-with (some star(s) associated-with
        (some event(s)-of something-being-green)))

Note:  Here's the stutter.  Colin emended "*ipri pe" to ".i plipe" and
translated the result correctly.

As Ursula K. LeGuin once said in a similar context, "one of the great triumphs
of French Reason in the service of pure madness."  (A typo in her early novel
>Rocannon's World< had been faithfully rendered into French.)

The English version continues for some 30-odd lines which I have not yet
translated.

--
John Cowan              sharing account <lojbab@access.digex.net> for now
                e'osai ko sarji la lojban.