From jjllambias@hotmail.com Thu Jun 15 15:44:22 2000 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 29166 invoked from network); 15 Jun 2000 22:44:20 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by m1.onelist.org with QMQP; 15 Jun 2000 22:44:20 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO hotmail.com) (216.33.241.102) by mta1 with SMTP; 15 Jun 2000 22:44:20 -0000 Received: (qmail 41243 invoked by uid 0); 15 Jun 2000 22:44:20 -0000 Message-ID: <20000615224420.41242.qmail@hotmail.com> Received: from 200.32.22.161 by www.hotmail.com with HTTP; Thu, 15 Jun 2000 15:44:20 PDT X-Originating-IP: [200.32.22.161] To: lojban@egroups.com Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: lujvo Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 15:44:20 PDT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed From: "Jorge Llambias" X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 3093 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 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