Re: CHAT: Happy Birthday

--- In conlang@y..., daniel andreasson <danielandreasson@S...> wrote:

> Happy birthday! Or as we say in Cein:
>
> "Nost far!"
Do you have any online references to Cein?  I'd like to have a look at them.

In Obrenje: O ral miza chessoqa!  /O "ral "mi:za h@s"so:Na/

O         ral   miza  chessoqa.
Optative  good  day   create_past_passive_gerund.
Lit: "May [there be] a good day of having-been-created!"

Note that the unmarked noun phrase "good birthday" would be <miza
chessoqa ral>, true to the head-first policy.  Here, ral is placed at
the head position, drawing more attention.  Maybe one should translate
it as "May there be a good one of birthdays!"

Colloquial usage would probably reduce <miza chessoqa> to <chessoqa>,
and maybe also drop the optative: <Ral chessoqa>! "Good birthday"!


-- Christian Thalmann