NOV JUL Aug 19 2012 2014 2015 4 captures 13 Nov 09 - 19 Jul 14

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This is a Nativity story from Mary’s perspective, and is the first story ever written in Láadan. It was written, of course, by Suzette Haden Elgin. Reportedly, it was published in the Fall of 1982 in the journal Women and Language News; Suzette Haden Elgin states:

Vocabulary

Text

Wóoban Méri Batha

Bíide eríli wóoban with wemaneya wáa. Wóoban bi áwithid i ban bi zhath “Zheshu” áwithidedi wáa. Eril shi áwithid bith, i di bi eba bithodi, “Bíili, bre aril tháa ra áwithehóo, ébre aril míi le!”

Id—bishibenal—menosháad womilá menedebe i noline menedebe i wothidá nedebe wáa. Eril medi, “Bóo aril meláad len áwithideth oyinan lu.”

Bíide eril di with biyóodi, “Wulh hath áwitheláadewan! Methi ra bash i methi ra shal!”—i loláad bi ílhith. Izh di bi “Wil sha” zhonal: “Bóo mesháad nen i meláad.”

Eril yide áwithid Zheshu i lili be wi. Nawée be i náwée be. Éde eril benem mélhewith. Eril lith with “Raláadá menedebe!”

I eril lámála with áwithideth i náluth beth. Bíid mesháad hath i mesháad hath. Doól eril di with biyóodi, “Bóo melith nen woho! Bíi ril nen rathóo wi! Báa melothel nen radaleth? Bíi rilrili meloláad thul nenetha lhohoth.” I eril thib with i bel bi áwitheth i naya bi beth.

Bíide eril thi with zhath Méri wáa.

Morpheme-by-Morpheme Analysis

Free Translation

The Birth-Giving of Mary the Beloved

Long ago, a woman gave birth in the wintertime. She had a baby boy, and she named him “Jesus.” The baby pleased her, and she said to her spouse, “If this baby doesn’t do well, I’ll be very surprised!”

And then—suddenly—there arrived many shepherds, many angels, and several wise men. They said, “May we please see the baby?”

“What a horrible time for a baby-viewing!” the woman said to herself. “They have no common sense and no manners!” — and she was disgusted. But aloud she said, “Please, come and see.”

As would be obvious to any thinking person, the Baby Jesus was hungry and wet. He started crying, and he kept on crying. Nevertheless, the crowd stayed on. “What a lot of blind, deaf, dumb, thick-headed creatures!” the woman thought.

And she held the baby close and rocked him. Time went by.... and more time went by. At last the woman said to herself, “All of you, please think! You’re not guests any longer, you’re nothing but trouble! Don’t you know anything? Your parents would be ashamed.” And she stood up and took the baby and took care of him.

That woman’s name was Mary.

Comments

There are several words Suzette Haden Elgin created for this story that demonstrate the flexible nature of Láadan word-building. These are all on-the-fly formations that would probably not be included in a dictionary.

First, “wulh” (what a horrible...) [wu (what a; such a) + –lh (pejorative)]. Usually, we’ve seen the pejorative affixes used directly on the thing that is being reviled; in this case, however, it’s attached to “wu” (such a...; what a...) to bring the pejorative to the situation rather than the noun that is being discussed.

Next, “wothidá” (wise man) [woth (wisdom) + –id (masculine) + –á (doer)]. There’s an interesting commentary going on within the formation of this word. We’ve seen “wothá” (wise person; sage), and the step to “wotháhid” (male sage; wise man) is a natural one. However, in this word, Dr. Elgin has gone a different direction: she starts with “woth” (wisdom), then adds the masculine ending “–id” to give “wothid” (male wisdom; wisdom as perceived by men) and only then does she add the agentive suffix “–á” to give “wothidá” (doer of male wisdom)—a very different slant from the common English notion of “wise man.”

Next, “áwitheláad” (baby-viewing) [áwith (infant) + láad (perceive)].

Finally, mélhewith (crowd, pejorative) [méwith (crowd) + –lh– (pejorative)]. Do you remember, from when we were studying the pejorative, that the usual use for the pejorative infix is in creating new words? Well, this word makes use of the fact that “méwith” (crowd) is formed from “with” (person) with a variant of “me–” (plural in verbs; also used in forming nouns meaning “larger/more important”); Dr. Elgin simply inserted the pejorative infix between these two word-parts.

Regarding the word-part “mé–”: it has recently been defined as a collective-noun prefix. In words like “mébabí” (flock of birds) it stands for “flock;” in “méthili” (school of fish) it stands for “school;” and so on. This has the added benefit of regularizing “méwith” (crowd) as a collective form for people.