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TRANSLATIONS
The 'knees' oriented left and right
in Aa4-58 respectively Aa4-60 indicate (I believe) that there is
a reversal in between them, at Aa4-59:
The reversal takes
place at summer solstice, after which sun returns from his
maximum. We have a similar shift in 'leg' orientation from
Aa1-8 to Aa1-9:
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Aa1-8 |
Aa1-9 |
At winter solstice
the legs ought to be shifted again, this time from 'knee' at
right to 'knee' at left. I happened to notice just such a
reversal in Aruku Kurenga:
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|
Ba6-7 |
Ba6-8 |
Ba6-9 |
Ba6-10 |
| ka huri te hatu |
e tagata huri |
hatu |
e tagata haga |
The first GD42 (vae
kore) was explained as e tagata huri, and huri
means 'to turn over' (etc), while the second vae kore
(without legs) was described as e tagata haga.
| Huri
1. To turn (vt.), to
overthrow, to knock down: huri moai,
the overthrowing of the statues from their
ahus during the period of decadence on the
island. 2. To pour a liquid from a
container: ka huri mai te vai, pour me
some water. 3. To end a lament, a
mourning: he huri i te tagi, ina ekó tagi
hakaou, with this the mourning (for the
deceased) is over, there shall be no more
crying. 4. New shoot of banana: huri
maîka. Vanaga.
1. Stem. P Mgv.: huri,
a banana shoot. Mq.: hui, shoot, scion.
2. To turn over, to be turned over onto another
side, to bend, to lean, to warp; huri ke,
to change, to decant; tae huri ke,
invariable; huri ke tahaga no mai, to
change as the wind; tae huri, immovable;
e ko huri ke, infallible; huhuri,
rolling; hakahuri, to turn over;
hakahuri ke, to divine. P Pau.: huri,
to turn. Mgv.: huri, uri, to turn
on one side, to roll, to turn upside down, to
reverse. Mq.: hui, to turn, to reverse.
3. To throw, to shoot. 4. To water, to wet. 5.
To hollow out. Hurihuri: 1. Wrath, anger;
kokoma hurihuri, animosity, spite, wrath,
fury, hate, enmity, irritable, quick tempered,
to feel offended, to resent, to pester;
kokoma hurihuri ke, to be in a rage. 2. (huri
4) hurihuri titi, to fill up. 3. To
polish. 4. (uriuri). Hurikea, to
transfigure, to transform. Churchill.
Mq. huri, resemblance.
Sa.: foliga, to resemble. Churchill. |
| Haga
1. Bay, fishing spot.
(Figuratively) he haga o te ákuáku,
it is the [evil] spirit's fishing spot, i.e.
a place where they hide waiting for people
to fall under their power. 2. To want, to
love. Ku haga á i te vai, I want
water, I am thirsty. Vanaga.
1. Bay, strait, anchorage,
strand, beach. 2. Work, labor, employment,
act, affair, creation, design, state, maker,
fashion, manufacture, occupation,
profession; to do, to make, to construct, to
employ, to form, to manufacture, to fashion,
to found, to be busy with; haga rakerake,
crime; tagata haga ei mea, mercenary;
haga no iti, to plot mischief;
haga ke, to act contrary; haga
takataka, to disjoin; haga nui,
difficulty, fatigue, to weary; tuhi ki te
haga, to give employment; haga
hakahou, to make over, to renew,
recovery; haga koroiti, to deal
prudently; haga nuinui ke, to
overburden. 3. Agreement, conduct, liking,
intention, desire, will; to resolve, to
permit, to endeavor, to tolerate, to be
willing, to wish, to approve; haga ihoiho,
fixed desire; haga mai, haga no
mai, to agree, to hearken favorably;
tae haga, despite, involuntary, to
refuse, to renounce; noho hakahaga,
apathy. 4. = haka. Churchill. |
The word haga
could mean 'bay', 'beach' or 'anchorage', as for instance
the beach of Anakena. Another possibility is
'creation'. Presumably both meanings are meant here. I think
these two GD42 glyphs indicate takurua, the place
where the old year is 'finished' and a new year is
'created'.
It
is intriguing to find haga nui to mean 'to weary'
(etc), because Hanga Nui is the bay in which we find
Marotiri (and Maro is the last month of the
year).
The Polynesians
too
like word plays:
... Words were
like food for the Maori - riddles, word puzzles and proverbs
were continously used and new ones invented daily, for as
the saying states, Ko te kai a te rangatira, he kōrero
('oratory is the sustenance of chiefs') ...
We should therefore read huri
also as uri:
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Uri
1. Dark; black-and-blue. 2.
Green; ki oti te toga, he-uri te maúku o te
kaiga, te kumara, te taro, te tahi hoki me'e,
once winter is over, the grasses grow green,
and the sweet potatoes, and the taro, and the
other plants. Uriuri, black; very dark.
Vanaga.
Uriuri, black, brown,
gray, dark, green, blue, violet (hurihuri).
Hakahurihuri, dark, obscurity, to darken.
P Pau.: uriuri, black. Mgv.: uriuri,
black, very dark, color of the deep sea, any
vivid color. Mq.: uiui, black, brown.
Ta.: uri, black. Churchill. |
Not
only is it dark (as the deep sea) at winter solstice but
ki oti te toga (when winter is finished) he-uri te
maúku (the grasses grow green). Is this not the
explanation for why the eye is black in the beginning, as
for instance in Aa4-58?
To complete the
picture we should see the 10 glyphs Ba6-1--10:
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Ba6-1 |
Ba6-2 |
Ba6-3 |
Ba6-4 |
Ba6-5 |
| Kua huki |
ko Toia |
kua vaha
mea ïa |
kua huki -
ia ki to nuku |
e to ika
kua mau |
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Ba6-6 |
Ba6-7 |
Ba6-8 |
Ba6-9 |
Ba6-10 |
| i to ihe -
ki te ragi |
ka huri te
hatu |
e tagata
huri |
hatu |
e tagata
haga |
We
recognize in Ba6-2 ko Toia (To îa ?), the
headless ghostly figure:
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... Parallel with writing here I
am classifying all the glyphs in Aruku
Kurenga according to type of GD. One of the
glyphs (Ba6-2) - I happened to notice - has a
unique strange semi-human appearance and its
head is missing, which made me think of Oto
Uta (Tautó). It could be a
coincidence of course, but then I saw what
Metoro had said and it became more
interesting:
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ko Toia |
Two
'spooky' legs below what may be an 'earth' image
and the arms have 'elbows' as if to denote the
equinoxes.
Not many words
from Metoro were beginning with a Capital
letter (the only examples I can remember are
Rei and Raa), but here was clearly a
very important glyph too.
Possibly Toia originates from Tó-îa,
i.e. 'he is Tó' ...
... Is
there a wordplay with Toia (Tó-îa)
used instead of the normal koia (ko-îa)?
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To
1. Particle sometimes used with the
article in ancient legends; i uto
to te hau, the ribbon was in the
float. 2. To rise (of the sun)
during the morning hours up to the
zenith: he-to te raá. Vanaga.
1. Of. T Pau., Ta.: to, of.
Mgv.: to, genitive sign. Mq.:
to, of, for. 2. This, which.
Churchill. |
Polynesian wordplays tend to be complex and we
should also think of Kukuru toûa (maybe
tó-ûa). The egg-yolk is the sun, maybe, the
missing head of Tautó.
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Toûa
Egg yolk; the colour yellow; soft,
fibrous part of tree bark; toûa
mahute, mahute fibres. Vanaga. |
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We had better look
at also what was written somewhat later:
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Ba6-2 (ko Toia) - we now
can perceive - probably has its lost-head
position at midsummer:
The
'arms' also suggest this, as we have seen in the
opposed 'elbows’ before and after midsummer,
e.g. in Aa1-8 respective Aa1-9:
The
'legs' have a 'spooky' character, in the same
fashion as in the upside down 'limbs' in the
niu glyphs (GD18), e.g. Aa1-13:
Metoro's
name niu for this glyph type probably
suggests the 'land of the past' in the same way
as Hiva does, because the coco palm no
longer grows on Easter Island.
Toia
perhaps is To-ia. In the readings of
Metoro we have seen that GD73 usually is
called toga, and that word may be
to-ga:
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I will not
here comment upon what was written earlier. Instead I
must take the opportunity to document that on Tahiti
they did not say toga but toa:
| Toga 1. Winter season. Two seasons used to be distinguished in ancient
times: hora, summer, and toga, winter. 2. To lean against
somehing; to hold something fast; support, post supporting the roof. 3.
To throw something with a sudden movement. 4. To feed oneself, to eat
enough; e-toga koe ana oho ki te aga, eat well first when you go
to work. Vanaga.
1. Winter. P Pau., Mgv.: toga, south. Mq.:
tuatoka, east wind. Ta.: toa, south. 2. Column, prop; togatoga,
prop, stay. Togariki, northeast wind. Churchill. Wooden platform for a
dead chief: ka tuu i te toga (Bb8-42), when
the wooden platform has been erected. Barthel 2. |
I think we
here have part of the explanation of why Metoro
said toa for the periods of the night. The night
is in a way equivalent to winter, which in a way is
equivalent to south.
Furthermore,
while I was documenting Metoro's readings at the
GD73 (toga) glyphs I discovered that when he read
Aruku Kurenga he systematically associated
toga only with the Y-form ('barren hand'):
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Ba3-5 |
Ba3-21 |
Ba6-14 |
Ba6-42 |
Ba7-23 |
Ba8-26 |
Ba8-33 |
| tuu - ki
toga o kua
tuu ia ki tona hukiga |
ko te
tagata kua moe ki te
toga tu (includes Ba3-20) |
ki te toki
- e kua tuu i te toga |
kua tuu
huki ïa ki te toga |
ma to ihe
kua tuu ki te toga |
kua tu ko
to toga |
kua tu - ki
to io |
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Ba10-21 |
Ba10-31 |
Bb8-42 |
Bb9-36 |
Bb9-38 |
Bb10-35 |
Bb10-37 |
| mai tae
tuki te henua |
kua tu ki
to toga |
ka tuu i te
toga |
ki te tuuga
o to toga |
mai ki te
totoga e |
e tagata
tuu ra i te toga |
ka tuu i to
rima |
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Redmarked
glyphs do not have Y. |
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Bb10-39 |
Bb10-41 |
Bb11-40 |
Bb12-12 |
Bb12-17 |
Bb12-20 |
| mai tae oho
ki to toga |
ki to
toga nui |
ma to rutu |
mai tae
rutu hia i te pahu - mai tae oho te rima |
ka rere koe
- ki te toga
tu |
mai tae
rutu hia te pahu - e rima oho |
At GD47 (toa)
- which also has Y at its top end - he mostly said
toa, which I now believe is the Tahitian variant
of 'south' (etc). Maybe Metoro sometimes used the
Tahitian equivalent of a word to state a difference in
meaning.
Among the 64
glyphs which I have classified as GD47 he said toga
only in one place, viz. when he was reading Mamari
and the sequence Cb2-17--22:
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Cb2-17 |
Cb2-18 |
Cb2-19 |
Cb2-20 |
Cb2-21 |
Cb2-22 |
| manu
rere - toga |
manu |
toga |
ka tuu
te toga
o te manu |
kua
tapu - no te manu |
ku
kikiu - i te henua |
Notice the extraordinary figure in
Cb2-22. Maybe there is an allusion to GD33 (viri):
We must also notice that at Cb2-21 we
have the only occurrence of tapu anywhere among
the Metoro readings.
The Mamari
text referred to is probably important for the process
of translating the rongorongo glyphs and I
therefore here include a table showing also parallel
texts:
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