TRANSLATIONS

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I have earlier in my dictionary at GD26 written:

'In the idiom of the rongorongo glyphs, we recognize a compound between haga (GD36), the bent bough, and atua mago (GD62), the shark god.'

On the other hand, we should now notice the similarity between the arm in GD52 (kai) and the shape of the right 'limb of haga' in GD26. As an example I have chosen Ab3-61:

  

The 'gap' in GD26 may have been created with a wish to represent three out of the four sides of a square. There are two 'elbows' (corners) in the upper part of GD26 - and not just one smooth bend as in the normal GD36 (haga):

The 4th, missing, side of the square in GD26 may then be regarded as the time when sun is absent - given that it is the yearly path of the sun which is symbolically represented in the picture.

The 'elbows' are the corners of the square earth, I guess. There should be 4 such and it would then not be surprising if we found GD26 in 4 places in the Tahua text.

Although I would rather suggest that we will find 3 places for GD26. In addition to summer solstice the two equinoxes.

I base my suggestion on the shape of GD26 - the T-shaped bottom part I read as summer and the two upward striving 'limbs' I read as autumn (left) and spring (right).

'... Nut means the goddess of night and t is a sign of the female: e.g. Rāt = the wife of . Note that both words (Nut and night) begin and end in the same way: n - t, hardly a coincidence. If we accept that this kind of similarity may be relevant, we will find a golden mine of ancient ideas, a very useful stimulation for creative thoughts. By the way: The night is the opposite to the day, like a temporary death. It is a world of NoT (being alive); i.e. day means living. Sun gives life ...'

'... At mid-summer, at the end of a half-year reign, Hercules is made drunk with mead and led into the middle of a circle of twelve stones arranged around an oak, in front of which stands an altar-stone; the oak has been lopped until it is T-shaped ...'

Once again, then, let us list those 18 (36 / 2) GD26 glyphs of Tahua:

Aa3-54 Aa3-60 Aa5-17 Aa7-38 Aa7-59 Ab1-46
Ab1-57 Ab1-72 Ab1-82 Ab3-29 Ab3-31 Ab3-54
Ab3-61 Ab4-8 Ab5-35 Ab7-37 Ab8-42 Ab8-69

Ab1-72 evidently belongs to the variant with foot instead of tail. It is then a 9th glyph of this kind - it announces 'death' by way of an open limb; we should remember e.g. Aa1-15 (with 3 ghostly limbs and one living - at right - in moa):

Ab1-46, Ab1-57, Ab1-72 and Ab1-82 (4 glyphs) obviously belong together. They should be contrasted with the odd Aa5-17 where the artist for once has drawn GD26 as constructed from two parts.

Aa3-54 and Aa3-60 constitue one group at left of Aa5-17, while we find another group at right (Aa7-38 and Aa7-59).

           

These two groups together with the middle single Aa5-17 could be read as T. The peculiar form of Aa5-17 could then be interpreted as a 'bowl' on top of the 'oak stem'.

'... He is bound to it with willow thongs in the 'five-fold bond' which joins wrists, neck, and ankles together, beaten by his comrades till he faints, then flayed, blinded, castrated, impaled with a mistletoe stake, and finally hacked into joints on the altar-stone. His blood is caught in a basin and used for sprinkling the whole tribe to make them vigorous and fruitful ...'

I earlier suggested that Aa1-1 and Aa5-17 are connected: Aa5-17 may contain the missing second part of the viri that is embedded in Aa1-1:

  

Disregarding line a1 (which seems to be a part separate from the rest of side a) we find that Aa5-17 is the 260th glyph, a sign that the 1st half year ends (or rather has ended) with Aa5-17:

-

-

Aa5-15

Aa5-16

Aa5-17

Aa5-18

Ab7-34

Ab7-35

Ab7-36

Ab7-37

Ab7-38

Ab7-39

Ab7-38 (the 534th glyph from the beginning) serves as a sign of middle on side b.

But also Ab7-36 announces middle by way of the prolonged vertical straight line - possibly to be understood as alluding to the 1st half year. 36, the ordinal number in line b7 equals 6 squared.

534 = 2 * (260 + 7) and 532 = 2 * (260 + 6)

I therefore suggest (half serious, half as a joke) that at midsummer, when the 'big snake' rises together with the sun, time is ripe for the tanist to take over:

'... The joints are roasted at twin fires of oak-loppings, kindled with sacred fire preserved from a lightning-blasted oak or made by twirling an alder- or cornel-wood fire-drill in an oak log. The trunk is then uprooted and split into faggots which are added to the flames.

The twelve merry-men rush in a wild figure-of-eight dance around the fires, singing ecstatically and tearing at the flesh with their teeth. The bloody remains are burnt in the fire, all except the genitals and the head. These are put into an alder-wood boat and floated down the river to an islet; though the head is sometimes cured with smoke and preserved for oracular use. His tanist succeeds him and reigns for the remainder of the year, when he is sacrificially killed by a new Hercules ...'

As to the first (left) group (Aa3-54 and Aa3-60) we have seen them before:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another passage we saw earlier discusses the meaning of the hand gestures:

Aa3-45

Aa3-46

Aa3-47

Aa3-48

Aa3-49

Aa3-50

Aa3-51

Aa3-52

Aa3-53

Aa3-54

Aa3-55

Aa3-56

Aa3-57

Aa3-58

Aa3-59

Aa3-60

Aa3-61

Aa3-62

Aa3-63

Aa3-64

'... the hand gestures include 'eating' (i.e. growing) and an arm is raised with a little sun symbol as thumb (Aa3-64), presumably pushing up the sky. I have persuaded at least myself that side a of Tahua indeed describes the year ...'

The first (left) group (Aa3-54 and Aa3-60 - redmarked above) surely occurs before (or rather at) midsummer.

Aa3-56 (en face head) may suggest, though, that Aa3-60 is located at midsummer. Aa3-60 (note the ordinal number in the line) is marked by 'death' (GD46).

Aa3-53 has 8 marks which suggests that the cycle is complete at (the thick-bodied) Aa3-54. And Aa3-52 (note the ordinal number in the line) has 2 'feathers' on its head, as if to indicate the 2nd half year.

Even Aa3-50 probably announces some kind of changeover by way of the double heads. And on the corrugated wing of Aa3-55 there is a sign which possibly may show a complete cycle.

The second (right) group (Aa7-38 and Aa7-59) is located in a complex solar calendar which we have seen earlier:

0 Aa7-1 is connecting this text with earlier text by way of Aa6-84. (Cfr also Aa6-62, Aa6-49, Aa6-39--40.)
Aa6-84 Aa7-1 Aa7-2 Aa7-3
1
Aa7-4 Aa7-5 Aa7-6 Aa7-7 Aa7-8
Aa7-9 Aa7-10 Aa7-11 Aa7-12 Aa7-13
2
Aa7-14 Aa7-15 Aa7-16 Aa7-17 Aa7-18
 
Aa7-19
3
Aa7-20 Aa7-21 Aa7-22 Aa7-23 Aa7-24
 
Aa7-25 Aa7-26 Aa7-27
4
Aa7-28 Aa7-29 Aa7-30 Aa7-31 Aa7-32
Aa7-33 Aa7-34 Aa7-35 Aa7-36 Aa7-37
 
Aa7-38 Aa7-39 Aa7-40 Aa7-41
5
Aa7-42 Aa7-43 Aa7-44 Aa7-45 Aa7-46
Aa7-47 Aa7-48 Aa7-49 Aa7-50 Aa7-51
 
Aa7-52
6
Aa7-53 Aa7-54 Aa7-55 Aa7-56 Aa7-57
Aa7-58 Aa7-59 Aa7-60 Aa7-61 Aa7-62
7
Aa7-63 Aa7-64 Aa7-65 Aa7-66 Aa7-67
 
Aa7-68 Aa7-69
8
Aa7-70 Aa7-71 Aa7-72 Aa7-73 Aa7-74
Aa7-75 Aa7-76 Aa7-77 Aa7-78 Aa7-79
Aa7-80 Aa7-81 Aa7-82 Aa7-83 Aa7-84
Aa7-85 is connecting this text with later text by way of Aa8-1. The pattern is like when Aa6-84 by way of similarity connects with Aa7-1.
Aa7-85 Aa8-1

'... In Aa7-38 and Aa7-59 we can count to 9 + 9 and in the uplifted 'arm' we can recognize the moon. While Aa7-59 definitely has a black eye, there may be a glimmering of white at the center of the eye of Aa7-38 ...'

 

In Aa7-2 (GD28) we should read 'darkness' (as we learnt already at Monday, Wednesday and Friday):

In Aa7-3 (with 8 backwards oriented marks) we may recognize Poike (Maori: 'place aloft'), the turning point in the journey of the kuhane of Hau Maka), at Aa1-26 (noon):

  

'... Poike presumably should be read as po-ike, where po is darkness and ike is the pounder into whiteness, the tapa beater:

Ike

Pau.: Tapa beater. Mgv.: ike, id. Ta.: ie, id. Mq.: ike, id. Sa.: i'e, id. Ma.: ike, to strike with a hammer. Ikeike, gracious, pleasant. Ta.: iéié, elegant, vain, gracious. Mq.: iéié, id. Ha.: ieie, dignified, vainglorious. Churchill.

This blow of the hammer we probably have seen before, at noon in Aa1-26 ... and the result should be white tapa, a way to explain the sign of hau tea in Aa1-28:

The explanation of Poike as po-ike explains what we see in Aa1-26, not only the tapa beater (ike) but also we immediately recognize that the sign of Y could be read as po, whereas the sun and the haga are like determinants, making clear that the subject is the sun and its turnover point

But noon is not called poike, rather raá tini or raá toa (according to Churchill). Tini means to be at the 'zenith' (no such thing possible on Easter Island because it is situated too far to the south) and Churchill's toa may be tôa or toá, thereby explaining the sign of Y in Aa1-26.

The creator of Aa1-26 presumably thought about noon as raá toa rather than raá tini. Then constructing a glyph corresponding to raá toa he would have changed the top middle flame of the sun into the Y-sign (as an allusion for toa). After that he realized that it would also be possible to express an allusion to Poike by changing the ordinary sign for hakaturu (GD32 + GD36) into a tapa beater. As a last touch he would then change the point of haga into an open affair - just as the Y-sign has open 'branches' ...'

The second (right) group (Aa7-38 and Aa7-59) - redmarked above- surely occurs after midsummer.

Rearranging the 18 glyphs of GD26 we get 4 main groups:

1 T 5 9
Aa3-54 Aa3-60 Aa5-17 Aa7-38 Aa7-59
2 Symmetry suggests that Ab1-46 should belong to group 1. 4
Ab1-46 Ab1-57 Ab1-72 Ab1-82
3 6 9
Ab3-29 Ab3-31 Ab3-54 Ab3-61 Ab4-8 Ab5-35
4 3 * 6 = 18 3
Ab7-37 Ab8-42 Ab8-69

If Aa5-17 marks midsummer and Ab1-72 the end of the 2nd half-year, then possibly Ab8-42 marks the beginning of 1st half-year? The glyph is red-marked.

We should take a quick look at the glyphs which are located at the end of side b:

Ab8-24 Ab8-25 Ab8-26 Ab8-27 Ab8-28 Ab8-29 Ab8-30
Ab8-31 Ab8-32 Ab8-33 Ab8-34 Ab8-35 Ab8-36 Ab8-37 Ab8-38

There are 12 marks in Ab8-32, followed by a sun-symbol (GD12), and these two glyphs are flanked by two exactly alike GD11 (manu rere). Ab8-35 indicates a great period (because of the size of the glyph). In Ab8-38 (GD53, maitaki) also serves the function of period indicator.

Ab8-39 Ab8-40 Ab8-41 Ab8-42 Ab8-43 Ab8-44 Ab8-45 Ab8-46

In Ab8-39 we maybe can read about the hua growing from the great old period. In Ab8-40 we may see the hua itself (like a kind of nut with sun-symbols as 'ears' (or 'eyes' as in a potato).

Ab8-45 has 10 marks on its 'tail' and we recognize the 'new year' symbol (GD18, niu) with 4 ghostly legs in the air. Ab8-46 is a variant of the moon sign (GD44, marama), which may signal both full moon and sun (not the usual full moon triangular vertex but here a smooth curve alluding to the form of the sun).

Ab8-41 and Ab8-42 may show the continued evolution from 'bud' and 'fruit' (in Ab8-39 and Ab8-40).

At Ab8-43 Metoro said o te pito motu, evidently suggesting a kind of central point ('navel'). Much has been said already about this glyph and it would take too much space to repeat it all here. But it must be stated that Ca5-20 (hakapekaga mai according to Metoro - the 'place of crossing over') evidently is located at new year time:

We must also remember that Tahua has 670 (= 200 * π + 42) glyphs on side a and 664 (= 200 * π + 36) glyphs on side b, and that 36 glyphs at the beginning of side a clearly is a separate unit of the text. Therefore we should expect 42 glyphs at the end of side b to be a separate unit of the text. There are 84 (= 2 * 42) glyphs in line b8. Ab8-42 is located as no. 42 and Ab8-43 is located at no. 42 + 1, i.e. where the 'crossing over' has been done.

We are also remembering (see more above) the sequence of glyphs around Aa3-54, where Aa3-52 and Aa3-53 presumably are equivalent to Ab8-41 respective the right part of Ab8-45. Though Aa3-53 is probably even better recognized in Ab8-32 - with birds flanking:

Aa3-50

Aa3-51

Aa3-52

Aa3-53

Aa3-54

Aa3-55

We can even identify the right part of Aa3-51 with Ab8-44.

Ab8-47 Ab8-48 Ab8-49 Ab8-50 Ab8-51 Ab8-52 Ab8-53
Ab8-54 Ab8-55 Ab8-56 Ab8-57 Ab8-58 Ab8-59 Ab8-60
Ab8-61 Ab8-62 Ab8-63 Ab8-64 Ab8-65 Ab8-66 Ab8-67 Ab8-68
Ab8-69 Ab8-70 Ab8-71 Ab8-72 Ab8-73 Ab8-74 Ab8-75 Ab8-76
Ab8-77 Ab8-78 Ab8-79 Ab8-80 Ab8-81 Ab8-82 Ab8-83 Ab8-84

I have black-marked glyphs which feel 'dark'.

The last glyph (Ab8-84) should remind us about Ca2-7--12:

And then we return to:

Ab7-33 Ab7-34 Ab7-35 Ab7-36 Ab7-37 Ab7-38 Ab7-39
Aa5-14 Aa5-15 Aa5-16 Aa5-17 Aa5-18

However, we should also remember:

'... Ca5-18 -- 19 are 'twins' just as at the end of the line (Ab8-84):

Ca5-18 -- 19

Ab8-84