TRANSLATIONS

TRANSLATIONS

Vaero:

A few preliminary remarks and imaginations:

1. A comet (uero, tuverovero, hoku-welo-welo) is a 'star' with streaming light trailing behind and the sight of a comet is all over the world regarded as an ill omen.

When a comet appears in the sky the ruler down on earth is in danger of falling, to be turned over (fall) on his face, following the example in the sky. A meteor is also named hoku-welo-welo and such fall down on earth.

And if this happens Mother Nature will be upset and turn into a geat rage (wero):


Aa3-64	Aa3-65
ko te rima	kua oho te hare hare matagi

The tail (vaero) of a bird, or of a kite, is similar to the light rays streaming behind a comet. And a ray of light is like a spear (vero). And this spear threatens the king.

On the Marquesas the 10th month of the lunar year was veo. Sun has only 10 months.

... A vestige of the practice of putting the king to death at the end of a year's reign appears to have survived in the festival called Macahity, which used to be celebrated in Hawaii during the last month of the year. About a hundred years ago a Russian voyager described the custom as follows: 'The taboo Macahity is not unlike to our festival of Christmas. It continues a whole month, during which the people amuse themselves with dances, plays, and sham-fights of every kind. The king must open this festival wherever he is.

On this occasion his majesty dresses himself in his richest cloak and helmet, and is paddled in a canoe along the shore, followed sometimes by many of his subjects. He embarks early, and must finish his excursion at sunrise. The strongest and most expert of the warriors is chosen to receive him on his landing. The warrior watches the canoe along the beach; and as soon as the king lands, and has thrown off his cloak, he darts his spear at him, from a distance of about thirty paces, and the king must either catch the spear in his hand, or suffer from it: there is no jesting in the business ...

2. The glyph type vaero does not look like a spear or ray: It has 2 points instead of 1:


vaero	tao

On Mangareva tao means a lance or spear.

The rhomb in the center of a vaero sign possibly refers to the season beyond midsummer, the 2nd part of the year.

... In the island of Pukapuka Te Mango, the Shark, was applied to the long dark rift which divides the Milky Way from Scorpius to Cygnus. They declared that the 'shark of winter' had its head to the south and the 'shark of summer' had its head to the north, referring to the seasonal change in the position of the constellation. This, they said, was the monster which Maui speared and hurled high into the sky and they pointed out a small triangular patch of dark nebulosity near Scorpius as te tao, the spear with which Maui had performed his prodigious feat. In the Society Islands there were two distinct names for the rift, Vero-nu'u, Pierce-the-earth, and Vero-ra'i, Pierce-the-sky, the names of the two great wooden spears of Tane ...

The season of sky could be spring and the season of earth autumn. Up in spring and down in autumn.

I guess vaero could refer to one of these wooden spears of Tane, and more specifically to Vero-nu'u, because I happened to notice that the only vaero glyph in G has a nuku sign at left::


vaero	Ga4-18

Nuku is characterized by no arms (rima) - the spring 'fire' has left. Yet, in Ga4-18 it is nuku who is at left. 4 * 18 = 72 = 2 * 36 possibly can be regarded as 2 'points' (or legs).

The vero glyph type could then be Vero-ra'i, with one point (limb) up instead of two down:


vaero	vero

If the two limbs down in vaero are similar to legs, then the abdomen becomes the rhomb. In vero the corresponding sign is fomed like a ball (and we should notice that Fornander associates ballistics with throwing spears).

VERO

"WELO, v. Haw., to float or stream in the wind; to flutter or shake in the wind, s. the setting of the sun, or the appearance of it floating on the ocean; welo-welo, colours or cloth streaming in the wind, a tail, as of a kite, light streaming from a brand of fire thrown into the air in the dark; hoku-welo-welo, a comet, a meteor; ko-welo, to drag behind, as the trail of a garment, to stream, as a flag or pennant.

Sam., Tong., welo, to dart, cast a spear of dart.

Tah., wero, to dart, throw a spear; a storm, tempest, fig. great rage; wero-wero, to twinkle, as the stars.

Marqu., weo, a tail.

Mangar., wero, a lance, spear.

Greek, βαλλω, εβαλον, to throw, cast, hurl, of missiles, throw out, let fall, push forward; βελος, a missile, a dart; βελεμνον, id., βολη, a throw, a stroke; βολος, anything thrown, missile, javelin, a cast of the dice.

Sanskr., pal, to go, to move. To this Benfey refers the Lat. pello, Greek παλλω, O. H. Germ. fallan, A.-Sax. feallan. Liddell and Scott are silent on these connections ..." (Fornander)

One leg is possibly a reference to the drilling of fire at winter solstice:

... They walked in crowds when they arrived at Tulan, and there was no fire. Only those with Tohil had it: this was the tribe whose god was first to generate fire. How it was generated is not clear. Their fire was already burning when Jaguar Quitze and Jaguar Night first saw it: 'Alas! Fire has not yet become ours. We'll die from the cold', they said. And then Tohil spoke: 'Do not grieve. You will have your own even when the fire you're talking about has been lost', Tohil told them.

'Aren't you a true god! Our sustenance and our support! Our god!' they said when they gave thanks for what Tohil had said. 'Very well, in truth, I am your god: so be it. I am your lord: so be it,' the penitents and sacrificers were told by Tohil. And this was the warming of the tribes. They were pleased by their fire.

After that a great downpour began, which cut short the fire of the tribes. And hail fell thickly on all the tribes, and their fires were put out by the hail. Their fires didn't start up again. So then Jaguar Quitze and Jaguar Night asked for their fire again: 'Tohil, we'll be finished off by the cold', they told Tohil. 'Well, do not grive', said Tohil. Then he started a fire. He pivoted inside his sandal ...