TRANSLATIONS

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5. Before writing was invented everything had to be commited to memory. Strings of words are more easy to remember than isolated ones. Therefore, I think, the Polynesians were fond of lists. Lists of e.g. birds could be used to memorize other things, such as the order and events connected with the different months. We should not underestimate the potentiality of such a method:

"The ollave in ancient Ireland had to be master of one hundred and fifty Oghams, or verbal ciphers, which allowed him to converse with his fellow-poets over the heads of unlearned bystanders; to be able to repeat at a moment's notice any one of three hundred and fifty long traditional histories and romances, together with the incidental poems they contained, with appropriate harp accompaniment; to have memorized an immense number of other poems of different sorts; to be learned in philosophy; to be a doctor of civil law; to understand the history of modern, middle and ancient Irish with the derivations and changes of meaning of every word; to be skilled in music, augury, divination, medicine, mathematics, geography, universal history, astronomy, rhetoric and foreign languages; and to be able to extemporize poetry in fifty or more complicated metres.

That anyone at all should have been able to qualify as an ollave is surprising; yet families of ollaves tended to intermarry; and among the Maoris of New Zealand where a curiously similar system prevailed, the capacity of the ollave to memorize, comprehend, elucidate and extemporate staggered Governer Grey and other early British observers." (The White Goddess)

Manuscript E ought to reflect some of the ollave 'cosmos'. Even more so should the rongorongo texts be of this nature, a great web of interconnected names and ideas. My glyph dictionary is meant to be of help in reading the rongorongo texts, and I therefore must try to include everything which possibly could be of use for interpreting the signs on the tablets.

Certainly knowledge about numbers is necessary. The ordinal numbers constitute a prime example of a fundamental list.10 and 20 are essential:

10 1. Hagauru, agahuru. Mq.: Onohuú, okohuú. Ta.: Ahuru. 2. Ma.: Tekau
20 Mgv.: Takau. Ta.: Toau. Mq.: Tekau. To.: Tekau.

Tekau is not teka. Kau (to move one's feet, 'swimming') comes later than the 'dart'. In the tropics counting continues with the toes beyond 10. Maori tekau for 10 presumably indicates this. Maybe tekau arrives at makohe:

10 makohe frigate
9 kukuru toua white pigeon?
8 ka araara sooty tern
7 te verovero sooty tern

Already number 9 signifies the 'death' of Spring Sun. Teka means an 'arrow' and support for this reading is given by vero (in verovero).

The 'death' of Spring Sun must be accomplished by a flying weapon, of course. Balder, too, in the far north and on the other side of the earth was killed by an arrow. At such a high latitude the important shining one in the sky was Moon and he was male (whereas Sun was a she). Balder - the white one - surely must have been a personification of Moon.

 

 

From the last pages of Hamlet's Mill:

"... the strange hologram of archaic cosmology must have existed as a conceived plan, achieved at least in certain minds, even as late as the Sumerian period when writing was still a jealously guarded monopoly of the scribal class. Such a mind may have belonged to a keeper of records, but not of the living world, still less of the living thought.

Most of the plan was never recorded. Bits of it reach us in unusual, hesitant form, barely indicated, as in the wisdom and sketches of Griaule's teacher, Ogotemmeli, the blind centenarian sage. In the magic drawings of Lascaux, or in American Indian tales, one perceives a mysterious understanding between men and other living creatures which bespeaks of relationships beyond our imagination, infinitely remote from our analytical capacity.

'From now on', said Father Sun, grieving over Phaeton, his fallen child, 'you shall be Mink'. What meaning can this have for us? For such an understanding between men and men, and other living creatures too, we would need the kind of help King Arthur had at hand: 'Gwryr Interpreter of Tongues, it is meet that thou escort us on this quest. All tongues hast thou, and then canst speak all languages of men, with some of the birds and beasts.'

This ability was also attributed to Merlin and Gwyon, those masters of cosmological wisdom whose names resound through the legends of the Middle Ages. In general, all fabulous communication was conceived as having such a range, not merely the Aesopian fable with is flat, all-too-wordly wisdom.

Much of this book has been peopled with the inhabitants of a Star Menagerie of profoundly meaningful animal characters. The forms of animal life have varied from the Fishes who turned into hairy Twins to the remarkable succession of doglike creatures occurring around the world from Ireland to Yucatán. All of these animals have been of great significance, and each was invested with key functions in cosmological myth.

It would be possible, for example, to prepare a most informative edition of the Romance of Reynard Fox illustrated entirely with reproductions from Egyptian and Mesopotamian ritual documents. For it is likely that these documents represent the last form of international initiatic language, intended to be misunderstood alike by suspicious authorities and the ignorant crowd.

In any case, the language forms an excellent defense against the kind of misuse which Plato speaks about with surprising earnestness in Phaedrus (274D-275B). At the point in question, Thot/Hermes is feeling very proud of himself for having invented letters, and he claims that the alphabet will make the Egyptians wiser and improve their memory. Plato has the god Thamus, 'king of all Egypt', speak to him:

'Most ingenious Thoth', said the god and king Thamus, 'one man has the ability to beget arts, but the ability to judge of their usefulness or harmfulness to their users belongs to another; and now you, who are the father of letters, have been led by your affection to ascribe to them a power the opposite of that which they really possess.

For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practise their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them.

You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.'

Now that Plato's apprehensions have become fact, there is nothing left of the ancient knowledge except the relics, fragments and allusions that have survived the steep attrition of the ages ..."

 

 

Makohe can be read as ma-kohe, and it is interesting to find the example vave kai kohe in Churchill - in high summer the 'sky people' must be so high up as to be practically 'inacessible':

Kohe

A plant (genus Filicinea) that grows on the coast. Vanaga.

Vave kai kohe, inaccessible. Churchill.

*Kofe is the name for bamboo on most Polynesian islands, but today on Easter Island kohe is the name of a fern that grows near the beach. Barthel 2.

Vave means a billowing wave, such as warn us about a reef below the surface. To approach would surely mean the end of the canoe or raft - it would be 'eaten' (kai), a fate not far from that awaiting Spring Sun at midsummer.

The 'bamboo' could be an alias for the 'Tree'. Perhaps the Easter Islanders saw the 'bamboo' as a fitting image for the force steadily pushing the sky roof during spring. One pice after another was added to the stem, but at Hatinga Te Kohe the great 'Tree' broke.

It is noteworthy that the ancient Irish system of writing was based on the names of different trees. Possibly the constellation kiore - henua, used is serial in a few rongorongo texts, illustrate the sections of the 'bambo' gradually added, as for example in Mamari:

Ca1-18 Ca1-25 Ca2-23
Ca3-1 Ca3-4 Ca3-8 Ca3-13
Ca3-16 Ca3-20 *Ca14-17 Cb2-7
Cb2-16 Cb2-22 Cb3-2 Cb3-6 Cb3-12 Cb3-15
Cb3-20 Cb4-2 Cb4-7 Cb4-12 Cb4-16 Cb14-11

Makohe could, maybe, alternatively be read as mako-he (or as ma-ko-he), where he might serve as a sign identifying the time when Sun no longer is present (cfr Tama he ika kino he ihu roroa).

It is furthermore possible that ke in kena connects the booby with the redtailed tavake:

kukuru toua white pigeon makohe frigate kena booby tavake redtailed tropic bird
ascending   descending
ka araara sooty tern ruru black petrel
te verovero taiko
kava eoeo sooty tern kumara white tern
pi riuriu kiakia
manu tara erua 2 sooty terns tavi small lead-coloured tern tuao dark brown tern tuvi gray tern

Tava in tavake also seems to allude to tuvi and tavi. In the beginning there is a single bird and then comes a pair. Tavake in the corner of the 'dolmen' seems to announce the beginning of fall, and the pair of small greyish terns could be meant to indicate the end of fall.

Kukuru toua marks the corner where spring turns into summer and tavake the corner where summer turns into autumn. I guess the corners should be inhabited by Moon (always changing) rather than by Sun (never changing). On Tahiti a pigeon was called rupe, a name containing the Moon vowel u. At toki we saw how a multiple occurrence of u probably indicates a solstice:

...Pewa-o-Tautoru, Bird-snare-of-Tautoru; the constellation Orion in New Zealand. The Belt and Sword form the perch, te mutu or te teke, while Rigel is the blossom cluster, Puanga, used to entice the unsuspecting bird ...

Belt and Sword will form the T.

Te mutu is the 'perch' and so is te teke. The last night of the month was Mutu (according to Métraux), and teke presumably corresponds to the last day of Spring Sun. Te-ka has lost its 'fire' and then becomes te-ke. Next stage comes with adding u to indicate the time of Moon: tekau.

 

B

Beth
Birch

L

Luis

Rowan

N

Nion

Ash

F

Fearn

Alder

S

Saille

Willow

H

Uath

Hawthorn

D

Duir

Oak

T

Tinne

Holly

C

Coll

Hazel

M

Muin

Vine

G

Gort

Ivy

P

Pethboc

Dwarf Elder

R

Ruis

Elder

A

Ailm

Silver Fir

O

Onn

Furze

U

Ur

Heather

E

Eadha

White Poplar

I

Idho

Yew
"... The names of the letters in the modern Irish alphabet are also those of trees, and most of them correspond with O'Flaherty's list, though T has become gorse; O, broom; and A, elm.

I noticed almost at once that the consonants of this alphabet form a calendar of seasonal tree-magic, and that all the trees figure prominently in European folklore ..." (The White Goddess)

 

Vero was first mentioned at henua ora in this dictionary, where it was suggested the rongorongo creators could have used the vero glyph type to indicate the 'death' of a season. The 'spear' should 'kill' it:

Vero

To throw, to hurl (a lance, a spear). This word was also used with the particle kua preposed: koía kua vero i te matá, he is the one who threw the obsidian [weapon]. Verovero, to throw, to hurl repeatedly, quickly (iterative of vero). Vanaga.

1. Arrow, dart, harpoon, lance, spear, nail, to lacerate, to transpierce (veo). P Mgv.: vero, to dart, to throw a lance, the tail; verovero, ray, beam, tentacle. Mq.: veó, dart, lance, harpoon, tail, horn. Ta.: vero, dart, lance. 2. To turn over face down. 3. Ta.: verovero, to twinkle like the stars. Ha.: welowelo, the light of a firebrand thrown into the air. 4. Mq.: veo, tenth month of the lunar year. Ha.: welo, a month (about April). Churchill.

Sa.: velo, to cast a spear or dart, to spear. To.: velo, to dart. Fu.: velo, velosi, to lance. Uvea: velo, to cast; impulse, incitement. Niuē: velo, to throw a spear or dart. Ma.: wero, to stab, to pierce, to spear. Ta.: vero, to dart or throw a spear. Mg.: vero, to pierce, to lance. Mgv.: vero, to lance, to throw a spear. Mq.: veo, to lance, to throw a spear. Churchill 2.

At vaero (the tail) I commented upon its similarity with vero and referred to Hawaii:

... 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 ...

On Marquesas the 10th month was veo, while vaero was spelled veó:

Vaero

Chicken's long tail feather; lobster's antenna (vaero ura). Vanaga.

Tail of a kite, tail of a bird (uero). T Pau.: tuavaero, rump; kaero, tail. Mgv.: vero, tail. Mq.: veó, id. Ta.: aero, id. Churchill.