TRANSLATIONS

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There are 10 honui glyphs in the text of H, 4 on side a and 6 on side b:

Ha1-7 Ha5-22 Ha10-9 Ha12-14
*Hb1-31 *Hb1-47 Hb2-7
Hb7-38 Hb12-12 Hb12-24

For a discussion - see this link.

 

 

The forms of the holes can be used for classification:

Ha1-7 Ha5-22 Ha10-9 Ha12-14
*Hb1-31 *Hb1-47 Hb2-7
Hb7-38 Hb12-12 Hb12-24

The 4 redmarked are glyphs with regular ovals. The other 6 have irregular ones:

left
Ha1-7
right
Ha12-14 *Hb1-31 *Hb1-47 Hb2-7
down
Hb12-24

The 4 honui glyphs with two heads should be discussed at ariga erua. But redmarked Hb7-38 will be considered here.

 

 

6 of the 10 honui glyphs remain:

Ha1-7 (7) Ha5-22 (238) Ha10-9 (*511)
Hb7-38 (*994) Hb12-12 (*1257) Hb12-24 (*1269)

Only Ha5-22 is a pure honui, a glyph type structured like tagata when seen en face, but broader in order to accommodate the oval. 5-22 indicates 'fire' has completed its cycle. By reason of this and because of the en face position we can guess this glyph stands at summer solstice (and that the hole is filled with celestial water).

8 * 29.5 = 236 (Te Pei). Maybe I have counted the ordinal number of Ha5-22 wrong? No, I made a quick check and that seems highly improbable. 238 it is if we count from Ha1-1.

8 * 29 = 232, and that number can be reached by counting from Ha1-7:

230
Ha1-7 (1) Ha5-22 (232)

Ha1-7 comes very early in the text, and if we guess honui glyphs personify sun in some aspect, then Ha1-7 seems to occupy the proper position for his birth:

Ha1-1 Ha1-2 Ha1-3 Ha1-4
Ha1-5 Ha1-6 Ha1-7 Ha1-8

Ha1-6 is a typical 'midnight' henua and Ha1-8 is a rising fish.

 

 

At Ha5-20 the head of the sun apparently has come off:

Ha5-17 (233) Ha5-18 Ha5-19 Ha5-20 (236)
Ha5-21 Ha5-22 Ha5-23 Ha5-24 (240)

From a 'head on fire' (Ha5-19) it suddenly becomes black (the neck is formed like a ghostly henua with two lines across). A new season is being born and moa in Ha5-21 cries out triumphantly.

Honui at Ha5-22 seems to be the new 'costume' after the one used in Ha5-18. The front limb of moa has 3 feathers at left (the past), and none at right. From a season of 'fire' it now has become a season of 'water'. Tagata is at left (midsummer is in the past) according to Ha5-23.

In Ha5-24 the 'watery hole' seems to balance on the apex of a symmetric hau tea. 5 * 24 = 120. If we count 15-day long half-months, then there will be room for 8 such in 120 days. But the ordinal number counted from Ha1-1 is 240, which could mean we should count with 30-day months. 240 / 8 = 30. Presumably 5-24 is here primarily not meant for multiplying, but refers to ordinal number 24 ('decades' for the 'fire', 5, season).

 

 

In G number 233 marks summer solstice, and the reason this number is far greater than 180 is that the calendar has 8 fortnights added to 360 days. If the text of H also has 8 * 14 = 112 glyphs embedded somewhere between Ha1-1 and Ha5-17, then Ha5-17 will be in the same position as Gb1-3:

Gb1-3 (233)

Suppose we try to apply the structure of side a of G on side a of H. Then 233 at Ha5-17 can be reduced to 233 - 112 = 121 (which also Gb1-3 will have if we take away 112):

54 54
Ga5-10 (121) Ga7-6 Ga7-7 (177) Gb1-2 (232)
112 = 8 * 14
Ha5-17 (121) Ha5-18 Ha5-19 Ha5-20 (124)
Ha5-21 Ha5-22 (126) Ha5-23 Ha5-24 (128)

We will not come close to 180 because winter solstice (according to G) lies 63 days (or rather 60 days if the 3 intercalated days are disregarded) before the beginning of side a. 233 - 112 + 60 = 181, but Gb1-1--2 could be intercalated days increasing the waning sun half of the year to 2 + 177 + 3 = 182:

Ga8-26 Gb1-1 Gb1-2 Gb1-3

 

 

Too many uncertainties makes it impossible (at least for the moment) to make a definite statement as to the structure of the beginning of side a of H. It should be noted, however, that Ha5-18 is a unique variant (both in H and G) of the no-legs-honu which, we have learnt, probably indicates solstice. Of the 45 honu glyphs in H listed in the catalogue there are 9 (redmarked below) such 'solstice honu' glyphs:

Ha1-9 Ha1-13 Ha1-22 Ha5-18 Ha6-102 Ha6-125
Ha6-144 Ha7-5 Ha7-13 Ha7-104 Ha8-14 Ha8-34
Ha10-5 Ha10-6 Ha10-35 Ha10-109 Ha11-106 Ha11-109
Ha11-112 Ha11-121 Ha11-129 Hb2-2 Hb2-35 Hb3-3
Hb5-10 Hb5-54 Hb6-4 Hb6-6 Hb6-45 Hb7-7
Hb7-10 Hb7-13 Hb7-32 Hb7-39 Hb7-50 Hb8-114
Hb8-117 Hb8-136 Hb9-1 Hb9-2 Hb10-4 Hb11-7
Hb11-47 Hb11-48 Hb12-45

It ought to be valuable if we could use these 'solstice honu' to map the overall structure of the H text, and we will therefore make a little detour for that purpose here.

 

I feel it necessary to prepare for the 'detour' here (in the translations part) rather than to try a more direct approach in the dictionary.