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TRANSLATIONS
Several questions remain, but we
must go on to tao in the glyph dictionary, it is the right time for
that. Let me just document here that Ka1-24 may be related to Kb4-18, both
are high up:
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85 |
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60 |
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21 + 23 = 44 |
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Kb1-13 (110) |
Kb4-18 (171) |
Ka1-24 |
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192 |
Between the
departure of the 'canoe' illustrated in Kb4-18 and its reappearance (as if
from another direction) in Kb1-13 there are 45 + 85 = 130 = 13 * 10 glyphs.
Between Kb1-13 and
Kb1-18 there are 60 glyphs, and if equal to 60 days then the distance maybe
is functioning
as some kind of mirror image of the 60 days from winter solstice to the
return of the sun. Two sails could mean '2nd absence'.
Now to tao:
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A few preliminary
remarks and imaginations:
1.
Unavoidably any reflection upon the meaning of toa glyphs
will involve also rau hei glyphs:
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toa |
rau hei |
According to my classification scheme rau hei glyphs must have a
head at the bottom end while toa cannot have any such.
Barthel may have used the same criterion for distinguishing between
his glyph types 65 and 66:
My rau hei glyph example, though, has a circumference without any
break and it is therefore probably a picture of a real 'person' hanging
head down like a fish in a tree.
My toa - and both 65 and 66 according to Barthel -
has another sign where the feet should be, which I will call
the Y-sign.
Such a sign breaks the circumference of the glyph, presumably
transforming the real person (or other being) into a 'ghost'. |
Maybe the 'head' is sometimes just
an effect of compressing the middle in order to reach an allusion to glyphs
like the the last one in G or the first two in K:
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2. When the
top end of a glyph ends in the Y-sign, it could mean that the
stage of growth has ended. No longer any growth means death. Sun light and rain water
are necessary for growing plants. If
no rains falls (or terrible thought: sun would not show his face)
plants would wither and die.
Life, though, is dependent upon death, it is a cycle:
... I have heard the voice of the
noble Mo'o, and he has told me that tonight, as soon as
darkness draws over the sea and the fires of the volcano goddess,
Pele, light the clouds over the crater of Mount
Kilauea, the black cloth will cover my head. And when the
breath has gone from my body and my spirit has departed to the
realms of the dead, you are to bury my head carefully near our
spring of running water. Plant my heart and entrails near the door
of the house. My feet, legs, and arms, hide in the same manner. Then
lie down upon the couch where the two of us have reposed so often,
listen carefully throughout the night, and do not go forth before
the sun has reddened the morning sky. If, in the silence of the
night, you should hear noises as of falling leaves and flowers, and
afterward as of heavy fruit dropping to the ground, you will know
that my prayer has been granted: the life of our little boy will be
saved.' And having said that, Ulu fell on his face and died
...
When sun is 'absent', i.e. stays with his Winter Maid north of
the equator, the season of growth has ended:
... 'Friend! Let me
tell of the offspring of Tangaroa-akiukiu, whose two
daughters were Hine-raumati (the Summer Maid - personified
form of summer) and Hine-takurua (the Winter Maid -
personification of winter), both of whom where taken to wife by the
sun ... Now, these women had different homes. Hine-takurua
lived with her elder Tangaroa (a sea being - origin and
personified form of fish). Her labours were connected with
Tangaroa - that is, with fish. Hine-raumati dwelt on
land, where she cultivated food products, and attended to the taking
of game and forest products, all such things connected with Tane
...
The sign of Y could represent barren leaf-less (life-less)
branches, the season
of straw:
... In north Asia the
common mode of reckoning is in half-year, which are not to be
regarded as such but form each one separately the highest unit of
time: our informants term them 'winter year' and 'summer year' ...
the Icelanders reckoned in misseri, half-years, not in whole
years, and the rune-staves divide the year into a summer and a
winter half, beginning on April 14 and October 14 respectively. But
in Germany too, when it was desired to denote the whole year, the
combined phrase 'winter and summer' was employed, or else equivalent
concrete expressions such as 'in bareness and in leaf', 'in straw
and in grass' ... |
How the half years were determined
varied between the locations. I saw the light last night:
Thinking about 36
and 42 and the obliquity of the ecliptic (ca 23.5 'days') I suddenly
realized that 60 days from winter solstice to the return of light could have
been harmoniously defined as 24 + 36, with 24 as the closest whole number
beyond 23.5 and 36 alluding to 360.
If the creator of
the K text thought along these lines, it would explain why he had put 24
glyphs in line Ka1. The 'Ark of Noah'
would then be located at new year defined as 24 days beyond winter solstice
(if equal to Ka1-1):
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Ka1-1 |
Ka1-2 |
Ka1-3 |
Ka1-4 |
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Ka1-5 |
Ka1-6 |
Ka1-7 |
Ka1-8 |
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Ka1-9 |
Ka1-10 |
Ka1-11 |
Ka1-12 |
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... |
... |
... |
... |
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Ka1-13 |
Ka1-14 |
Ka1-15 |
Ka1-16 |
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... |
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Ka1-17 |
Ka1-18 |
Ka1-19 |
Ka1-20 |
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Ka1-21 |
Ka1-22 |
Ka1-23 |
Ka1-24 |
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Ka2-1 |
Ka2-2 |
Ka2-3 |
Ka2-4 |
If we reduce 192
with the 24 glyphs in line Ka1, there will remain 168 glyphs.
Ka2-1 can
illustrate the birth of the new sun. Its ordinal number is 25.
At the other end of
the year, we can add 360 and 23.5 to reach 383.5 = 13 * 29.5.
A year with 384
days could begin with 24 days when the new year baby not yet has been
born.
383.5 corresponds
to Roto Iri Are, and then comes Tama at 413, which is not a
Hau Maka. The reason should be that Tama is the new year child,
i.e. the grandchild of Hau Maka. 4 * 13 = 52.
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360 |
Roto Iri Are A Hau
Maka |
Tama |
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13 * 29.5 = 383.5 |
14 * 29.5 = 413 |
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24 |
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384 |
Reflecting back to
the first glyph line Ka1, we realize that line should 'belong to' the
current year (a
Hau Maka).
But Nga Kope Ririva
at 6 * 29.5 = 177 are outside the current year (not a Hau Maka). If we count from Ka2-1
they will be beyond the reach of the K text. 24 + 177 = 201 in a way
illustrates that the first half of a 400-day long year cannot reach to
Nga Kope Ririva.
If we count from
Ka1-1, Nga Kope Ririva will be located 16 glyphs from the end of the
text, leaving 24 + 152 = 176 glyphs for Hau Maka:
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24 |
36 = 6 * 6 |
116 = 4 * 29 |
16 |
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152 = 8 * 19 |
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168 |
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192 |
If sun 'lives' 300
days, we come close to half that with 152. 300 is not only 10 * 30 but also
¾ of 400. The difference 192 - 152 = 40 = twice
20 = 4 * 10 is not a bad result. 40 = 24 + 16 illustrates, maybe, the time
in waiting for the sun respectively for the moon.
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3. The
relationship between toa and rau hei glyphs have
thereby been given a perspective - if they have the
Y-sign, it means life has gone.
These three glyphs from the
Santiago Staff can serve as an illustration of the cycle of
life:
At left
a rising fish (with potential) probably refers to the 'season of
leaf' and the following rau hei connected to a wilting
sky (ragi) probably refers to the 'season of straw'. In
the end the mouth (vaha kai) swallows what
remains.
Another glyph type necessary to take into
consideration is tao:
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toa |
tao |
It depicts a canoe, and the labels toa
and tao (derived from frequency studies of the usage of
Metoro) reinforce the impression given by the outlines of
the glyphs. The word toa is like a perversed tao.
The Y-sign has
'killed' the canoe.
Next
glyph type in this dictionary is tao, and we should wait
until then with further comments. It is enough for the moment to
'read' tao as the opposite of toa and to draw the
conclusion that a canoe is a 'living' being. Death is
characterized by stillness, life by movement.
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I14-107--109 illustrates, by the
way, how Fisher's universal equation 'X copulates with Y with Z as the
result' hardly covers everything. The 'straw' indeed can receive in its Y
the 'head' of 'life', but that is surely not the main message here.
The swallow may by some kind of joke be connected with the swallowing
process, because the Egyptian swallow sits on the bow sprit of the ship of
the sun (its absolute front end) marking the return of sun in the morning,
and the bird is also mentioned in the Odyssey:
... And Odysseus of many
counsels had lifted the great bow and viewed it on every side, and even as
when a man that is skilled in the lyre and in minstralsy, easily stretches a
cordabout a new peg, after tying at either end the twisted sheep-gut, even
so Odysseus straightway bent the great bow, all without effort, and took it
in his right hand and proved the bowstring, which rang sweetly at the touch,
in tone like a swallow ...
And we should remember:
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'Alright, sir, sit
beside me. |
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I will tell you
what to do. |
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In the morning,
take a bath and then lie down. |
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Rub yourself raw
where you feel it most deeply. |
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By the following
day, a scab will form. |
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You must swallow
the scab. |
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He followed
these instructions. |
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Then, after sitting
there awhile: |
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'Father, I'm
hungry!' |
... To the best of our
knowledge, Pukapuka in the northern Cook Islands is the only
other island where there is a 'lesser ancestral god' or atua tangata
named Te Akuaku said to have been a 'foreign god who came from
Akalava (Mangaia?)'. According to the Rapa Nui dictionaries,
akuaku means 'noise when swallowing', 'ambition', 'soul, shade,
ghost, specter, immaterial, spiritual' ...
... When Maui ascended to the tenth sky to implore the assistance
of Sky-builder, he found the god diving for fish in the Living Water to
feed his pet sea swallow, the star Deneb in Cygnus ...
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Horo
1. To wash
down, to gulp, to swallow, to bolt food; horohoro, to
swallow, to gobble, gluttonous, greedy, insatiable,
voracious. P Pau.: tahoro, to swallow; horomiti,
id. Mgv.: horo, oro, id. Mq.: hoó, to
eat poi, to swallow without chewing. Ta.: horo puupuu,
to bolt food; horomii, to swallow, to devour. 2. To
escape, to hide. P Pau.: horo, to hide, to bury, to
avoid. 3. To trot (horau). P Pau.: horo, to
run, to gallop. Mgv.: oro, ohoro, to pass
along quickly. Mq.: hoó, to run, to make haste. Ta.:
horo, to run. 4. To put an edge on, a jointing plane
(orooro); horohoro, to brush, to polish, to
clear up, to rub wood, to rumple; maea horohoro,
snowy rock. P Mgv.: oro, to rub, to whet, to sharpen.
Mq.: hoó, to rub on a stone. Ta.: hororaa
to, a cane mill; oro, to rasp, to grate. 5. To starch (horoi).
Mgv.: oro, to wash. 6. To have recourse to, to
repass. 7. ? horo varevare, without branches.
Churchill.
Mgv.:
horo, to crumble, fall, slip down. Ta.: horo, a
landslide. Sa.: solo, to slide down, to fall. Ma.:
horo, a landslide. Churchill.
Horoga,
demarcation. Horohopae, to save, to economize,
steward (horauhopae). Churchill.
Horoi.
1.
To dry, to wipe (horo 5); horoimata,
handkerchief. P Mgv.: horoi, oroi, a towel,
handkerchief, anything used as a wiper after bathing. Mq.:
hoói, to wash, to cleanse, to purify, to scour, to
rinse, to dry, to bathe, to dry the tears, to console. Ta.:
horoi, handkercief, to wash, to cleanse. 2. To clean,
to efface, to sharpen (horo 4).
Mq.: hoói, to efface.
Churchill. |
With the
swallow at the very front end when sun returns, some kind of logic must
necessitate vaha kai at the very last end. Eating the scab will
transform you into a hungry spring animal. The reappearance of manu
tara, the sea swallow, announces the change.
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