Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 01:08:50 -0200 (EDT) From: Jorge Stolfi To: voynich@rand.org In-Reply-To: Subject: Portuguese in Arabic: translation > [Rene:] Because of the interest in the 'Portuguese in Arabic', I include > the whole text below Thanks! Just for the record, here is my reading (in modern Portuguese spelling) and the English translation: > juramento qe- faz o turco cando comete alguWa gArande coja juramento que faz o turco(0) quando comete(1) alguma grande cousa swearing that makes the Turk when (he)commits some big thing > juro bor deeux, bor deeux, ber deeux qIriYador do ceu e da juro por Deus, por Deus, por Deus criador do céu e da I swear by God, by God, by God creator of heaven and of > tera e bor xuWax xirconxtanxiYax fijifeYix e YinfijifeYix e bolo- meu terra e por suas circunstâncias(2) visíveis e invisíveis e pelo(3) meu earth and by his circumstances visible and invisible and by my > borfeta mofomede almoctafa qe- bErego e firmou e moxtOro a profeta Mahomede al-Mustafá que pregou e firmou(4) e mostrou a prophet Mahomed al-Mustafa who taught and confirmed and showed the > fe qe- nox otrox morox e xalamoWix qEremox e bolo- Walcoro fé que nós outros mouros e salamões(?) cremos e pelo Alcorão faith (in)which we Moors and Suleimans believe and by the Quran > e Yo-quWal esta exqIrito en arabigo a fe qe- nox otrox temox e em o qual está escrito em arábico a fé que nós outros temos e in which is written in Arabic the faith which we have and > bolo- xalteiro de dafi e bolox efanjelox de jesu qIrixto e pelo Saltério de Davi e pelos Evangelhos de Jesus Cristo e by the Psalter of David and by the Gospels of Jesus Christ and > bolox cento e vinte e quWatro borfetas de deeux de qe adao foi pelos cento e vinte e quatro Profetas de Deus de que Adão foi by the hundred and twenty four Prophets of God of whom Adam was > o birmeiro e bola alma do benino meu badre e bola fida de o primeiro e pela alma do benino(?) meu padre e pela vida de the first and by the soul of the blessed(?) my father and by the life of > meux filox e bola mina cabeca e bola exbada qe- eu jinxo meus filhos e pela minha cabeça e pela espada que eu cinjo my children and by my head and by the sword that I carry > eu bormeto de fazer tal coja. eu prometo de dazer tal cousa(5). I promise to do such thing. (Whew! Who can doubt it after *that*!) (0) Even today "turco" is the popular term for all middle eastern people (other than the Jews). (1) "comete" has now lost the sense of "promise", which it retains in English. (2) "circunstâncias" presumably meant "manifestations" way then. (3) "pelo" = "por + o" was spelled (and probably pronounced) "polo" way then. (3) "firmou" now means "made firm", "consolidated", strenghtened", or "signed"; but way then it may have meant also "confirmed" or "affirmed" (4) The "j" in "coja" and the "s" in "cousa" actually sound quite similar in Portuguese, especially in the dialects that pronounce "s" as "sh". > [Rene:] with the superscript vowels in upper case Quite a few of those superscript wovels seem to be extra vowels inserted into the groups cr/br/gr/tr. (I keep thinking of that "abiril"...) The word "alguma" was often written "algua" with a tilde over the "u". Perhaps the "W" in "alguWa" on the first line is actually a tilde? Ditto for the first "Y" on line 6. > A few vowels have a superscript bar (not shown here) Those could be tildes, denoting nasal sounds or "m/n"s. I would expect tildes over the first "e" of line 6, the final "o" of "Walcoro" and the "ao" of "adao". > the 'c's in almoctafa and cabeca (2nd one) have a cedilla The Portuguese "ç" has the sound of "s" (soft), and indeed those two "c"s have that sound. > and two 'n's were in italics (xircoNxtanxiYax and efaNgelos). I have no idea why... All the best, --stolfi