Tag Archives: translation

Confessing Affections With Turoyo

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With the Meebo chat that I’ve implemented both here and at the Aramaic Designs webpage along with publicizing my email address, I’ve had my brain picked about a large number of fascinating things.

That said, I must admit what happened last week truly warmed my heart. 🙂

A young woman, whom we will call “Ash” came by and shared the following with me:

My friend and I were having a great conversation and then he said “ko rohamnolakh” but would not translate. I have no clue as to what it means.

“Ko rohamnolakh” a very distinct grammatical pattern with unmistakable vowels. Her friend was a speaker of Turoyo, a rather unique dialect of Neo-Aramaic that is spoken by some 150,000-200,000 individuals worldwide.

It is an Aramaic language that retains a large number of older features (such a vocabulary and phonetics), while at the same time has become crafty by re-inventing some features that have disappeared from earlier dialects of Aramaic altogether (such as a true definite article).

Although I’m currently studying Turoyo, I don’t speak very much of it; however, my knowledge of other Aramaic dialects, plus a grasp on Turoyo’s grammar made it easy to twig onto what Ash’s friend was trying to express.

The situation was rather sweet:

“Ko-rohamno lekh” is how a man says “I love you” to a woman in Turoyo.

So I immediately emailed her back, explaining my suspicions. At the same time, I gave her the following phrases so that she could pursue this linguistic exchange further. 🙂

[Ash,]

Hi, I’m Steve Caruso and I’m the translator at Aramaic Designs. 🙂

Just to re-iterate I believe “ko-rokhamno lakh” is “I love you” in Turoyo Neo-Aramaic.

Since we don’t offer Neo-Aramaic dialects commercially (as the variance between them is rather extreme in some cases, making it difficult sometimes to pin down the exact nuances necessary) I’ve decided to give you a few phrases in Turoyo to help you out with this individual as a gift. 🙂 These are general enough responses that they should be understandable to any Turoyo speaker.

K-udh’ono. – I know.

Ko-fuhmono. – I understand.

Ko-rukhmono lokh ste. – I love you, too.

Kibokh tonat-la? – Could you say that again?

[…]

In either case good luck!

Peace,
-Steve

Not long thereafter, I received the following reply. 🙂

That’s awesome! 🙂 Thanks so much for your help Steve!

I was able to use what you told me and it helped out lots! Haha, when I told him he was shocked and got a little embarrassed it was so cute! 🙂 But now he is so shy! lol

[…]

Thanks again!
-[Ash]

And a mere two hours later, I received this:

Hey Steve,

My friend tells me to tell you,….

towdy ghalaby aly targamy

Take Care
-[Ash]

“Towdy ghalaby ali targamy” : “Many thanks for the translations.” 🙂

They say that French is the language of love…

Now, I beg to differ. 🙂

Peace,
-Steve

Sunday Static #1

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Ever overheard a snippet of Aramaic tongues at church and wondered if it were for real?

Have a friend that channels an ancient Israelite king or scrawls automatic writing in their sleep?

Here’s your chance to verify your unique contact with the divine.

Introducing the newest regular feature here at The Aramaic Blog:
Sunday Static.

Submit your best sounding out of the tongues you heard to the comment thread below, through the chat program on the right, or by email at Information@AramaicDesigns.com, and we’ll do our darndest to find its Aramaic match, to be published each Sunday. Just in time for some comic relief after morning services. Comic relief? Yes! Enjoy this week’s sample and inspiration for the feature:

What sounded like:
“Kuni no”
Overheard at church this morning. No specifics on the context.
In Western Classical Syriac it could mean:
“I am a pot,” “I am a grain mill hopper” or “I am a cognomen.”

(This submission, obviously, is a negative for genuine Aramaic.)

Keep in mind, we don’t take any stand one way or the other over whether speaking in tongues, channeling, or automatic are real phenomena. We don’t even claim to know whether any of the submissions we’ve received represent authentic contacts with the divine.

This feature ought to be reviewed with tongue firmly in cheek. It is perfectly possible that any submissions we received could actually be Aramaic, but many things can interfere with getting the proper translation for it on our end, namely the game of telephone between the hearing of it and its reaching us.

To give yourself the best shot of an accurate translation, fill us in on the context the example was heard in, what dialect of Aramaic you think it might have been in, mp3s if you can, or images of the writing (files will have to be emailed, of course).

It’s anonymous and one has nothing to lose, and if it *is* something in actual Aramaic, then you will know what it means.

-Steve

The Manuscript Revealed!: Barack Obama’s Ancient Aramaic Birth Certificate

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Born in Babylon? The jig is up! Read on…

I must admit that I am surprised at my readership. Although I can imagine a number of individuals (you know who you are) realizing the absurdity of the document and hesitating to admit it. 🙂

What you are looking at is the physical echo of a daydream, late one evening when I thought to myself:

Well, what if I took that YouTube video that has been circulating and smashed it together with the Kenyan birth certificate debacle?

In the wee hours of the night, refusing sleep, after translating and typesetting (both sloppliy), cutting and crinkling, the “artifact” was born:

The “ancient” document, itself, is a birth certificate for Barack Obama, placing his point of origin in Babylon at around 516-515 BCE.

Originally, I planned on sending a copy of it hand-inked on actual papyrus to the President, himself as a belated birthday gift, along with a cover letter explaining everything that went into it… but I figured that it might not be in good taste… (and at the same time might get me on some lists… or not but who knows? If there are I’m probably already on them. 🙂 ).

In either case, I hesitated and decided to share it on here with everyone else instead, so that ancient language buffs may enjoy a bit of a chuckle.

(Incidentally, if you’re interested in a copy of it, send me an email.)

Peace,
-Steve

The Manuscript Revealed!

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Above is a photo of the entire document that I had discussed in:

“Barack Hussein Obama” Mentioned in Ancient Manuscript?

Before I say any more: Does anyone notice anything interesting about it? 😉

(Give it a click to see a much larger version.)

Peace,
-Steve

UPDATE ABOUT 6 YEARS LATER: If you haven’t “gotten” the joke here, please read this post. 🙂