Oilima Markirya (Intermediate Version) [Next Phrase >]

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The first phrase (lines 1-2) of the intermediate version of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/77). The first word is a variant (masculine?) form máno of the interrogative pronoun man “who” followed by future 3rd-singular masculine inflection of the verb kili- “to see”.

The object of the phrase is the noun kirya “ship” preceded by the adjective ninqe “white” and the active-participle lutya “sailing” of the verb lutu- “to sail”, also functioning as an adjective. The phrase ends with the adverbial form of the noun wilwarin “butterfly”: wilwarindon = “like a butterfly”.

The sense of the phrase seems to be identical to the first two lines in the English translations of the poem LA2a-LA2b (PE16/68-9): “who shall see a white ship sailing like a butterfly”.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

máno kil-uva-ndo ninqe lut-ya kirya wilwarin-don = “*who see-(future)-he white sail-ing ship butterfly-like”