We've seen the most basic words for some functions of the healthy female body; it shouldn't surprise you to find that there are more, richer terms for this realm of women's experience.
Some of the words in the vocabulary of this lesson were coined using non-standard processes, eliding (deleting) various parts of the constituent morphemes. The etymologies I'm giving here, where not straightforward, are my best guesses as to the morphemes that inspired these words.
Vocabulary
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lila
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to female-sex-act
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lilahá
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lover; one who carries out the female sexual act (not of males)
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Female Sexual Anatomy
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abathede
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clitoris [aba (fragrant) + thede (jewel)] {RB, BG, PJ}
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hib
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ovary(ies) [hibid (testicle) subtract -id (masculine): this is known in linguistics as a "back-formation"] {YML}
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liliháaláa
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labia [lili (wet) + -háalish (utmost degree) + láa (perception)] {JP}
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lul
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vagina
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nemeháalish
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clitoris [nem (pearl) + -háalish (utmost degree)] {RB, BG}
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wodama
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exterior female genitalia [wohóol (entire female genitalia) + dama (touch)] {SH}
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wohóol
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entire female genitalia [woho (all; every) + óol (moon)] {SH}
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Menstruation
We've already seen osháana (to menstruate; menstrual). And, from Suzette Haden Elgin:
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[An] example of an English word that distresses me [...] is "menstruation." [It's] ugly; it's hard to pronounce; it hovers on the very edge of violating English phonology. And then there's the fact that it's the name of an experience every woman has for most of her life--but its first syllable is men! Etymology or no etymology, there sits "men" at the beginning of that word. It's infuriating. But there it is, and there's no way to get rid of the darned thing. Which is one reason why I gave it so much attention when I constructed Láadan...
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ásháana
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to menstruate joyfully
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desháana
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to menstruate early
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elasháana
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to menstruate for the first time
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husháana
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to menstruate painfully
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wesháana
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to menstruate late
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zhesháana
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to menstruate in synch with another woman [zhe (similar) + osháana (menstruate)]
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Pregnancy
We've already seen lawida (to be pregnant).
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lalewida
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to be joyfully pregnant
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lewidan
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to be pregnant for the first time
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lóda
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to be wearily pregnant
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widazhad
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to be pregnant, late in term and eager for the end
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Menopause
We've already seen zháadin (to menopause). What we haven't seen is its etymology: [zháa (wrinkle (in the skin))].
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azháadin
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to menopause uneventfully
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elazháadin
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to menopause when it's welcome
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Blood
We've already seen ili (water) and óol (moon), the bases for most of these words.
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luhili
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blood [ili (water)]
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luwili
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birth blood [luhili (blood)]
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óolewil
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menstrual blood [óol (moon) + luwili (birth blood)]
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óolewod
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sanitary napkin [óolewil (menstrual blood) + od (cloth)]
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nilewod
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tampon [nil (inside) + óolewod (sanitary napkin)]
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Male Sexual Anatomy
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bom
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penis
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bom
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household oil
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hibid
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testicle(s)
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hibidim
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scrotum [hibid (testicles) + dim (container)]
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Beware puns "confusing" bom (penis) with bom (household oil)! Hee hee!
Exercises
I've invited some friends to help by providing sentences for us to translate--and one even gave us some short poems! The exercises for this lesson are going to be a little different from what we've seen before; I'll be giving their original English for you to translate and follow with a note or two as to why I chose to translate the text as I did. I'll then present my translation with morphemic analysis and a re-translation into English. You might want to cover my version, do one of your own, and then compare the two.
From Heather:
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She menstruated joyfully when she knew that she was not pregnant.
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I chose to translate this sentence using "bróo" (because) rather than "widahath" (when).
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Bíi eril ásháana be bróo lothel be lawida rahóo behé wáa.
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ásháana
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Menstruate, joyfully
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She menstruated joyfully because she knew that she was not pregnant.
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2 |
Bethany, being very pregnant, dreams of chocolate.
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When I spoke to Heather about this sentence, she made it clear that her intention was for the English phrase "very pregnant" to be translated "widazhad" (pregnant, late in term and eager for the end).
Do you remember the idiom for "about X"? We use "bethu" [be (X) + -thu (partitive)], literally "of him/her/it". This is what we would use for "of chocolate" in #2.
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Bíi ozh widazhad Bétheni beháa ahana bethu wáa.
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widazhad
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Pregnant, near term & eager
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bethu
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It + Partitive = About
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Bethany, who is pregnant, near term and eager for the end, dreams about chocolate.
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3 |
No one understands her clitoris like her new lady lover.
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Grammatically, we cannot modify "lover" with both "new" and "lady"; the relativizing prefix will operate on only one of them at a time. I therefore chose to incorporate "lady" into "lover": "lilahá" (doer of the female sex act).
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Bíi en rawith nemeháalish bethath zhe en wobun wolilahá betho wáa.
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bethath
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She + Posses: birth + Object
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wolilahá
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Rel + Female-sex-act + Doer
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No-one understands her clitoris like her new lover does.
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From Layne:
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Hot flash at midnight! She runs naked out into the Blind Snow Storm.
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The first sentence isn't, in fact, a sentence; it seems more in the nature of a warning--at least that's the way I perceive it. We need a word for "hot flash"; the word is "zháahóowadin" (hot flash, primary indicator of full menopause) [zháadin (menopause) + óowa (fire)]; it was coined during the writing of this lesson in response to Layne's expressed need for a word for this meaning and has been added to the official Láadan dictionary. Another word we require is "honáal" (the hours between midnight and dawn). We also need a new verb: "yime" means "to run". The phrase "Blind Snow Storm" doesn't really mean that the storm cannot see; it means that the storm is so severe that we cannot see in it--seems like a job for a degree marker.
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Bée zháahóowadin be honáaleya wo! Yime be, bud raden, rohoroháalish hishethudi nil.
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honáaleya
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Hours between midnight & dawn + Time
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raden,
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Not-with = Without
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rohoroháalish
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Storm + Extraordinary degree
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hishethudi
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Snow + Partitive + Goal
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[warning] She hot-flashes in the wee hours! She runs, without clothing, into the extraordinarily intense snow-storm.
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5 |
She is the wrinkled Sage
She turns blood into water
And then drinks her fill
Beneath the blood moon
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I chose to translate "turn blood into water" as "cause-to-change blood-object water-goal". "To drink her fill" I chose to translate as "drink she [full she]-time until". The rest should be fairly straightforward.
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Bíidu bi wozháa wowothá;
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wowothá;
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Rel + Wisdom + Doer + Identifier
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[Statement, poetic] She is [a] wrinkled sage;
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Dósheb bi luhilith ilidi
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She changes blood to water
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Id rilin bi ume bihéya hathobéeya
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bihéya
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She-honored + Embed + Time
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And then she drinks until she is full
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Óol luhilithuha yil wo.
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luhilithuha
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Blood + Partitive + Place
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Under the moon of blood.
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desháana: a rose tattoo left behind on the upholstered seat
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This is given as a definition, so I chose to translate it as "in teaching"--in spite of the poetic nature of its form. We have no word for "tattoo"; I used "uzh" (symbol--of notation, alphabet, orthography)--loosely, "glyph." We also have no word for "upholstery" or "upholstered"; I chose to translate this as "the cloth of the chair." The phrase "left behind" is an idiom for which we have no counterpart in Láadan; I chose to render it using the clause "she goes" as an embedded Time-case element.
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Bíidi desháana náham woshahina wohuzh od dalewodewanethuha sháad behéya arileháa wa.
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Bíidi
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Statement + Didactically
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desháana
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Menstruate, early
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náham
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Continue + Be present
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dalewodewanethuha
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Chair + Partitive + Place
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behéya
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She + Embed + Time
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arileháa
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Later + Embed: rel + Identifier
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Early menstruation is the rosy glyph that is still on the fabric of a chair after she goes.
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wesháana was her worry, but all she could do was wait
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We have no word, yet, for "worry" or "concern"; I've translated that into "héeya" (fear). The rest is fairly straightforward. Note how Láadan is creeping into Layne's sentences; it's so much more convenient to have the right word!
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Bíi eril nin wesháana héeya bethoth, izh thad neril be neda wa.
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wesháana
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Menstruate, late
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bethoth,
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She + Possess + Object
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Menstruating late caused her fear, but she could only wait.
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with herb tea and a pillow nest,
painful menstruation made her take a rest
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It feels odd in Láadan, but for poetic emphasis I've deviated from standard Láadan word-order; I've more closely mirrored the English. I'm also introducing a new verb here: "dul" (to refresh; to give rest); in this construction husháana, rather than "refreshing" (dul) her, causes her to "refresh" (dódul) "herself" (beth beyóoth). We also lack a word for "nest", so I used a circumlocution, drawing a word-picture of many pillows around her.
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Bíidu zhu theshethudan i thamedan menede beha o,
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theshethudan
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Herb + Partitive + Assoc, pleasurable
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thamedan
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Pillow + Assoc, pleasurable
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With tea of herbs and many pillows around her,
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eril dódul husháana beth beyóoth wo.
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dódul
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Cause-to + Give-rest
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husháana
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Menstruation, painful
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beyóoth
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She + Reflexive + Object
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painful menstruation caused her to give herself a rest.
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Labia hide the beautiful clitoris,
Both wet with wanting
to share
sweet lover's touch
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I'm introducing a new verb, "rumad" (to hide; to cover; to put away).
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Bíidu merumad liliháaláa woháya wohabathedeth,
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woháya
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Rel + Be beautiful
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wohabathedeth,
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Rel + Clitoris + Object
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Labia hide the beautiful clitoris,
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Melili bezh woho mahawáan;
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mahawáan;
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Sexual desire + Cause
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They all are wet from sexual desire;
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Menéde mehedethi bezh woho
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They all want to share
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wolema wodama shimáthoth wo.
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shimáthoth
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Sex-act + Doer + Possess + Object
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a sexual partner's gentle touch.
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All she did was sit and weep
But the other got busy and began to sweep
All she did was wonder why
As the other washed the windows and looked out to the sky
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Notice the parallel construction in the English distinguishing "she" from "the other". In Láadan we have no way to phrase "the other" so I recast the poem (with Layne's approval) in terms of "I" and "she".
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Bíidu eril wod i delishe neda lehóo,
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I only sat and wept,
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Izh nahal i nawush behóo wo.
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But she began to work and sweep.
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Bíidu mime neda lehóo bebáawáanehée,
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bebáawáanehée
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Interr. Pron + Cause + Embed: question
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I only asked why
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Widahath dóhéthe behóo demeth i il behóo thosheth wo.
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When she cleaned the window and regarded the sky.
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Put some bom in the palm before putting the palm on the bom and the bom palm will palm the bom quite pleasantly.
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There's a new word (invented for this exercise, and since added to the official Láadan dictionary): "niloma" (palm of the hand) [nil (inside) + oma (hand)]. Added to the dictionary along with "niloma"; was "raniloma" (back of the hand) [ranil (outside) + oma (hand)].
There's another word that we're encountering for the first time: "méeshim" (sexual pleasure) [méesh (pleasure, not sexual) + shim (to sex-act)]. Yes, "méesh" (pleasure, not sexual) is also a new word.
As with so many plays on words--even ones, like this one, intended to work on puns in another language--the translation is nowhere nearly so elegant as the original. Indeed, part of my difficulty with the punning aspect of this piece is that I'm reluctant to use "niloma" (palm) as a verb. Try your hand at it; you may do better than I.
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Bíida bre dóham ne bom nilomaha nil dama ne bometh nilomananehéya eril, ébre dama wobom woniloma bometh méeshimenalehal wa.
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Bíida
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Statement + Jesting
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dóham
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Cause-to + Be present
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nilomaha
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Palm-of-hand + Place
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nilomananehéya
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Palm-of-hand + Instrument + Embed + Time
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woniloma
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Rel + Palm-of-hand
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méeshimenalehal
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Sexual pleasure + Manner + Unusual degree
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[Jest] If you put oil in the palm before you touch the penis with the palm, then the oily palm touches the penis quite sexual-pleasurably.
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On the other hand (pun discovered), what if we did use "niloma" as a verb? We might come up with....
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Bíida bre dóham ne bometh nilomaha dóham ne nilomath bomehahéya eril, ébre niloma wobom woniloma bometh méeshimenalehal wa.
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Bíida
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Statement + Jesting
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dóham
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Cause-to + Be present
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nilomaha
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Palm-of-hand + Place
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dóham
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Cause-to + Be present
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nilomath
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Palm-of-hand + Object
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bomehahéya
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Penis + Place + Embed + Time
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woniloma
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Rel + Palm-of-hand
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méeshimenalehal
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Sexual pleasure + Manner + Unusual degree
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[Jest] If you put oil on the palm before you palm the penis, then the oily palm palms the penis quite sexual-pleasurably.
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