Buying your own donkey, and losing your Bracelet.

Another story, that is actually two stories in one.

Yəškí Žḥá ssúq-i u ídd-əs aẓiŏṭ-ə́nnəs iġə́lli a-ižiž-ít

'Žḥá left to the market, and with him (was0 his donkey, he wanted to sell it.'

• Yəškí 'to leave' 3sg.m.pf.
• ssúq-i 'to the market'
• u ídd-əs 'and with him'
• aẓiŏṭ-ə́nnəs 'his donkey'
• iġə́lli 'to want' 3sg.m.pf.
• a-ižiž-ít 'to sell' 3sg.m.aor. +  3sg.m direct object suffix. žiž is actually a causative formation of iž 'to be sold' with the common Berber assimilation of -ss- caustive prefix to the following sibilant.

Baʕadén yəfk-ít əddəllál dax a-ižiž-ít

'Then he gave it to the Auctioneer so that he would sell it.

• Baʕadén 'then'
• yəfkí-t 'he gave it' Notice that the giving construction her is a double transitive, rather than a accusative-dative construction.
• əddəllál 'auctioneer' < Ar. dallāl 'id.'
• dax 'for'

Baʕadén yəqqím əddəllál iʕəyáṭ w-itənn-ís:

'Then the auctioneer started to shout and he said:'

• yəqqím 'to stay' used inchoatively.
• iʕə́yáṭ 'to shout' 3sg.m.impf. < Ar. ʕāṭa 'to yell, scream'
• w-itənn-ís 'and he was saying' 3sg.m.impf.

Wáya d-aẓíṭ fəšúš qə́wi u d-aẓíṭ mrí

This is a agile and strong donkey, and it is a beautiful donkey.

• Wáya 'this'
• d-aẓíṭ 'is a donkey'
• fəšúš 'agile', this word wasn't in Paradisi's wordlist. [Lameen:] fəšúš is pan-Berber (ifsus, etc.) = "light, fast"
• qə́wi 'strong' < Ar. qawīy 'id.'
• mrí 'beautiful'

Baʕadén əqqimán míddən rənníyən (or rənnán) fəll-ís s-ar žlan-íya

'Then the people started bidding on it because of this story (the Auctioneer's)'

• əqqimán 'to stay' 3pl.m.pf. Once again used inchoatively.
• míddən 'people'
• rənníyən ptc. of 'to increase' which here means 'to bid', Paradisi also says rənnán is an option, which would be the 3pl.m.pf.
• fəll-ís 'on it'
• s-ar 'because of'
• žlan-íya 'this story'

Baʕadén yəslá Žḥá žlan-íya w-in-ís y-imán-nəs:

'Then Žḥá heard this story and said to himself:'

• yəslá 'to hear' 3sg.m.pg.
• y-imán-nəs 'to himself'

la-búdda aẓiŏṭ-ənnúk kuwə́yəs ṣəḥíḥ

'Certainly, my donkey is the most healthy!'

• la-búdda 'certainly' looks like something Arabic, but I don't know the expression. [Kato:] Ar. la budda 'certainly'
• aẓiŏṭ-ənnúk 'my donkey'
• kuwə́yəs should mean 'the most', but I don't recognize the word. [Lameen:] 'good' (Egyptian Arabic, Siwi...)
• ṣəḥíḥ 'healthy' < Ar. ṣaḥīḥ 'id.'

Baʕadén yqəqím irə́nni id míddən.

'Then he started to bid (along) with the people'

• yqəqím must be a typo for yəqqím
• irə́nni 'to bid' 3sg.m.pf.

Baʕadén yəškí əlbarát u yəfkí-tənət y-əddəllál u yuġá aẓiŏṭ u yəʕádd yəfríḥa.

'Then he left the money (?) and he gave it to the auctioneer and he bought the donkey and he went home happily.'

• yəškí 'he left'. I don't understand what this verb is doing here. I'd expect a verb that mean 'he took'
• əlbarát 'the money', This is a plural noun.
• u yəfkí-tənət 'and he gave them', them referring to 'the money'
• y-ăddəllál 'to the auctioneer'
• u yuġá 'and he took'
• u yəʕádd 'and he went'
• yəfríḥa 'he was happy' < Ar. fariḥa 'to be glad, happy, delighted'

Baʕadén əlʕəqqəáb-i yəqqím nəttín id-dməgní-s (or təmigní-nnəs) u yəḥk-ís af ləḥkáyət n-arənní

'Then in the evening he was with his wise, and he told her the story of the auction'

• əlʕəqqəáb-i 'in the evening', obviously an Arabic word underlies this, but I could not find it. [Lameen:] Derived somehow from ʕaqb "after".
• yəqqím not inchoative this time, here it's a locative verb 'to stay; to be at a place'
• nəttín 'he'
• id-dməgní-s 'with his wife', this noun takes the kinship term possesive -s rather than possesive -(ə)nnəs. But Paradisi points out that təmigní-nnəs is possible too.
• u yəḥk-ís 'and he told her', not that the indrect object pronoun of the third person does not distinguish in gender. This is surprising as the 2nd person is distinguished by gender, and the direct object pronoun is too. In verbal agreement, 2nd person singular doesn't distinguish gender, while 2nd person plural and 3rd person singular and plural both do. < Ar. ḥakā 'to tell'
• af ləḥkáyət literally 'on the story', but means 'about the story' < Ar. ḥikāya(t) 'story, tale'
• n-arənní 'of the bidding' 'bidding' here is the verbal noun of the rənni 'to increase, bid'.

Tn-ís ənnát: qáma annák laḥkáyət axír n-tánnək.

'Then she said: I will tell you a story better than yours'

• Tn-ís 'to say' 3sg.f.pf. + 3sg. indirect object.
• ənnát 'she'
• qáma 'now'
• anná-k  'to say'1sg.aor. + 2sg.m. indirect object suffix.
• axír 'better'
• n-tá-nnək 'of yours', with 'dummy' feminine pronoun ta+possesive suffix. 'of yours' to mean 'than yours' surprises me. Is this common in Berber? [Lameen:] 'of yours' to mean 'than yours': n is commonly used as "than" with Arabic comparatives loaned into Berber, even in languages like Kabyle that otherwise prefer the "on"-structure (see discussion in my thesis.)

Tn-ís: yəxə́ṭṭəm síla wa žižán ləmluxíyət,

'She said to him: Someone who sells 'mulukhiya' came by,'

• yəxə́ ṭṭəm 'to drop by someone' 3sg.m.pf.
• síla wa žižán 'someone who sells'. The 'who sells' part is obvious, wa + ptc. 'to sell', but I have no idea what síla means. Is it Arabic?
• ləmluxíyət 'Mulukhiya' < Ar. muluxiya(t) 'id.'

yəqqím itazən-dík

'He started weighing it for me'

• itazən-dík 3sg.m.impf. 'to weigh' < Ar. wazana 'to weigh'

Baʕadén gíx əddə́mləž n əddə́həb əlkə́ffət ta-gán əlmizán

'Then I put (my) golden bracelet on the plate of the scales'

• gíx 'to do, put' 1sg.pf. There is no putting on preposition. Can this word be used as a double transitive in the same way as 'to give'?
• əddə́mləž 'bracelet' < Ar. dumluž 'id.'
• n əddə́həb 'of gold' < Ar. dahab 'gold'
• əlkə́ffət 'scale/plate of a scales' < Ar. kiffa(t) 'id.'
• ta-gán ??? ta- feminine pronoun + gán 'there is' particle? or gán as the ptc. of 'to do, put'?
• əlmizán 'scales' < Ar. mīzān 'balances, scales' <- all together 'plate that is on the scales'?

Baʕadén yəkkə́mməl uzún-nəs

'Then he finished his weighing'

• yəkkə́mməl 'to finish' 3sg.m.pf.
• uzún-nəs 'his weighing' uzún is the verbal noun of zan 'to weigh'

ənṭə́rx əddəmləž-ənnúk əlmizán-i rwíḥḥa a-ini-dík: kəm ttákə rt s-ġár-i.

'I had left my bracelet on the scaled and I was afraid that he would say to me: you are stealing from me!'

• ənṭə́rx 'to leave' 1sg.pf.
• rwíḥḥa 'to be afraid' 1sg.pf. (This assimilation has been mentioned before. *ʕx > ḥḥ
• a-ini-dík 'he would say to me'
• kəm 'you'
• ttákərt 'you are stealing',  2sg.impf. of akər 'to steal'.
• s-ġár-i 'from me'

Baʕadén in-ís Žḥá: báhi, šuġarx s-əlhəwáyyi u kəm s-ar-əzgíg u tudík a-ttaʕmír təfilli-nnáx

'Then Žḥá said to her: 'very well, I have lost something outside (of home) and you inside (of home), and so (we lose) our house's prospering.'

• báhi, 'very well' [Kato:] dial. Ar. bāhi 'good, ok, fine'
• šuġarx 'to lose' 1sg.pf.
• s-əlhəwáyyi 'from outside'
• u kəm 'and you'
• s-ar-əzgíg 'from inside'
• u tudík 'and so'
• a-ttəʕmír 'to prosper' 3sg.f.aor. < Ar. ʕamura ‘to thrive, prosper, flourish, flower, bloom’ [Lameen:] If attaʕmír really is "prosper" (ʕmaṛ in Siwi just means "do, be"), then it's intended ironically. [Phoenix:] It is not actually in Paradisi's wordlist,so maybe the meaning related to that of Siwi.
• təfilli-nnáx 'our house'

I'll admit that this last sentence with attaʕmír isn't flowing too well. Maybe I'm missing out on something. Paradisi translates: Le disse quindi Žḥâ: bene, io perdo da una parte e tu dall'altra, così funziona la nostra casa.

impf.

Comments

[Lameen]

"yəškí əlbarát": Juha paid the auctioneer to sell his own donkey back to him. If attaʕmír really is "prosper" (ʕmaṛ in Siwi just means "do, be"), then it's intended ironically.

fəšúš is pan-Berber (ifsus, etc.) = "light, fast".

kuwə́yəs: good (Egyptian Arabic, Siwi...)

əlʕaqqáb: derived somehow from ʕaqb "after".

'of yours' to mean 'than yours': n is commonly used as "than" with Arabic comparatives loaned into Berber, even in languages like Kabyle that otherwise prefer the "on"-structure (see discussion in my thesis.)

[kato]

la-búdda: Ar. la budda 'certainly'

kuwə́yəs: Ar. 'good', probably used here to mean 'very'

Funny that you say hardly a sentence in Awjili goes by without an Arabic word. If I didn't know better, I'd say this is an Arabic sentence with an Awjili word!

báhi: dial. Ar. bāhi 'good, ok, fine'

[PhoeniX]

"yəškí əlbarát: Juha paid the auctioneer to sell his own donkey back to him."

I don't see how that explains why the phrase says "He left the money". Care to elaborate?

[Lameen]

Actually, looking at that again I'm not sure I understand why he uses yeški - but maybe "he left the money, giving it to the auctioneer"?

[Lameen]

And hang on - this ties in nicely to my current researches:

w-in-ís y-imán-nəs

What the heck?? Clitic doubling with a reflexive pronoun? Even Siwi doesn't allow that, and in Siwi doubling is more or less obligatory in most contexts. I'll need to take a closer look at these texts.

[PhoeniX]

I hadn't really stopped to think about that yet. That is cool.

[PhoeniX]

I just realized, nn-is 'to say' always has an obligatory -is indirect object suffix. Unless the indirect object is another person/number it takes 3sg.m. by default. So it's not that strange that this word has clitic doubling with a reflexive pronoun in that view.

[Lameen]

That would account for it, but it's difficult to be sure from texts alone that such a suffix is obligatory, since a lot of the factors that discourage it (indefinite/non-specific IO, etc.) tend to be textually rare. Do you have any other examples where it shows up in a context where you wouldn't expect a pronoun?

[PhoeniX]

Good question Lameen. I was going off of Paradisi's won word list that said:

dire - (con il pron. di 3a s. constantemente suffisso al verbo)

But he doesn't actually give a good unambiguous example where the IO suffix is obligatory. I'll be on the lookout for it in my translated texts to come.