Acts 6:13
I have split my translation into two newsletters. Part 1 contains a lot of grammatical information, as well as a few diagrams. Part 2 will be much shorter, and will dive deeper into the theology, philosophy, etc…
Both parts will include the full verse at the end
This is Part the First.
they put up false witnesses which said = məməlwaan guyukti vætəkadak wadak
The Greek word for witness is martus (μαρτυς), whence we get the word martyr.
I could not find a word for witness, so I created məməlwaan, which has three components:
1. mə- = (partial reduplication of the next).
2. məl = eye.
3. waan = ear.
The definition on BibleHub clarified that a μαρτυς is an eye- or ear-witness.
My use of məl also refers back to Acts 6:9. It is worth reading my translation thereof.
guyukti is the Plural form of guyuk, which means lie.
Now, /kt/ is actually a very rare sound combination in Manambu. Thus, it will attract attention.
vætəkedak has three components:
1. vætəka = put standing up.
2. –da = they did.
3. –k = (someone else does the next thing).
wadak has three components:
1. wa = say.
2. –da = they did.
3. –k = (someone else does the next thing).
Here is an arrow diagram to show you how this section works:
This diagram has two parts, and they join together at the word wadak.
Putting the two together would have made it too long, and I already give my colour-blind readers a difficult time of it.
this man is always making speeches = adə du maa kaukaurak
adə is the Masculine form of this, and du means man.
maa means no or not.
kaukaurak is a partially reduplicated form of the Verb kaurak, which means stop or be(come) silent.
I first tackled Manambu negation in my translation of Acts 6:10, and I now understand it more. Essentially, a Negative Verb loses most, but not all, of is suffixes.
The reduplication is not strictly necessary, but I will keep it there, because it implies both how often Stephen is speaking, and also how many times they have tried to stop him.
Because the Manambu word order is 1:1 with the English, I did not think that any arrows were necessary.
NJB: There they put up false witnesses to say, ‘This man is always making speeches against the Holy Place and the Law.
KJV: And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words aganst this holy place, and the law:
Manambu: Məməlwaan guyukti vætəkadak wadak adə du maa Apatənəbəm Væyajaamam kaukaurak.
Please tune in to Part the Second.