NJV. For you threw me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods closed round me. All your waves and billows passed over me:
Iatmul. Ya’kak wun ñigi guna maukak yakimi’n – dadagi’ talakka dawun – mi’na pali wun pali vaasaa kubalakudi
for you threw me into the deep = ya’kak wun yakimi’n
ya’kak = into the deep
wun = me
yakimi’n = you threw
ya’kak comes from ya’k inside, interior, but more specifically stomach.
into the heart of the seas = ñigi guna maukak
ñigi = bitter
guna = of the water
maukak = into the heart
ñigi gu bitter water is a phrase the Iatmul use for salt water, sea, ocean and also beer.
and the flood surrounded me = dadagi’ talakka dawun
dadagi’ = into the stream
talakka = slipping
dawun = I fall
flood/floods comes from the Hebrew nawhawr (נהר) stream or river.
I can understand how this became flood.
all your waves and billows passed over me = mi’na pali wun pali vaasaa kubalakudi
mi’na = Your
pali = wave [x2]
wun = me
vaasaa = breaking
kubalakudi = they turn over
For any L2 speakers of English, “billows” or “breakers” are that white foamy stuff you get when waves crash against rocks or the coast.
The Hebrew mishbawr (משבר) comes from the Verb shawbar (שבר) break in pieces.
Jendraschek’s dictionary does not include a word for breaker, so I got creative.
Here is another translation of this section:
mi’na pali wun pali vaasaa kubalakudi = your waves break me and turn me over
In Iatmul, only Nouns referring to people take the Plural Suffix –du.
For non-human Nouns, the best thing to do is Reduplication.
Thus, I turn pali wave into pali pali waves.
Then, I placed wun me in between them – they are breaking over me.
In addition, kubalaku turn over also means translate.
God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, and bring thither the word of the Lord.
The origin of the name “Nineveh” itself is unclear, but is likely to come from a patron god or goddess, as was the style in the Ancient World.
It may come from Innana, whose name in Sumerian and Assyrian could be Nina.
In Assyrian Cunriform, “Nina” is represented by a fish within a house. This may come from a local god or goddess of the nearby river Tigris.
By living within the fish, Jonah has translated the house of a Pagan Deity into one belonging to Christ.
KJV. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the flood compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
Iatmul. Ya’kak wun ñigi guna maukak yakimi’n – dadagi’ talakka dawun – mi’na pali wun pali vaasaa kubalakudi