Due to its length and complexity, I divided Numbers 21:5 into three parts.
For the sake of your fragile sanity, I will publish each part separately, whilst keeping the entire passage at the end of each post.
Herein we discuss the second part:
Numbers 21:5
Part 2:
KJV: Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
NJB: ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert?
Yidiñ: “Wañdyaagu ñunduuba ŋanñdyiiñ bulmbam Mijrayiimu gilgii warriilda daybiil?
Why? = wañdyaagu
Only when I pasted this into Substack did I realise that I forgot to elucidate here.
you brought = ñunduuba daybiil
ñunduuba is the 2nd Person Non-Singular Subject Pronoun you (all).
The original Hebrew makes a distinction between Masculine and Feminine Plural – Yidiñ does not.
daybiil is the Past Tense Declension of daybil, which means pick up and take.
The original Hebrew meant something like ascend or climb, but I could not find a Transitive verb that carried this meaning.
To me, puck up and took implies that the Israelites are claiming that Moses forced their exodus from Egypt, that they were not allowed to exercise their free will.
us = ŋanñdyiiñ
This is the 1st Person Non-Singular Object Pronoun, or us.
In the 1st Person, Yidiñ makes a three-way distinction between Singular, Dual, and Non-Singular.
In the 2nd Person, the Dual does not exist.
out of Egypt = bulmbam Mijrayiimu
bulmbam is the Ablative Case Declension of bulmba, meaning shelter.
Mijrayiimu is the Ablative Case Declension of Mijrayim.
Mijrayim is an attempt to write the Hebrew Misrayim, which means Egypt.
This is quite difficult because Yidiñ has only 16 phonemes, (13 consonants and 3 vowels) – possibly the least of any Aboriginal language.1
It has zero sibilants, e.g. /s/, /sh/ or /z/.
This might not even work in Yidiñ, but is as close as I could get.
(Also, I have substituted my typical /dy/ for a /j/ in order to avoid confusion.)
to die = wulaana
This is the Purposive Conjugation of the Verb wulan, meaning to die.
in the desert = gulgii warriilda
gulgii is the Locative Case Declension of gulgi, which means sand.
It does not normally function as a Classifier, but here I use it as such.
warriilda is the Locative Case Declension of warril.
This does not mean desert – it is possible Yidiñ, being a language of the Cairns Rainforest, does not possess such a word.
I took inspiration from the Hebrew word, which comes from mouth.
warril means either doorway, wherethrough the Israelites must travel in order to leave the room of slavery and enter the room of freedom.
warril also means mouth of a trap, where many of them feel themselves currently to be.
(warri refers to the body part).
Here is the whole verse:
Numbers 21:5
KJV: And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
NJB: They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? For there is neither food nor water here; we are sick of this eager diet.’
Yidiñ: Bulmbaa bimbii ñaŋgaadyiñu bamaa Maybaa. “Wañdyaagu ñunduuba ŋanñdyiiñ bulmbam Mijrayiimu gilgii warriilda daybiil? Wunaaŋ ŋudyu mayi ŋudyu gumarri; mayiiŋ gidiildu ŋañdyiimba munduuba daliyi wigiil.”
3 is the typical number of vowels for an Australian language.