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 third part:
Numbers 21:5
Part 3:
KJV: for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
NJB: For there is neither food nor water here; we are sick of this eager diet.’
Yidiñ: Wunaaŋ ŋudyu mayi ŋudyu gumarri; mayiiŋ gidiildu ŋañdyiimba munduuba daliyi wigidyiiŋ.”
For there = -
In Hebrew, for there is indicated by the Conjunction ki, which also means because.
Yidiñ does not really have Conjunctions. They prefer to place clauses/sentences next to one another, and allow context to fill in the missing place.
is neither… nor = wunaaŋ ŋudyu… ŋudyu
wunaaŋ is the Present Tense Declension of wunan, which means lie or exist.
The Hebrew lacks any verb whatosoever.
I choose to include wunaaŋ because it references the manna, which at one point lay upon the ground.
ŋudyu is simply a Negative Particle, typically translating as no or not depending on what sounds better.
food = mayi
This is a Noun & Classifier which refers to all non-flesh food.
water = bana gumarri
As mentioned earlier, bana is the Noun & Classifier referring to water.
gumarri is an Adjective which means red, and it normally applies to mineral-coloured water.
Thus, it refers to the water that Moses drew from the stone.
Secondly, it refers also to the stew for which Esau sold his birthright to Jacob (later Israel). In Hebrew, this soup is explicitly described as red.
Thus, both this water and the soup refer later to the Blood of Christ, and by extension the Wine of Communion.
Esau earlier and the Israelites here refer to the breaking of God’s covenant, which the Son will later restore.
our soul = ŋañdyiimba munduuba
Unlike many other Aboriginal languages, Yidiñ does not distinguish between 1st Person Inclusive and Exclusive.
If you want to specify something as Exclusive, you can add the Suffix –ba.
Thus, the quarrelling Israelites are laying down a distinction between themselves and Moses (and by extension the Lord, further foreshadowing their immanent slide into idolatry.)
In case you are wondering, the combination /ñb/ can occur, but I rendered it /mb/ to make it seem that the Israelites have said it so often that the two sounds have assimilated.
mundu is a Noun which here means soul.
ŋañdyiiñ is the 1st Person Non-Singular Object Pronoun.
The final /ñ/ undergoes bilabial assimilation, becoming /m/ on contact with the letter /b/.
are hungry = wigiil daliyi
wigiil is the Present Tense Conjugation of the Verb wigil.
This Verb means something like (rich food) makes a person feel satisfied and sick, and is Transitive.
Its inclusion is an act of intentional irony.
daliyii simply means hungry.
I leave it in the Absolutive so that it matches with the afore-elucidated element.
of this meagre diet = mayiiŋ gidiildu yiñdyuuŋ
mayiiŋ is the Ergative Case Declension of mayi.
gidiildu is the Ergative Case Declension of the Adjective gidil, meaning small.
yiñdyuuŋ is the Ergative Deictic.
In contrast to either the Hebrew or the English, the food, or lack thereof, is exerting agency over the quarrelling Israelites.
Here is the entire 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.”