Poem: "Father Sun, Mother Moon"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem was written outside the prompt calls, inspired by discussion with dialecticdreamer about her character Aidan.  It also fills the "Wild Card: Daily Rituals" square in my 6-1-14 card for the genprompt_bingo fest.  It has been selected in an audience poll for the general fund.  This poem belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

The following is a morning/evening prayer that Aidan uses, from his childhood, which is thousands of years ago.  It's bilingual in a version of Proto-Indo-European and English.  The cool thing about PIE is that it's primarily a set of word bones with a few grammatical guesses.  So if you want to extrapolate what a historic tribe might have been speaking, you can pick and choose among the variables until you get something you like.  Several linguists have done this for our world; listen to an example here.  (I can actually parse words out of that.)  Here's one for Terramagne.
 

"Pætair Sowel, Mater Mehin"


Pætair Sowel,
Tu dieuel sho dein apos mem.
Heg dehet guret ro tuer aios kue weiden.
Uel kue kæpan ro mem hen tuer mæner.

Mater Mehin,
Tu werig sheh nokus meheb mem.
Heg dehet guret ro tuer skeith kue kuweien.
Uel kue kæpan ro mem hen tuer kerter.

* * *

"Father Sun, Mother Moon"


Father Sun,
You shine this day before me.
I give thanks for your light and guidance.
Bless and keep me in your hand.

Mother Moon,
You close this night around me.
I give thanks for your shade and comfort.
Bless and keep me in your heart.

* * *

Notes:

Proto-Indo-European spread throughout much of Eurasia thousands of years ago.  Here is a partial Swadesh List for it.  You can play with it yourself.

Here are some of the bits that I used above ...

father -- *átta, *ph₂tḗr

sun -- *sóh₂wl̥

you (singular) -- *túh₂

to light; shining -- dhel- IE  dhā̆l-
to shine -- dyew

this -- *kos, *koh₂, *kod

day -- *h₂eǵh-, *dei-n-

about, around; by, beside; in front of -- pos IE  apo-

I -- *éǵh₂(om)  ; *me- ; *h₁eǵ,*h₁eǵ(oH/Hom)

to give -- *deh₃

to praise, congratulate, raise one's voice -- gu̯er(ə)- IE  g̑ā̆r-

for (enclitic), for the purpose of -- *r̥ / *rō / *rō-dʰi 
Ved. r̥[citation needed] OCS ради

your -- eower

day(light), morning -- ā̆ier-, ā̆ien- IE  ai̯os-

and -- *-kʷe, *de, *nu

to see -- *derḱ-, *weyd-
to know -- *ǵneh₃-, *weyd-

Bless -- From Middle English blessen,  from Old English blētsian, blēdsian  (“to consecrate(with blood)”), from Proto-Germanic *blōþisōną  (“to sprinkle, mark or hallow with blood”), from *blōþą  (“blood”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhlo-to-  (“to gush, spurt”).

to will, want, wish, choose -- u̯el-, u̯lei-, u̯lē(i)- IE  5. u̯el-
Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“wish, desire”), *wol-.

Keep -- *kap-

in -- *(h₁?)en, *(h₁?)en-ter

hand -- *ǵʰés-ro-, *mar-, *man-
hand -- mə-r, genitive mə-n-és, mn̥tós IE  

* * *

mother -- *méh₂tēr
Some variant of this, by the way, is probably the oldest word in the world by sheer statistical probability.  When babies babble, they start with the easiest sounds, most often something like "mamama," and that's why most human languages have a word for "female parent" that sounds something like that.

moon -- *mḗh₁n̥s

to shut, close, cover; guard, warn, save -- u̯er- IE  1. u̯erg̑-

night -- *nókʷts

around, at both sides -- ambhi, m̥bhi IE  ebhi?

to shine/shimmer dully; shadow -- sk̑āi-, sk̑əi- : sk̑ī- IE  4. kāi-d-
shade, shadow, darkness -- skot- IE   

to rest comfortably; quiet, peaceful, tranquil -- ku̯ei̯ə-, ku̯ii̯ē- IE   

heart -- *ḱḗr (genitive *ḱr̥dés)

Comments

[acelightning]

When babies babble, it's likely to be consonant sounds alternating with vowel sounds - dadadada, mamamam. But the sound we represent as M is especially easy for babies to make; it's the position of the lips while suckling. Which is why "mama" becomes the word for Mother, and also for breast. Other proto-words like "dada" get reinforced by hearing adults use them, and others are sheer onomatopoeia, like "splish-splash" for swimming or bathing. Language just seems to be something we humans are especially adept at doing.

And those of us who can tease meaning out of sounds can not only do it with human languages. I once spent an afternoon at the Aquarium in Brooklyn, hanging out with the beluga whales, listening to the sounds they made and attempting to sing back to them. I think they found me amusing.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Language just seems to be something we humans are especially adept at doing. <<

Sooth.

>>And those of us who can tease meaning out of sounds can not only do it with human languages. <<

Yeah, me too. I can greet wolves and usually get an answer. I can sing to cardinals well enough for females to come over and flirt with me.

Re: Thoughts

[acelightning]

I can carry on a converstation with a cat, although if i had whiskers, movable ears, and a tail, I'd be better at it. Most cats tell me that my accent sucks. I envy the grad student who lived with Dr. John Lilly's dolphins, patching together a "pidgin" language they could communicate in, and often engaging in various forms of play with the dolphins. I could have learned Beluga if I'd been able to spend more time with them. And I have yipped back at a distant coyote who replied, asking me who I was and why I was in his woods.