I've read on this forum that Indonesians can value being polite to the extent that it might even be considered a fault; this brings to mind the proverbial "insidious Chinaman", smiling and nodding to humour the poor, unfortunate
gwai lo, who is clearly a feebleminded simpleton. Ignorance, it seems, is a bliss which the knowledgeable shall never enjoy.
David, as a Bible student,
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extremely excruciating and convoluted method[s] of multiple transition translations
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are old hat to me; it's what I do.
ariel, the example you've provided to demonstrate the importance of checking the translation to ensure that it makes sense is appreciated. If only the people who wrote up the installation instructions for V.C.R.s back in the day had taken the time...
Mr. Maisey, I may have gone off the rails entirely here, and if I have, please let me know in unambiguous terms. After having transliterated the Roman letters "nawa" into Hindi Devanagari script through G.T, and then reverse translated, I got "Nava". Translating the same Devanagari script from Bengali to English, I got "New".
Transliteration can pose a whole set of problems which must be solved before translation can begin; attempting to transliterate and translate what may or may not be loan words from some other language, the identity of which is based on nothing more than conjecture...
The "English alphabet" contains the letters V(vee) and W(double 'U'; in some other languages the name of the letter translates as "double V", or "twin V"), both representing distinct vocalized sounds. English has no "in-between" sound which might be described as a "softened V, but not quite a W". I may or may not have a problem with not being able to transliterate accurately, which may or may not have sent my train of thought onto a sidetrack.
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The name "Buta Nawa Sari" is Balinese. Buta = evil spirit, but in fact, not all buta are invariably evil; buta inhabit graveyards and forest areas.
The word "Nawa" is commonly understood as "nine", but its other common meaning is as an indefinite length indicator --- you say something is "nawa" and in context that indicates that the something is long, but how long depends upon context.
The word "Sari" is again subject to context, but in all contexts it indicates the "essence" of something. In the use as an attribute of Nawa Sari, that essence is the pandan flower. The problem with the name "Buta Nawa Sari" is two fold, firstly he may not originally have been a buta, secondly the word "nawa" does have at least one other meaning and that other meaning could well solve part of the riddle. Right now the "nawa" problem is being worked on.
One thing appears to be certain, and that is that Nawa Sari is indigenous Balinese.
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To begin getting to the point: is "new" one of the other meanings of the word "nawa", in addition to "nine", and as an "indefinite length indicator"?
If not, what other meanings does the word have, that you know of?
If a Buta is "new", would (or could) this change the nature of it's Sari/essence?
If "not all Buta are invariably evil", do they all nevertheless have an inclination toward evil?
Are all Buta invariably male? In the hypothetical case of a female Buta, would the word be spelled differently (as with putra/putri)?
If a Buta was not originally a Buta, what was he previously, and how did he become a Buta?
I don't know much about flowers except that I've loved the fragrance of bunga kamboja since I was a kid. I've read that for the Javanese, it's something like a funeral flower, like white lilies in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. I won't even ask about the pandan flower (because it may be crucial to understanding, and may require more typing than you have time or patience for), but if you care to elaborate...
I'm aware that your time is valuable. If you know of any resources where I might find answers, like books in Gajah Mada Universitas library, for example, there's a librarian at the community college two blocks away whom I would just love to put to the trouble of trying to arrange an inter-library loan.
Thank you for the information you've provided.