Taimane

Taimane is the name of a famous 'ukulele artist of (mixed) Samoan descent. Her web page states that taimane "translates to diamond from Samoan" (and the Wikipedia page repeats this). I got to wondering: Is this really a Samoan word?  Isn't it likely to be a loanword from English?

First, I note that no Wikipedia nor Wiktionary for any of the Polynesian languages have any entries for diamond - for whatever that's worth.  As a double-check, I also tried searching the Samoan and Maori Wikipedias and Wiktionaries for "taimana" and variants thereof, with no hits.

Google translate certainly maps "diamond" to "taimane" for Samoan, "taimana" for Maori, and "daimana" for Hawaiian. Tahitian uses simply "diamond". 

So if this word is borrowed from English, we should be able to establish that it is of recent provenance. 

Helpfully, there is a Samoan language Bible on Archive.org. It was published in 1887. 

BibleGateway doesn't have a Samoan version, but does have a Maori version. (Unfortunately, there is no information about it, including publication date.)

The word "diamond" does not occur often in the Bible.  A couple places are:

Jeremiah 17:1(a):

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond ...

 Ezekiel 28:13(b):

... the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle ...

These are as found in the King James Version (KJV).  The Revised Standard Version (RSV) has "diamond" in the first passage, but "chrysolite" in the second. Young's Literal Translation (YLT) is similar to the KJV: it likewise has "diamond", but has "ruby" in place of "sardius".

Here are the corresponding phrases in the (modern?) Maori version:

Jeremiah 17:1(a):

Kua oti te hara o Hura te tuhituhi ki te pene rino, ki te mata hoki o te taimana ...

Ezekiel 28:13(b):

... ko te harariu, ko te topaha, ko te taimana, ko te perira, ko te onika, ko te hahapa, ko te hapaira, ko te emerara, ko te kapakara ...

Clearly "taimana" is the word which the translator used for "diamond".

Now what about the 1887 Samoan translation?

Jeremiah 17:1(a):

Ua tusia le agasala a Iuta i le peni uamea ma le mata o le samira ...

Google translates this to:

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a samarium ...

Ezekiel 28:13(b):

... o le salikea, ma le topasi, ma le ialoma, ma le tasesa, ma le soama, ma le iasepi, ma le safaira, ma le nofeka, ma le pereketa ...

Google translates this to:

... the sardius, the topaz, the jasper, the onyx, the beryl, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the onyx, and the beryl ...

Google seems to struggle with some of those words, punting, in several cases, to "beryl" and "onyx". 

Even so, none of the words in the original even remotely resemble "taimane".

Therefore, I believe it is reasonable to conclude that "taimana" was introduced into Maori and certain other Polynesian languages, including Samoan, in the modern period.

 

 

I Told Myself

I didn't love her.
It wasn't love.
I don't believe in love.
It was merely a deep admiration, and a bit of envy.

Yes, those were the truths I told myself
To make myself believe
But I never could believe
Those outrageous lies.

she makes me want to lay down arms

she makes me want to lay down arms 
that all the wars have been fought, and won 
that it is time to turn tilth the blood and bones 
of all the fallen yesterdays 

so, with mine own sweat my tree to nourish 
and it thereby to diversify, to edify 
to cultivate a towering silver city 
so ageless golden civilizations to flourish

Metal Touch Space

I found this really cool music track named "Touch Space", by an outfit called Test Shot Starfish. You can hear it on YouTube. It includes some samples of a man speaking. The words are intriguing, so I went searching for the source(s). As presented in the song, the prose seems to be in three parts:

Part 1:

Does the blood move in your hand?
Does your hand move to touch metal?
Does that metal move to touch space?
Do wild thoughts of travel and migration move behind your flesh?
They do.

Part 2:

A billion years ago
when we came out of the sea of this earth
And we formed a spine for ourselves
And we reared ourselves up upon this land
And we moved unto the land
And we lived in caves, and were terrified
Then we lived in trees, and were afraid
And we finally formed cities against the night
[Now we] are daring to do the great thing
And we're going into space
And we're going to live forever

Part 3:

You are part of a long effort of the universe to understand itself
This blind thing turning in its sleep
You're part of that blindness coming awake
Every single one of you is a cell of this thing struggling to stay alive
Dying every day, rebirthing itself every night
And that's what space travel is all about

It turns out that all of the text is by Ray Bradbury, the famous science fiction author and poet. In fact, he said these things at public speaking engagements, where he was recorded. I think - though I'm not sure - that the voice we hear in the song is actually Bradbury's, from the recordings.

The words in Part 1 were spoken during a symposium called Why Man Explores, held at the California Institute of Technology on July 2, 1976, and sponsored by NASA. The full transcript of the symposium is available at Google Books: Why Man Explores. He says he's quoting from a poem he had written before. It was part of an ongoing project he worked on for decades, ultimately entitled Leviathan '99, the stated goal of which was to bring Moby-Dick into the space age.

Parts 2 and 3 come from one source: a lecture he gave named Space Exploration as The Theology for Our Time. I haven't found the full transcript of this lecture, but you can hear the recording on YouTube: Space Exploration as The Theology for Our Time. Part 2 begins at 33:11, and Part 3 at 35:32.

Domingo

We all know Domingo of Santa Clara will be born today, tomorrow, and the day after
billions of times
'til the end of the universe,
where, with a smile on his face, the last of our species watches
the catastrophe.

 (song by Yello)

I need a new set of dishes

I need a new set of dishes.

I mean, I like the old ones.  They have a nice shape,
and a nice heavy earthenware feel in my hands.
But I've had them a long time, and I've broken so many,
I can't set the table for a full dinner party anymore.
I thought they'd be more rugged!
But my clumsy old hands...
And the ones remaining are kind of scratched and dull.
They say don't stack your dishes.
Now I know why!

I need a new set of dishes.
I think I'll get Corelle this time.
It has the feel of glass, but it's virtually unbreakable.
I can fumble it
You can stomp on it
I can run it through the oven and the washer ceaselessly.

I might never feel again, but I've had enough of heartbreak.

(2014-04-04)

Probabilities of drawing certain cards

This shows the probabilities of drawing two specific cards (labeled A and B) in a hand of five cards, from decks of various sizes.

All numbers are percentages.

Deck size	A & B	A & !B	A ^ B	A | B
6	66.7	16.7	33.3	100.0
7	47.6	23.8	47.6	95.2
8	35.7	26.8	53.6	89.3
9	27.8	27.8	55.6	83.3
10	22.2	27.8	55.6	77.8
11	18.2	27.3	54.5	72.7
12	15.2	26.5	53.0	68.2
13	12.8	25.6	51.3	64.1
14	11.0	24.7	49.5	60.4
15	9.5	23.8	47.6	57.1

The probabilities of other combinations can be derived from those given in this table:

• A | !B (A or not B - possibly both conditions) is the inverse of A & !B.
• A ^ !B (A or not B but NOT both conditions) is the inverse of A ^ B.
• !A & !B (neither A nor B) is the inverse of A | B
• !A | !B (not A, or not B - possibly both conditions) is the inverse of A & B.
• !A ^ !B (not A, or not B, but NOT both conditions) is logically the same as A ^ B.