ta haluma
the Babel text
For decades, the conlang community's handshake has been the same: show us your Babel text. Genesis 11:1-9 tells how one speech became many, and Jeffrey Henning proposed it as a standard conlang text in 1996. Phi uses the King James Version, the customary reference for this exercise, as its ground truth. The wording is stored in texts/sources/kjv_genesis.txt and cited below clause by clause.
This page gives the passage two Phi renderings. In the close translation, the builders still fear dispersal, and the LORD confounds their speech and scatters them abroad. The transmutation gives those acts to muila, the earth, and reads the same scattering as sowing. haluma names language, while the comparison with thinoe, seed, changes how the second thiwera is read.
Each block carries four lines: the Phi sentence, its word-by-word gloss, a literal English back-translation, and the exact King James wording. Source names and titles stay in the English line when Phi cannot carry them without inventing an adaptation or admitting a role its lexicon refuses.
Close translation
The King James story moves by command and consequence. Phi can follow that movement, but three source forms sit outside its sentences. Shinar and Babel have no community-approved Phi onyms, while LORD is a title Phi does not lexicalize. The citations present each form exactly. Inside Phi, the land is still land, the city receives a name, and the actor holds authority.
One language
theula muila ta haluma nela ta haolu to phelu.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV earth one language COORD one speak PST hold.
Literal English: (The whole earth held one language and one speech.)
kjv: And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
lo miona lue sileta thorui to laniru.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person ABL sun beginning PST journey.
Literal English: (The people journeyed from the east.)
kjv: And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east,
lo shia mua muila wemo to hekawi. lo shia mua ha lokue to menui.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG LOC earth plain PST find. PL 3SG LOC PROX place PST dwell.
Literal English: (They found a plain in the land. They dwelt in that place.)
kjv: that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
Brick and tower
lo shia wei wiso to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG DAT RECP PST speak.
Literal English: (They spoke to one another.)
kjv: And they said one to another,
sha su lo mia lo mueri kerou pilewa. su lo mia lo ha ru thape sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: QUOT.COMP OPT PL 1SG PL clay stone make. OPT PL 1SG PL PROX INTS burn QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("Let us make clay-stones. Let us burn them thoroughly.")
kjv: Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.
lo mueri kerou wei lo shia kerou to nai. theru nuko loesi wei lo shia whu lo mueri kerou lorea muralo to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: PL clay stone DAT PL 3SG stone PST be. thick black oil DAT PL 3SG REL PL clay stone connect material PST be.
Literal English: (Clay-stones were stone for them. Thick black oil was for them material that connects clay-stones.)
kjv: And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
lo shia to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG PST speak.
Literal English: (They spoke.)
kjv: And they said,
sha su lo mia wei lo mia whalo silawo nela raelu moru lorima. shia raelu shuna mua waero po kamo. su lo mia nomei se sano sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: QUOT.COMP OPT PL 1SG DAT PL 1SG large village COORD tall wall build. 3SG tall edge LOC sky POT arrive. OPT PL 1SG name PASS know QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("Let us build a great village and a tall wall for ourselves. Its high edge may reach the sky. May our name be known.")
kjv: Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name,
sha lo mia tha lo mia nia theula muila menoa se thiwera tho ma pula sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: QUOT.COMP PL 1SG DECL.COMP PL 1SG ON UNIV earth face PASS scatter DECL.COMP.CLOSE NEG wish QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("We do not wish to be scattered upon the face of the whole earth.")
kjv: lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Descent and judgment
lo miona lo lumira ha whalo silawo nela ha raelu moru to lorima. lila ha lo thena nila whu karami phelu thena lue waero to shua.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person PL descendant PROX large village COORD PROX tall wall PST build. PURP PROX PL thing see REL authority hold thing ABL sky PST come.
Literal English: (The descendants of people built this great village and this tall wall. In order to see these things, the being who holds authority came from the sky.)
kjv: And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
whu karami phelu thena sha no nila. theula miona ta nai. lo shia ta haluma phelu sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: REL authority hold thing QUOT.COMP IMP see. UNIV person one be. PL 3SG one language hold QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: (The being who holds authority said: "Look. All people are one. They hold one language.")
kjv: And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language;
sha lo shia ha pa phoa. nosa wei lo shia mawha whu lo shia phoa ki weni thena noraku so kelu sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: QUOT.COMP PL 3SG PROX INCH do. now DAT PL 3SG NONE REL PL 3SG do PFV imagine thing blocked FUT become QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("They begin to do this. Now, for them, no thing they have imagined doing will become blocked.")
kjv: and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Confounding and dispersal
shia sha su lo mia lue waero kau muila wepu. su lila lo shia lue wiso haolu po ma shelomu lo mia mua ha lokue lo shia haluma kuewa ka kelu sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG QUOT.COMP OPT PL 1SG ABL sky ALL earth go. OPT PURP PL 3SG ABL RECP speak POT NEG understand PL 1SG LOC PROX place PL 3SG language strange CAUS become QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: (The being said: "Let us go from the sky to the earth. Let us make their language unfamiliar in this place so that they cannot understand speech from one another.")
kjv: Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
whu karami phelu thena lo miona lue ha lokue nia theula muila menoa to thiwera.
Word-by-word gloss: REL authority hold thing PL person ABL PROX place ON UNIV earth face PST scatter.
Literal English: (The being who holds authority scattered the people from this place upon the face of the whole earth.)
kjv: So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth:
lo shia whalo silawo to te lorima.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG large village PST CESS build.
Literal English: (They ceased building the great village.)
kjv: and they left off to build the city.
thelao nomei wei ha whalo silawo se loa.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS name DAT PROX large village PASS give.
Literal English: (Therefore a name was given to this great village.)
kjv: Therefore is the name of it called Babel;
lao whu karami phelu thena mua ha lokue theula muila haluma kuewa to ka kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: BECAUSE REL authority hold thing LOC PROX place UNIV earth language strange PST CAUS become.
Literal English: (Because the being who holds authority caused the whole earth's language to become unfamiliar in this place.)
kjv: because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth:
whu karami phelu thena lo miona lue ha lokue nia theula muila menoa to thiwera.
Word-by-word gloss: REL authority hold thing PL person ABL PROX place ON UNIV earth face PST scatter.
Literal English: (The being who holds authority scattered the people from this place upon the face of the whole earth.)
kjv: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Complete translation
ta haluma
theula muila ta haluma nela ta haolu to phelu. lo miona lue sileta thorui to laniru. lo shia mua muila wemo to hekawi. lo shia mua ha lokue to menui.
lo shia wei wiso to haolu. sha su lo mia lo mueri kerou pilewa. su lo mia lo ha ru thape sho to haolu. lo mueri kerou wei lo shia kerou to nai. theru nuko loesi wei lo shia whu lo mueri kerou lorea muralo to nai.
lo shia to haolu. sha su lo mia wei lo mia whalo silawo nela raelu moru lorima. shia raelu shuna mua waero po kamo. su lo mia nomei se sano sho to haolu. sha lo mia tha lo mia nia theula muila menoa se thiwera tho ma pula sho to haolu.
lo miona lo lumira ha whalo silawo nela ha raelu moru to lorima. lila ha lo thena nila whu karami phelu thena lue waero to shua. whu karami phelu thena sha no nila. theula miona ta nai. lo shia ta haluma phelu sho to haolu. sha lo shia ha pa phoa. nosa wei lo shia mawha whu lo shia phoa ki weni thena noraku so kelu sho to haolu.
shia sha su lo mia lue waero kau muila wepu. su lila lo shia lue wiso haolu po ma shelomu lo mia mua ha lokue lo shia haluma kuewa ka kelu sho to haolu. whu karami phelu thena lo miona lue ha lokue nia theula muila menoa to thiwera. lo shia whalo silawo to te lorima.
thelao nomei wei ha whalo silawo se loa. lao whu karami phelu thena mua ha lokue theula muila haluma kuewa to ka kelu. whu karami phelu thena lo miona lue ha lokue nia theula muila menoa to thiwera.
Translation limits
| King James wording | Phi rendering | Remaining difference |
|---|---|---|
| one language and one speech | ta haluma nela ta haolu | haluma names the shared system; the event noun of speaking gives the second term a broader range than the King James idiom. |
| Shinar | a plain in the land, with Shinar kept in the source line | The place relation survives, but the Phi passage alone does not identify the land. |
| Go to, let us | su lo mia, let us | The optative carries the exhortation without giving the archaic "Go to" a false motion sense. |
| brick, slime, mortar | clay-stone and thick black oil as material that connects clay-stones | Brick and the mortar's work survive. theru nuko loesi approximates bitumen through appearance and mineral-oil kinship rather than naming asphalt. |
| city and tower | great village and tall wall with a high edge that may reach the sky | Scale, height, top, and reach survive; the two built forms use transparent descriptions. |
| make us a name | may our name be known | The wish for renown survives, while Phi states the desired recognition rather than copying the English idiom as if names were being manufactured. |
| lest we be scattered | the builders do not wish to be scattered | Fear is explicit, but Phi states the attitude instead of subordinating it under "lest." |
| the LORD | whu karami phelu thena, the being who holds authority | The source title stays outside Phi. karami reports authority without settling its legitimacy or the actor's nature. |
| came down | came from the sky | Phi supplies a source for the vertical motion rather than a bare downward adverb. |
| children of men | descendants of people | Lineage survives, while the masculine expression and its idiomatic sense of humankind do not. |
| nothing will be restrained from them | no imagined action will become blocked for them | noraku names inability to proceed because of an obstacle, not restraint by an unnamed agent. |
| confound their language | cause their language to become unfamiliar | The purpose clause supplies the intended loss of reciprocal understanding; kuewa itself is gentler than confounding. |
| scattered abroad | scattered from the place across the earth | thiwera carries dispersal without judging it welcome. Only the transmutation compares the people to seeds. |
| Babel | a name was given, with Babel kept in the source line | The naming event and its cause survive; the exact source name and Hebrew wordplay do not enter the Phi passage. |
Transmutation
The transmutation begins from the same verses and changes the actor and the meaning of dispersal. It follows below. Here thiwera is exactly the right word: the earth casts people like seed and the coda follows them into gardens.
ta haolu: One speech
theula muila ta haluma nela ta haolu to phelu.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV earth one language COORD one speak PST hold.
Literal English: (The whole earth held one language, and one speech.)
kjv: And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
lo miona lue sileta thorui to laniru.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person ABL sun beginning PST journey.
Literal English: (The people journeyed from the east.)
kjv: And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east,
lo shia wemo to hekawi. lo shia mua wemo to soki.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG plain PST find. PL 3SG LOC plain PST settle.
Literal English: (They found a plain, and they settled there.)
kjv: that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
whalo silawo: The great village
lo shia wei wiso to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG DAT RECP PST speak.
Literal English: (They said to one another:)
kjv: And they said one to another,
sha su lo mia lo mueri kerou pilewa. su lo mia lo ha ru thape sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: QUOT.COMP OPT PL 1SG PL clay stone make. OPT PL 1SG PL PROX INTS burn QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("Let us make clay-stones. Let us burn them thoroughly.")
kjv: Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly.
lo mueri kerou wei lo shia kerou to nai. muphia lo mueri kerou to lorea.
Word-by-word gloss: PL clay stone DAT PL 3SG stone PST be. mud PL clay stone PST connect.
Literal English: (Clay-stones were their stone, and mud connected the clay-stones.)
kjv: And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
lo shia sha su lo mia whalo silawo nela whu mua waero kamo raelu moru lorima sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG QUOT.COMP OPT PL 1SG large village COORD REL LOC sky arrive tall wall build QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: (They said: "Let us build a great village, and a tall wall that arrives at the sky.")
kjv: And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven;
sha su lo mia nomei se sano sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: QUOT.COMP OPT PL 1SG name PASS know QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("May our name be known.")
kjv: and let us make us a name,
sha lo mia tha lo mia nia theula muila menoa se thiwera tho ma pula sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: QUOT.COMP PL 1SG DECL.COMP PL 1SG ON UNIV earth face PASS scatter DECL.COMP.CLOSE NEG wish QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("We do not wish to be scattered upon the face of the whole earth.")
kjv: lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
muila nila: The earth sees
muila whu lo miona lorima whalo silawo nela raelu moru to nila.
Word-by-word gloss: earth REL PL person build large village COORD tall wall PST see.
Literal English: (The earth saw the great village and the tall wall that the people built.)
kjv: And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
muila tha theula miona ta punoa nai. lo shia ta haluma phelu tho to sano.
Word-by-word gloss: earth DECL.COMP UNIV person one society be. PL 3SG one language hold DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST know.
Literal English: (The earth knew that all the people were one society, and that they held one language.)
kjv: And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language;
lo shia ha pa phoa. nosa lo shia theula whu lo shia phoa ki weni thena po phoa.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 3SG PROX INCH do. now PL 3SG UNIV REL PL 3SG do PFV imagine thing POT do.
Literal English: (They begin to do this. Now they can do everything they have imagined doing.)
kjv: and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
thiwera: The sowing
ta haluma wei theula muila henoi to ma nai.
Word-by-word gloss: one language DAT UNIV earth ENOUGH PST NEG be.
Literal English: (One language was not enough for the whole earth.)
kjv: Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
muila phea lo thinoe lo miona nia theula muila menoa to thiwera.
Word-by-word gloss: earth AS PL seed PL person ON UNIV earth face PST scatter.
Literal English: (The earth scattered the peoples like seeds upon the face of all the earth.)
kjv: So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth:
lo miona whalo silawo to te lorima.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person large village PST CESS build.
Literal English: (And they ceased building the great village.)
kjv: and they left off to build the city.
ta haluma lo haluma to kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: one language PL language PST become.
Literal English: (The one language became many languages.)
kjv: because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth:
nomei: The name
thelao silawo nomei lo haluma nai.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS village name PL language be.
Literal English: (Therefore the village's name is Many-Languages.)
kjv: Therefore is the name of it called Babel;
lue ha lokue muila lo miona to thiwera.
Word-by-word gloss: ABL PROX place earth PL person PST scatter.
Literal English: (From this place the earth scattered the peoples.)
kjv: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
The gardens
theula haluma thepalu nai.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV language garden be.
Literal English: (Every language is a garden.)
we ha haluma thepalu nai.
Word-by-word gloss: ALSO PROX language garden be.
Literal English: (This language, too, is a garden.)
Transmutation gap log
Gap log: language → haluma (coined from speech's breath and flow, grounded as a shared whole; lathoe stays anatomical rather than copying English's tongue metaphor); scatter → thiwera (coined for broadcast motion, with the sound of seed inside it); one speech → ta haolu, the event noun beside the coined word; journeyed → laniru; Shinar → dropped, since names enter this telling only when their meaning matters; "Go to, let us" → the optative su; brick → mueri kerou (clay-stone); slime for mortar → muphia connecting the clay-stones; city → whalo silawo (great village); tower → a relative clause for a tall wall reaching the sky; make us a name → the wish that the builders' name be known; lest we be scattered → the fear stated on muila menoa, the face of the earth; the LORD → muila, earth as teller and agent; nothing will be restrained → the affirmative claim that the builders can do everything they have imagined doing; confound → one language becoming many; punishment → sowing; they left off to build → to te lorima; Babel → lo haluma, Many Languages. The gardens coda has no biblical source unit. It completes this transmutation's chosen image: diversity grows where the fearful builders expected only loss.
What changes between the two renderings
The two versions travel the same road from the east and fire the same clay-stones. Their mortar already shows the methods parting: translation describes bitumen at work, while transmutation finds a mental bond in mud. They also know the builders' fear. The larger break comes when someone looks down. Translation follows the source through judgment and departure. Transmutation puts the earth under the builders' feet, then treats linguistic difference as growth rather than sentence.
| Moment | Close translation | Transmutation | Why they diverge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shinar | The plain lies in a land; the exact name stays in the source line. | The plain is found and settled, and Shinar is dropped. | Translation makes the source-name boundary visible as a limit. The transmutation has no use for a name whose meaning does not enter its retelling. |
| mortar | Thick black oil is material that connects clay-stones. | Mud connects the clay-stones. | Translation describes the KJV's bitumen and names its masonry work. Transmutation keeps its earthier material and uses physical connection rather than borrowing the interpersonal nolami through an English homonym. |
| city, tower, and name | A great village and a tall wall are built for the builders, the wall's high edge may reach the sky, and their name may be known. | A great village and a tall wall reach toward the sky, and the builders' name may be known. | Translation restores the builders' benefit and the tower's top. Both render the ambition as recognition rather than copying "make a name" into Phi. |
| the watcher | A being who holds authority comes from the sky to see. | The earth sees from where it already lies. | Translation preserves the practical relation inside LORD without lexicalizing the title. Transmutation changes the agent outright. |
| human possibility | No action the builders have imagined will become blocked. | The builders begin, then can do everything they have imagined doing. | Translation uses the source's negative prediction. Transmutation keeps the beginning and present moment but turns the prediction into an affirmation of capacity. |
| confounding | Language is made unfamiliar so that people cannot understand speech from one another. | One language is not enough, and one language becomes many. | Translation preserves intention and communicative loss. Transmutation treats plurality as what a large earth needs. |
| dispersal | Authority scatters people across the earth. | The earth scatters people like seed. | The verb stays neutral in both. The source actor and missing comparison leave the translation punitive; the transmutation supplies the seed and follows it into the garden image. |
| Babel | The city receives a name; Babel stays in the source line. | The village is named Many-Languages. | Translation will not invent an accepted onym or pretend to reproduce the Hebrew pun. Transmutation writes a new Phi naming story. |
| ending | People leave the work and are dispersed again in the final account. | Every language is called a garden, and Phi joins the garden. | The source repeats the scattering. The transmutation answers that repetition with a coda of its own. |
Solarpunk values
The translation gives no green gloss to a monument built against feared dispersal. It records the work and ambition, then shows concentrated authority breaking mutual understanding. The transmutation asks what grows after that break. Its gardens are not an account of Genesis; they are Phi's choice to value many local languages over one speech made universal.
Secular Buddhist philosophy
The builders grasp at a name and at protection from change. Translation leaves that desire and its consequences where the source puts them. Transmutation loosens the punitive frame, but it does not turn the builders into villains or the scattered people into symbols without bodies. A common language changes, and people move.
Art Nouveau aesthetics
Both renderings begin with materials a hand can know: clay, stone, mud, wall. Translation follows the hard vertical line of the tower from ground to sky. Transmutation bends that line outward into thrown seed and many gardens. The second curve belongs to the retelling, not to the bricks of the source.
Peace linguistics
A peaceful vocabulary must not hide violence by making it unsayable. The translation therefore states the authoritative intervention, the intended failure of understanding, and the caused departure. It declines the title LORD inside Phi, yet authority does not vanish with the title. The transmutation makes another ethical move: it refuses punishment as the final meaning of linguistic difference. The page labels that move instead of passing it off as faithful translation.
Pre-industrial wisdom
The material sequence is exact enough to feel in the hands: wet earth is shaped, fired, stacked, and bound. Both versions know that craft and share its warning. Skilled collective making does not answer who benefits, what fear directs the work, or how power responds when a structure grows.
Translation leaves the old judgment severe. Transmutation takes the people where the judgment sent them and asks what they planted there.