nophi lue mawha lokue
Discussion and Bed
William Morris opens News from Nowhere in a political meeting full of interruption, conviction, and familiar bad temper. The narrator leaves by underground railway, walks home through a winter night, lies awake with his failures, and finally sleeps into the book's future England. This transmutation includes the whole chapter. Its opening ti marks the repeated "says our friend" as secondhand report until Morris hands the story to the first person. The optative su holds the wish that turns the chapter: if only he could see one day of the society they argued about. Eleven roots originally coined for the rendering cover the League, the railway, the elm and its branches, and the sharper human reactions the chapter needs. The gap account gathers those choices without stopping the walk home every few steps.
Each block below carries four lines: the Phi sentence, its word-by-word gloss, a back-translation into English, and Morris's own original wording, so a reader can see exactly what the transmutation kept and what it changed.
The report
melu wei mia ti haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: friend DAT 1SG REP speak.
Literal English: (A friend told this to me, and I report it.)
morris: says a friend
mua shalimo ta shero reshi thelu shareo to ki nai.
Word-by-word gloss: LOC alliance one night fast dialogue discuss PST PFV be.
Literal English: (Up at the alliance, one night, there had been a brisk, conversational discussion.)
morris: Up at the League, ... there had been one night a brisk conversational discussion,
punoa moluki wireo philo hina so po kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: society transform future day what FUT POT become.
Literal English: (On the morrow of society's transformation, what might happen?)
morris: as to what would happen on the Morrow of the Revolution,
soli melu lo newu seroli punoa wireo remo pa therua sherewa.
Word-by-word gloss: SOME friend PL new mature society future think INCH eager claim.
Literal English: (Some friends began eagerly to put forward their thoughts on the new, fully-developed society's future.)
morris: finally shading off into a vigorous statement by various friends of their views on the future of the fully-developed new society.
"Up at the League" refers to a continuing association, so it takes shalimo, alliance. A meeting, lona, would name only the event. Existing reshi and moluki supply the brisk pace and the social transformation.
Morris sets the scene "one night," which becomes the plain temporal adjunct ta shero. His "there had been" asks for completion at a past reference point, to ki rather than bare to.
"The Morrow of the Revolution" is a particular next day rather than a vague future. Wireo philo, tomorrow, belongs to punoa moluki, society's transformation. The gap-word hina embeds the question without another complementizer, so po makes the future possible rather than certain, and kelu, become, lets the event happen without requiring a dedicated English-shaped verb.
The discussion is reshi thelu shareo, brisk and conversational at once. The dialogue-word thelu qualifies shareo, so the talk's informality survives beside its pace. The speakers are soli melu, some friends rather than all of them, and their subject is packed into the possessor chain newu seroli punoa wireo remo: thoughts about the future of the new, fully developed society. They begin to put those thoughts forward eagerly, pa therua sherewa. The form sherewa suits claims or thoughts advanced for consideration; it does not make the friends louder than Morris does.
No discourse marker fits Morris's "finally," which marks culmination rather than cause, contrast, addition, or example. The inchoative aspect supplies the turn instead.
shalimo lonaThe alliance meeting
sheno wi shao himo miona mua lona to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: ADD two three-group HUM.CLF person LOC meeting PST be.
Literal English: (For the rest, six people were present at the meeting.)
morris: For the rest, there were six persons present,
thelao theli miona phirae remo to phelu.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS EACH person different think PST hold.
Literal English: (Consequently, each person held a different view.)
morris: and consequently six sections of the party were represented
ta shao ta himo ru kesu phirae miona tha mua punoa mawha miona karami phelu tho to pula.
Word-by-word gloss: one three-group one HUM.CLF INTS determined different person DECL.COMP LOC society NONE person authority hold DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST wish.
Literal English: (Four of them, intensely determined and differing from each other, wished that no person hold authority in society.)
morris: four of which had strong but divergent Anarchist opinions
shai shareo thena punoa moluki nai shareo noeli to manolu.
Word-by-word gloss: CONC discuss thing society transform be discuss warm PST stay.
Literal English: (Although the discussion's matter was society's transformation, the discussion stayed warm and good-natured.)
morris: Considering the subject, the discussion was good-tempered;
lo miona wiso po ma sheluo.
Word-by-word gloss: PL person RECP POT NEG listen.
Literal English: (They could scarcely listen to each other.)
morris: if they did not listen to each others' opinions (which could scarcely be expected of them),
thona lao lona nela thumela thelu lo miona keno to nai lo miona li soli shemu tha nuawe haolu tho to mesatu.
Word-by-word gloss: ADVRS BECAUSE meeting COORD teach dialogue PL person custom PST be PL person RESTR SOME moment DECL.COMP together speak DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST try.
Literal English: (But, since meetings and lecture-dialogues were these people's custom, they attempted to speak all at once only sometimes.)
morris: for those present being used to public meetings and after-lecture debates, ... at all events did not always attempt to speak all together,
nuawe thelu punoa keno nai.
Word-by-word gloss: together dialogue society custom be.
Literal English: (Speaking all at once is society's custom.)
morris: as is the custom of people in ordinary polite society
whu melu ru sano shalimo wemari mua shareo thorui pai maeli meilo.
Word-by-word gloss: REL friend INTS know alliance member LOC discuss beginning NEAR quiet sit.
Literal English: (The alliance member the friend knows very well sat almost silent at the discussion's beginning.)
morris: One of the sections, ... a man whom he knows very well indeed, sat almost silent at the beginning of the discussion,
whekai shia pheo laeno shemu muo shareo se natu.
Word-by-word gloss: CONTR 3SG POST long moment INTO discuss PASS pull.
Literal English: (However, after a long while he was drawn into the discussion.)
morris: but at last got drawn into it,
shia korua thero to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG heart fire PST be.
Literal English: (His heart caught fire.)
morris: and finished by
shia mua shareo lumae ki ru theisa kapura.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG LOC discuss end PFV INTS loud shout.
Literal English: (At the discussion's end, he shouted very loudly.)
morris: roaring out very loud,
shia lo miona ki thiku nila.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG PL person PFV small see.
Literal English: (He looked down on the others.)
morris: and damning all the rest
shia tha lo miona tawimo nai tho haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG DECL.COMP PL person foolish be DECL.COMP.CLOSE speak.
Literal English: (He said the others were foolish.)
morris: for fools;
The discussion remains good-tempered in spite of its subject. The concession is explicit under shai, and noeli describes emotional warmth rather than temperature. Listening is reciprocal under wiso, while po ma makes it scarcely possible rather than flatly absent. Morris is careful to say that the participants did not always attempt to speak together, not that their attempts succeeded. Phi now keeps that modest claim with mesatu: only at some moments did they try to speak all at once. The dry jab at polite society then gets its own gnomic sentence, nuawe thelu punoa keno nai, because it deserves room to land.
The voice that finally rises was not loud from the start. With pai maeli meilo, the man sits nearly silent at shareo thorui, the discussion's beginning. He is shalimo wemari, a member of the alliance whom the friend knows very well. That membership places him within Morris's faction without turning him into a council officer or claiming that he formally represents anyone. Contrastive whekai opens the change, pheo laeno shemu lets the long interval pass, and passive se natu preserves the sense that he was drawn in.
Heart-fire, korua thero, gives the anger its own sentence before the outburst. The outburst is ru theisa kapura, a very loud shout: kapura names the act and theisa its volume, so neither has to pretend to mean both. The discussion's end, shareo lumae, answers its beginning, shareo thorui. Morris's "damning all the rest for fools" remains two acts as well. The small-see compound thiku nila renders the contemptuous belittling; the following declaration supplies the charge itself with tawimo, foolish. Phi does not make the speech kinder than the scene, but it does keep the speaker responsible for each part of it.
The headcount and its consequence remain separate sentences. Additive sheno opens the census, and thelao links it to what follows. Each of the six people phelu, holds, a different thought. That preserves six distinct positions in the room without misusing shalori, whose representatives act for people or groups rather than for abstract ideas.
nurakoThe railway
kohura mosha ki nai.
Word-by-word gloss: noise period PFV be.
Literal English: (There was a period of noise.)
morris: after which befel a period of noise,
maeli mosha ki nai.
Word-by-word gloss: quiet period PFV be.
Literal English: (There was a quiet interval.)
morris: and then a lull,
shia sui maeli wei lo melu sha pao sho to ru noeli haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG DUR quiet DAT PL friend QUOT.COMP goodbye QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST INTS warm speak.
Literal English: (During the lull, he said goodbye to the friends very warmly.)
morris: during which the aforesaid section, having said good-night very amicably,
shia sonu to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG alone PST be.
Literal English: (He was alone.)
morris: by himself
shia kau sileta lumae womu to wepu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG ALL sun end home PST go.
Literal English: (He went home to the west.)
morris: took his way home ... to a western suburb
punoa lo miona to kawhera. thelao lo miona roe nurako to wepu. ha wepu keno to kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: society PL person PST coerce. CONS PL person INS railway PST go. PROX go custom PST become.
Literal English: (Society coerced people. Consequently, they travelled by railway. This travel became customary.)
morris: using the means of travelling which civilisation has forced upon us like a habit
shia mua whu phou muila wepu nurako to meilo.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG LOC REL BELOW earth go railway PST sit.
Literal English: (He sat in the railway that runs below the earth.)
morris: As he sat in ... a carriage of the underground railway
sheloi reshi whu nuloe ma nai miona nela siwe to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: MANY fast REL content NEG be person COORD sweat PST be.
Literal English: (There were many hurried people who were not content, and sweat.)
morris: that vapour-bath of hurried and discontented humanity,
nurako to pothu.
Word-by-word gloss: railway PST stink.
Literal English: (It stank.)
morris: the stinking railway carriage
shia phea lo miona nuloe to ma nai.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG AS PL person content PST NEG be.
Literal English: (He, like the others, was discontented.)
morris: he, like others, stewed discontentedly
shia mua nupira whu shia mua shareo to ki sahu sheloi tiso themore ki themio.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG LOC shame REL 3SG LOC discuss PST PFV forget MANY sharp argument PFV reflect.
Literal English: (In self-reproach, he turned over the many sharp arguments he had forgotten in the discussion.)
morris: while in self-reproachful mood he turned over the many excellent and conclusive arguments which, though they lay at his fingers' ends, he had forgotten in the just past discussion
whekai shia teku korua nupira to ro nai.
Word-by-word gloss: CONTR 3SG short heart shame PST HAB be.
Literal English: (But this brief self-reproach was, for him, habitual.)
morris: But this frame of mind he was so used to, that it didn't last him long,
shia korua thero to ro nai.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG heart fire PST HAB be.
Literal English: (He was habitually quick to anger.)
morris: for having lost his temper (which he was also well used to),
thelao shia roa miso teku kophinu to phaelo.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS 3SG AROUND REFL short disgust PST feel.
Literal English: (Consequently, he briefly felt disgust with himself.)
morris: and after a brief discomfort, caused by disgust with himself
shia shareo si themio.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG discuss IPFV reflect.
Literal English: (He kept musing on the discussion.)
morris: he found himself musing on the subject-matter of discussion
whekai shia nuloe to si ma nai. shia korua nuhe to si nai.
Word-by-word gloss: CONTR 3SG content PST IPFV NEG be. 3SG heart sadness PST IPFV be.
Literal English: (But he was still discontented. He was still unhappy.)
morris: but still discontentedly and unhappily
shia wei miso sha su mia wireo punoa ta philo li nila sho to haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG DAT REFL QUOT.COMP OPT 1SG future society one day RESTR see QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
Literal English: ("If only I could just see one day of it," he said to himself.)
morris: "If I could but see a day of it," he said to himself; "if I could but see it!"
sui shia lo phelui norelu nurako rolutha mua shia nurako lokue to te wepu.
Word-by-word gloss: DUR 3SG PL word form railway wagon LOC 3SG railway place PST CESS go.
Literal English: (As he formed the words, the railway wagon stopped at his station.)
morris: As he formed the words, the train stopped at his station
womu sio luphore leo whu mioru ma nai suro repha to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: home BESIDE river ABOVE REL beautiful NEG be rope bridge PST be.
Literal English: (His home stood beside the river, above the not-beautiful rope-bridge.)
morris: five minutes' walk from his own house, which stood on the banks of the Thames, a little way above an ugly suspension bridge
Morris calls railway travel something civilisation has forced into habit. Phi now names that closed choice directly: punoa lo miona to kawhera, society coerced people. The next sentence gives the railway as the resulting means of travel, and the third lets repeated travel become custom. Keeping those claims separate avoids hiding coercion inside a causative construction. The man then sits in whu phou muila wepu nurako, the railway that runs below the earth. Around him are hurried people who are not content, whu nuloe ma nai miona, together with sweat and the carriage's pothu, stink. His own discontent matches theirs without being mistaken for physical restlessness.
The forgotten points are now themore, arguments, rather than generic thoughts. They remain tiso, sharp, and a relative clause ties them to the discussion where he failed to use them. Manner nupira colours the reflection with self-reproach. His familiar anger is still korua thero, but Morris's later disgust now has its own word, kophinu, and its target is reflexive: disgust with himself. The passage ends by separating two conditions that the former rendering blurred together. Negated nuloe says he is not content; korua nuhe says he is sad. Neither condition has to borrow the vocabulary of bodily restlessness.
The wish is the chapter's first direct quotation. Morris's mia, first person, sits inside sha ... sho; su makes the longing audible and wei miso gives it its only listener. One day, ta philo, preserves the modest size of the request. The clause sui shia lo phelui norelu now keeps the source's small but telling simultaneity: the wagon stops as he forms the words. His home stands beside the river and above a rope-bridge described simply as not beautiful. The five-minute measure and the source names remain in Morris's line beside the Phi.
shero mioruThe beautiful night
shia mue nurako lokue to thiru.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG OUT.OF railway place PST exit.
Literal English: (He went out of the railway's place.)
morris: He went out of the station,
shia nuloe to si ma nai. shia korua nuhe to si nai.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG content PST IPFV NEG be. 3SG heart sadness PST IPFV be.
Literal English: (He was still discontented. He was still unhappy.)
morris: still discontented and unhappy,
shia sha su mia thena li nila sho to si maeli haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG QUOT.COMP OPT 1SG thing RESTR see QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST IPFV quiet speak.
Literal English: ("If only I could just see it," he kept saying quietly.)
morris: muttering "If I could but see it! if I could but see it!"
phoe shia wea luphore laeno thalo theula wipha nela tumoa lue shia to ke lepa.
Word-by-word gloss: ANT 3SG TOWARD river long walk UNIV restless COORD heavy ABL 3SG PST INFER fall.
Literal English: (Before he had walked long toward the river, all the restlessness and the heaviness seemed to fall away from him.)
morris: but had not gone many steps towards the river before (says our friend who tells the story) all that discontent and trouble seemed to slip off him.
shila thorui shero mioru to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: winter beginning night beautiful PST be.
Literal English: (The night at winter's beginning was beautiful.)
morris: It was a beautiful night of early winter,
haowu pheo sukaro tholupi pe tiso to nai. thelao ha newai to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: air POST hot room SUFF sharp PST be. CONS PROX fresh PST be.
Literal English: (After the hot room, the air was sharp enough. So it was fresh.)
morris: the air just sharp enough to be refreshing after the hot room
howeli lue sileta lumae wea nitho to ki la rato.
Word-by-word gloss: wind ABL sun end TOWARD north PST PFV ATTEN turn.
Literal English: (The wind had turned a little, from the west toward the north.)
morris: The wind, which had lately turned a point or two north of west,
howeli waero nuwi to ki ka kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: wind sky clear PST PFV CAUS become.
Literal English: (The wind had made the sky become clear.)
morris: had blown the sky clear of all cloud
li soli thiku neparu piloe thue waero to reshi wepu.
Word-by-word gloss: RESTR SOME small cloud spot THROUGH sky PST fast go.
Literal English: (Only a few small cloud-flecks went swiftly through the sky.)
morris: save a light fleck or two which went swiftly down the heavens.
lunei limu mua waero kesho to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: moon young LOC sky middle PST be.
Literal English: (A young moon was at the sky's middle.)
morris: There was a young moon halfway up the sky,
whu kau womu wepu miona lunei ki nila.
Word-by-word gloss: REL ALL home go person moon PFV see.
Literal English: (The one going home caught sight of the moon.)
morris: and as the home-farer caught sight of it,
lunei thoa raelu serao welamu lo loremi to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: moon AMONG tall old elm PL branch PST be.
Literal English: (The moon was among the branches of the tall old elm.)
morris: tangled in the branches of a tall old elm,
lokue to rohemi. lokue mioru to ma nai.
Word-by-word gloss: place PST wear down. place beautiful PST NEG be.
Literal English: (The place had worn down and was not beautiful.)
morris: the shabby London suburb where he was,
shia whu shia mua whano lokue to po ma ru halemu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG REL 3SG LOC stand place PST POT NEG INTS remember.
Literal English: (He could hardly call to mind the place he stood in.)
morris: he could scarce bring to his mind
shia tha shia mua loshi pelowa muila nai tho to phaelo.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG DECL.COMP 3SG LOC joyful meadow earth be DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST feel.
Literal English: (He felt that he was in joyful meadow-land.)
morris: and he felt as if he were in a pleasant country place--
thena sheo whu shia to ki sano nulo pelowa muila ru mo loshi to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: thing THAN REL 3SG PST PFV know deep meadow earth INTS CMPR joyful PST be.
Literal English: (It was, truly, more joy-giving than the deep meadow-land he had known.)
morris: pleasanter, indeed, than the deep country was as he had known it.
The night is at shila thorui, winter's beginning. That direct base word is clearer than the old frost-season paraphrase and does not make frost define the whole season. The phrase pheo sukaro tholupi places the refreshing air after a hot room, using the Household word for a heated interior rather than asking sukaro to mean a room. The wind turns a little from west toward north and clears the sky. Only a few thiku neparu piloe, small cloud-flecks, remain. The spots are piloe; the former phelo would have described low physical weight, which is not what Morris needs here.
The young moon hangs at waero kesho, the sky's middle, among the branches of a tall old elm. Its limu and the tree's serao, young and old, preserve the quiet contrast in Morris's image. The suburb is now rohemi, worn down, as well as not beautiful; age alone did not explain its shabbiness. The man can scarcely remember the place where he stands. Instead he feels himself in loshi pelowa muila, joyful meadow-land, and the comparison says this night gives more joy than the deep countryside he has known. London, the Thames, and the administrative category "suburb" remain available in Morris's line without being smuggled into Phi as local geography.
luphoreThe river
shia mua luphore kerime ki kamo.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG LOC river shore PFV arrive.
Literal English: (He arrived at the river's shore.)
morris: He came right down to the river-side,
shia to teku manolu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG PST short stay.
Literal English: (He stayed a little while.)
morris: and lingered a little,
shia leo mulu moru lunei luphore to somela.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG ABOVE low wall moon river PST observe.
Literal English: (Over the low wall, he observed the moon's river.)
morris: looking over the low wall to note the moonlit river,
luphore pai pheno to nai.
Word-by-word gloss: river NEAR full PST be.
Literal English: (The river was near its fullness.)
morris: near upon high water,
luphore kau mola to rato. luphore to keru tiripe.
Word-by-word gloss: river ALL island PST turn. river PST bright quiver.
Literal English: (The river swirled up to the island. It quivered brightly.)
morris: go swirling and glittering up to Chiswick Eyot:
shia whu mioru ma nai suro repha to ma morae.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG REL beautiful NEG be rope bridge PST NEG sense.
Literal English: (He did not notice the not-beautiful rope-bridge.)
morris: as for the ugly bridge below, he did not notice it
shia thena to ma remo.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG thing PST NEG think.
Literal English: (He did not think of it.)
morris: or think of it,
whekai shia ta shemu tha mua luphore lumae mu luma nai tho to ti phaelo.
Word-by-word gloss: CONTR 3SG one moment DECL.COMP LOC river end zero lamp be DECL.COMP.CLOSE PST REP feel.
Literal English: (But for one moment, so the friend tells it, he felt that at the river's end there were no lamps.)
morris: except when for a moment (says our friend) it struck him that he missed the row of lights down stream.
shia wei womu ponu to rato.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG DAT home door PST turn.
Literal English: (He turned toward his house door.)
morris: Then he turned to his house door
shia muo womu miso to ka koema.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG INTO home REFL PST CAUS enter.
Literal English: (He let himself into the house.)
morris: and let himself in;
shia sui ponu tapu lo keru tiso themore nela wireo nila to sahu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG DUR door close PL bright sharp argument COORD future see PST forget.
Literal English: (While the door closed, he forgot the bright, sharp arguments and the foresight.)
morris: and even as he shut the door to, disappeared all remembrance of that brilliant logic and foresight
lue shareo mu thena to manolu.
Word-by-word gloss: ABL discuss zero thing PST stay.
Literal English: (From the discussion, nothing remained.)
morris: and of the discussion itself there remained no trace,
li whu se ma norelu soliru to manolu.
Word-by-word gloss: RESTR REL PASS NEG form hope PST stay.
Literal English: (Only an unformed hope stayed.)
morris: save a vague hope,
soliru mua nosa loshi ki kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: hope LOC now joyful PFV become.
Literal English: (The hope had now become joy-giving.)
morris: that was now become a pleasure,
shia lo shea nela therilu nela hiso nela whu seniku phena philo ki soliru.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG PL peace COORD rest COORD clean COORD REL smile kind day PFV hope.
Literal English: (He hoped for days of peace and rest, and cleanness, and kindness that smiles.)
morris: for days of peace and rest, and cleanness and smiling goodwill.
The not-beautiful rope-bridge returns in the same form used beside the house, whu mioru ma nai suro repha. Morris gives it two denials, and Phi does too: the man neither senses it, ma morae, nor thinks of it, ma remo. One exception interrupts the calm for ta shemu, a single moment. Reportative ti returns because Morris himself inserts "says our friend," while tha ... tho phaelo presents the missing downstream lights as a feeling rather than a reasoned conclusion. Their absence is mu luma at mua luphore lumae, the river's end.
The homecoming has three acts: he turns towards his door, lets himself in, and forgets as the door closes. What vanishes is now lo keru tiso themore, the bright, sharp arguments already named in the carriage, along with wireo nila, foresight. Nothing from the discussion remains except an unformed hope, which has become joy-giving. He hopes for days of peace, rest, cleanness, and kindness that smiles. The row of downstream lights is reduced to their absence for one moment; Morris's source line keeps the London particular.
nulae nela remoSleep and the waking night
shia nua ha korua muo nuwera ki lepa.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG COM PROX heart INTO bed PFV fall.
Literal English: (With this heart he tumbled into bed.)
morris: In this mood he tumbled into bed,
shia phea keno to reshi nulae.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG AS custom PST fast sleep.
Literal English: (As was his custom, he fell asleep quickly.)
morris: and fell asleep after his wont, in two minutes' time;
whekai shia whuo keno pheo teku shemu we to nowae.
Word-by-word gloss: CONTR 3SG WITHOUT custom POST short moment ALSO PST awaken.
Literal English: (But, outside his custom, he woke again a short moment later.)
morris: but (contrary to his wont) woke up again not long after
ha kuelo waeli thena soli shemu whu welao nulae miona we wakomi.
Word-by-word gloss: PROX curious conscious thing SOME moment REL good sleep person ALSO surprise.
Literal English: (This curious waking state sometimes surprises even those who sleep well.)
morris: in that curiously wide-awake condition which sometimes surprises even good sleepers;
lo mia tha theula korua ru tiso nai tho phaelo.
Word-by-word gloss: PL 1SG DECL.COMP UNIV heart INTS sharp be DECL.COMP.CLOSE feel.
Literal English: (We feel that the whole mind is intensely sharp.)
morris: a condition under which we feel all our wits preternaturally sharpened,
theula nuhe kanelu nela lo nupira nela lo holume wei ha ru tiso korua miso na pesa.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV sadness err COORD PL shame COORD PL loss DAT PROX INTS sharp heart REFL NEC push.
Literal English: (All the miserable muddles, and the shames, and the losses insist on pushing themselves at this sharpened mind.)
morris: while all the miserable muddles we have ever got into, all the disgraces and losses of our lives, will insist on thrusting themselves forward for the consideration of those sharpened wits.
shia mua ha thena tei pai kaeli thorui to si ti ruemi.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG LOC PROX thing UNTIL NEAR like beginning PST IPFV REP lie down.
Literal English: (In this state, so the friend tells it, he lay on until he had nearly begun to like it.)
morris: In this state he lay (says our friend) till he had almost begun to enjoy it:
shia tawimo nophi shia monelu ki ka kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG foolish story 3SG amused PFV CAUS become.
Literal English: (The tale of his foolishness made him amused.)
morris: till the tale of his stupidities amused him,
shia neo miso whu se tiwa lo sima to ru nuwi nila.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG FRONT REFL REL PASS tie PL thread PST INTS clear see.
Literal English: (Before him, he saw the tied threads very clearly.)
morris: and the entanglements before him, which he saw so clearly,
lo sima wei shia muo loshi nophi miso pa selomi.
Word-by-word gloss: PL thread DAT 3SG INTO joyful story REFL INCH weave.
Literal English: (The threads began to weave themselves into a joy-giving story for him.)
morris: began to shape themselves into an amusing story for him.
shia ta nela wi nela ta shao teli haoni ki hea.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG one COORD two COORD one three-group bell voice PFV hear.
Literal English: (He heard one, and two, and three voices of the bell.)
morris: He heard one o'clock strike, then two and then three;
pheo thena shia we to nulae.
Word-by-word gloss: POST thing 3SG ALSO PST sleep.
Literal English: (After that, he slept again.)
morris: after which he fell asleep again.
Morris then widens from one sleepless man to all of us. The curious condition is explicitly waeli, conscious and awake, even for a good sleeper. What makes it so unnerving follows in the next sentence: the whole mind feels intensely sharp. Muddles, shames, and losses insist on pushing themselves towards that sharpened attention. Phi does not diagnose the night; it merely admits that many of us have met it, usually when we had other plans.
The lying awake carries another parenthetical "says our friend," so ti returns. He remains there until he has nearly begun to kaeli, like or enjoy, the state. The form monelu is saved for what follows: the tale of his foolishness amuses him. The distinction matters because enjoyment and amusement need not arrive together, though Morris is kind enough to give him both. His entanglements become tied threads that weave themselves into a joy-giving story. Phi counts one, two, and three voices of the bell without naming clock hours; the exact hours remain in Morris's line. After that, mercifully, he sleeps again.
The report continues
melu tha shia lue ra nulae we to nowae tho haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: friend DECL.COMP 3SG ABL DIST sleep ALSO PST awaken DECL.COMP.CLOSE speak.
Literal English: (The friend says that from that sleep he woke once more.)
morris: Our friend says that from that sleep he awoke once more,
pheo thena shia thue whu ru wakomi lo rulami to wepu.
Word-by-word gloss: POST thing 3SG THROUGH REL INTS surprise PL adventure PST go.
Literal English: (After that, he went through adventures that truly surprise.)
morris: and afterwards went through such surprising adventures
shia tha lo thena wei lo wemi nela we theula miona se na shane tho remo.
Word-by-word gloss: 3SG DECL.COMP PL thing DAT PL ally COORD ALSO UNIV person PASS NEC tell DECL.COMP.CLOSE think.
Literal English: (He thinks they should be told to the allies, and to all people besides.)
morris: that he thinks that they should be told to our comrades, and indeed the public in general,
thelao shia tha shia mua nosa lo thena shane tho thueli.
Word-by-word gloss: CONS 3SG DECL.COMP 3SG LOC now PL thing tell DECL.COMP.CLOSE intend.
Literal English: (Therefore he intends to tell them now.)
morris: and therefore proposes to tell them now.
whekai shia sha mia tha mia miso lo thena shane tho rinu sho haolu.
Word-by-word gloss: CONTR 3SG QUOT.COMP 1SG DECL.COMP 1SG REFL PL thing tell DECL.COMP.CLOSE want QUOT.COMP.CLOSE speak.
Literal English: ("But," he says, "I want to tell them myself.")
morris: But, says he, I think it would be better if I told them in the first person, as if it were myself who had gone through them;
lao mia whu mia shane wemi lo phaelo nela lo wilao sheo theula muila miona mo shelomu thena wei mia so ru kethua ma nai. thena wei mia so mo woeli nai.
Word-by-word gloss: BECAUSE 1SG REL 1SG tell ally PL feel COORD PL long-for THAN UNIV earth person CMPR understand thing DAT 1SG FUT INTS hard NEG be. thing DAT 1SG FUT CMPR natural be.
Literal English: (Since I understand the feelings and the longings of the ally I tell of better than all the world's people do, this will not be very difficult for me. It will be more natural.)
morris: which, indeed, will be the easier and more natural to me, since I understand the feelings and desires of the comrade of whom I am telling better than any one else in the world does.
The direct quotation performs the handoff to the first person: the friend wants to tell the adventures himself. The next Phi sentence puts his reason first under lao. He understands the ally's feelings and longings better than anyone else does, so the telling will not be very difficult and will feel more natural. Negated kethua supplies the first idea without pretending that siloma, structurally uncomplicated, is a general word for "easy." The reportative then falls away. From the next chapter onward, the borrowed account has become the traveller's own testimony.
What the transmutation changed
The chapter preserves Morris's full narrative sequence and nearly all of his wording in adjacent citations. Its governing change is grammatical: ti opens the account as a friend's report and returns where Morris again inserts "says our friend." The repeated wish sits inside sha ... sho under su. Only at the closing handoff does the friend claim the first person and let the reportative frame fall away.
The eleven roots coined for the original rendering remain in use:
| Phi | Work in the chapter |
|---|---|
shalimo | The League as a continuing alliance |
nurako | The railway |
welamu | The old elm |
tawimo | The charge of foolishness |
pothu | The carriage's stink |
kanelu | The narrator's miserable errors |
monelu | Amusement at his own tale |
kapura | The meeting-room shout |
loremi | The elm's branches |
wakomi | Surprise in the waking night and the adventures ahead |
rulami | The adventures that carry the book onward |
The suspension bridge composes as suro repha, the countryside as pelowa muila, the station as nurako lokue, and the underground railway as the railway that runs below the earth.
The political labels receive visible interpretations. Four people with divergent Anarchist opinions wish that no individual hold karami, authority, in society. The six party sections become six people who each hold a different view; no one is falsely made the representative of an idea. "The Morrow of the Revolution" becomes the day after society's transformation. Morris's claim about compulsory railway travel now uses kawhera, coerce, rather than hiding the pressure inside a neutral commute. Anger stays korua thero, the shout stays kapura, and contempt stays thiku nila; a peaceful language still needs to report an unpeaceful meeting accurately.
The completed lexicon also lets the chapter stop leaning on English homonyms and stretched paraphrases. Winter, waking, observation, and difficulty now have direct forms. Optional Commons, Household, Philosophical, and Systems vocabulary enters where Morris's politics, room, argument, and railway need it. Source names, the five-minute walk, clock hours, and exact London categories remain in Morris's citations. This retrofit coins no new word.