TRANSLATIONS

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The henua ora chapter in the glyph dictionary is more difficult than rei miro (and rei miro more difficult than hetuu). Mostly this is due to the way the dictionary chapters will unfold - the later ones will presume knowledge of the earlier ones. It becomes harder and harder for the reader.

For me, on the other hand, there is an incresasing difficulty due to how the later chapters must not contradict the earlier ones.

The difference between seasons defined by cardinal points and seasons defined by calendars must sooner of later be expressed in concrete terms: How many days (or rather nights) are documented in the calendars for the different kinds of season and how are the calendar seasons coordinated with the cardinal points?

In order to answer the question more knowledge about the meaning of the glyphs must be accumulated.

In the henua ora chapter of the glyph dictionary I have embarked on a journey to unravel the structures of the E and G calendars for the year. Based on the discovery how 20 and 26 glyphs in the 1st and 24th periods of the E calendar may be interpreted to give clues about how to read the calendar - with the 10th and 11th periods corresponding to the limits of the 20 respectively 26 half-periods (of different 'currency') - the glyph type which Metoro called vero has to be be explained in the henua ora chapter.

10
Eb3-32 Eb3-33 Eb3-34 Eb3-35 Eb3-36 Eb3-37 Eb3-38 Eb4-1
te maitaki te tagata moko te henua te maitaki tagata moko te henua Te maitaki te henua - te kiore
11
Eb4-2 Eb4-3 Eb4-4 Eb4-5 Eb4-6
te vero te henua toko tokoga te henua - e rima te kiore - te henua

We furthermore have discovered how vero (the 19th glyph among the central 20 on side a of H) together with the following backwards looking glyph (vae kore) probably correspond to the season beyond the death of Kuukuu:

Ha6-137 Ha6-138 Ha6-139
Pa6-22 Pa6-23 Pa6-24
Qa6-24 Qa6-25 Qa6-26
18 19 20
Aa1-11 Aa1-12

In the henua ora chapter I have now inserted a link named vero to be able to explain what the glyph type means:

We can now try again with the table of comparison:

E G season
7 1 summer begins
18 17 autumn begins
19 19 vero
23 32 ?

Metoro's readings are helpful in this instance, because at Eb4-2 he said vero:

 
Eb4-2 Eb5-10 Ga5-17
te vero kua tu te Ao -
11 19 19

Eb4-2 (in period 11) follows upon henua ora (period 10) and Eb5-10 (in period 19) follows upon the autumn equinox (17-18). (Metoro did not have the opportunity to read tablet G for Bishop Jaussen.)

Vero has three meanings: 1) a spear or dart, 2) to turn upside down, 3) name of a lunar month (the 10th on Marquesas, about April on Hawaii).

To turn upside down symbolizes death (... Ulu fell on his face and died ...). Spears lead by way of association to the obsidian spear heads (matá) on Easter Island, an instrument for killing in the tribal wars. The 10th month on Marquesas (veo) suggests that rongorongo writers may have used this glyph type to indicate the 'death' of a season.

In the 10th period of E the same story is told by henua ora - the sun canoe has been drawn up on the beach and does not move. It is still, i.e. 'dead'. After autumn equinox the canoe is turned upside down (vero).

As to 'kua tu te Ao' at Eb5-10 we need not worry too much about that for the moment, but ao means, among other things, 'nightfall'. It is strange how 'fall' (in nightfall) and in the season fall = autumn is English picture language quite similar to that used in the expression: Ulu fell on his face - i.e. the 'black cloth' covered his head (as when a black cloth is put over a bird-cage to silence the bird).

The little moon sickle (like a reaping-hook) at the bottom of Eb5-10 indicates darkness - the time of the moon. Presumably the moon sickle has been added to intensify the idea of 'darkness'. Autumn equinox means not only the 'death' of sun's canoe but also that the dark season has arrived and moon now rules.

Vero

To throw, to hurl (a lance, a spear). This word was also used with the particle kua preposed: koía kua vero i te matá, he is the one who threw the obsidian [weapon]. Verovero, to throw, to hurl repeatedly, quickly (iterative of vero). Vanaga.

1. Arrow, dart, harpoon, lance, spear, nail, to lacerate, to transpierce (veo). P Mgv.: vero, to dart, to throw a lance, the tail; verovero, ray, beam, tentacle. Mq.: veó, dart, lance, harpoon, tail, horn. Ta.: vero, dart, lance. 2. To turn over face down. 3. Ta.: verovero, to twinkle like the stars. Ha.: welowelo, the light of a firebrand thrown into the air. 4. Mq.: veo, tenth month of the lunar year. Ha.: welo, a month (about April). Churchill.

Sa.: velo, to cast a spear or dart, to spear. To.: velo, to dart. Fu.: velo, velosi, to lance. Uvea: velo, to cast; impulse, incitement. Niuē: velo, to throw a spear or dart. Ma.: wero, to stab, to pierce, to spear. Ta.: vero, to dart or throw a spear. Mg.: vero, to pierce, to lance. Mgv.: vero, to lance, to throw a spear. Mq.: veo, to lance, to throw a spear. Churchill 2.

When arguing for the meaning of vero as the 'fall' of a season on its 'face', I cannot use knowledge which will arrive only later. Therefore I cannot refer to how in Eb4-5 there is a picture of how the summer henua has began to grow (shown by the hand gesture). The eating gesture was described in the hetuu chapter, but henua is still an unknown concept:

11
Eb4-2 Eb4-3 Eb4-4 Eb4-5 Eb4-6
te vero te henua toko tokoga te henua - e rima te kiore - te henua

We can compare with the 'parallel' henua in the 19th period, where the growth gesture is more marked:

19
Eb5-10 Eb5-11 Eb5-12 Eb5-13
kua tu te Ao te rima kua haga i te henua kaoa o te heke te henua - te kiore

The henua in Eb5-12 is not of the 'midnight' type. Maybe there is a moon sickle protruding from henua?

Why is there a 'midnight' henua in Eb4-3? Maybe it refers to when (at winter solstice?) the 'fallen' season will 'stand up' again? Maybe it is there to balance the summer henua?

The expression 'kua tu te Ao' refers to the arriving autumn and possibly kua tu = stand up? We remember kua tuu (if that is the same expression?) at Aa1-13:

Aa1-13
kua tuu

The expression henua kaoa o te heke probably refers to the left (henua) part of Eb5-12:

Kao

1. Side, edge, rim; kao gutu (or just kao), labia minora. 2. Steep, almost perpendicular; thin, skinny. Motu Kaokao, name of one of the islets opposite Orongo, with a steep shape. Vanaga.

Cloth, clothing, garb. (Perhaps a variant of kahu.) Kaokao, side, flank, ribs, lateral. P Pau.: kaokao, the side, flank. Mgv.: kaokao, the side, flank. Mq.: kaokao, id. Ta.: aoáo, id. In Nuclear Polynesia this is particularized, in Samoa to the armpit, in Tonga and Futuna to the sides of the canoe. Therefore it may be considered a borrowing from the Tongafiti. Churchill.

Kaoa

Mgv.: a fish. Mq.: kaoa, a small fish. Churchill.

Kaoti

Pau.: enough. Mgv.: oti, enough, to end. Ta.: oti, to end. Sa.: oti, to die. Ma.: oti, ended. Churchill.

The general impression I get from 'enough' (kaoti), 'rim' (kao), 'flank' (kaokao) etc is that summer has ended and that autumn equinox is located at the side (in the armpit?) of the henua cycle.

The 'cloth' kao maybe has to be black. The sides of a canoe are similar to the sides of the solar cycle, I think.

Metoro's small fish (kaoa) may allude to te Ao, the Fall; indeed that is the first allusion - the words sound so alike as to strike the mind.

The three little islets outside Orongo: Motu Nui, Moti Iti and Motu Kaokao (in shrinking order and more and more close to Orongo) could lead to the idea of Motu Kaokao being a kind of small fish. Islands were often regarded as fishes in Polynesia.

The conclusion is - I think - that it is not a moon sickle protruding from the flank of the henua, it is something else. Its function is to point to the flank (armpit?) of the fat henua (now 'full', having 'eaten enogh').

Metoro seems to have known what the rongorongo texts meant. But how can I use this kind of argumentation in the glyph dictionary?