Sorry we're a few minutes late. This was scheduled to post at the stroke of midnight, but it somehow didn't, as we just now discovered when we got home from church.

Luke 2:1-14, Te Reo Maori.

1 I aua ra ka whakatakotoria he tikanga e Hiha Akuhata kia tuhituhia te ao katoa. 2 Ko te tuhituhinga tuatahi tenei i meatia i te wa ko Kuirinia te kawana o Hiria. 3 A ka haere nga tangata katoa kia tuhituhia, ia tangata, ia tangata, ki tona ake pa. 4 I haere atu ano a Hohepa i Kariri, i te pa, i Nahareta, ki Huria, ki te pa o Rawiri, ko Peterehema te ingoa: no te mea no te whare ia, no te kawei o Rawiri: 5 Kia tuhituhia ai raua ko tana wahine taumau, ko Meri, e hapu ana ia. 6 A, i a raua i reira, ka rite nga ra e whanau ai ia. 7 Na ka whanau tana matamua, a takaia ana e ia ki nga kakahu, ka whakatakotoria ki te takotoranga kai ma nga kararehe; no te mea kahore he wahi mo ratou i te whare. 8 I taua wahi hoki etahi hepara e noho koraha ana, e tiaki ana i ta ratou kahui i te po. 9 Na tu ana tetahi anahera a te Ariki i o ratou taha, a whiti ana te kororia o te Ariki ki a ratou a tawhio noa; a nui whakaharahara to ratou wehi. 10 Na ka mea te anahera ki a ratou, Kaua e mataku: ta te mea he kaikauwhau tenei ahau ki a koutou mo te hari nui, meake puta mai ki te iwi katoa. 11 Nonaianei hoki i whanau ai he Kaiwhakaora mo koutou i te pa o Rawiri, ara a te Karaiti, te Ariki. 12 Ko te tohu tenei ki a koutou; E kite koutou i te tamaiti ka oti te takai ki te kakahu, e takoto ana i te takotoranga kai ma nga kararehe. 13 Na ohorere tonu ko tetahi ope nui o te rangi e tu tahi ana me taua anahera, e whakamoemiti ana ki te Atua, e mea ana, 14 Kia whai kororia te Atua i runga rawa, kia mau te rongo ki runga ki te whenua, me te whakaaro pai ki nga tangata.

It will get better, someday.

Abi, it sounds like your experience, with the added gutting knife of English being sneered at by the teachers, rather than being a respectable language.

I haven't yet found a downloadable text, but you can find audio files easily enough.

I said it in the Open Thread, and I say it again on this one: prettige feestdagen, allemaal. On a day to celebrate the coming of the light, I am glad, again and always, for the people who make it here.

Dave 9: Funny how people only say something isn't a "proper language" when it's someone's NATIVE language if the people in question are people of color. Odd how that works.

There may be counterexamples. I'd love to hear about them.

People who like this may also like playing with
this

NB: appreciation of this cool toy for language geeks should not be taken as an endorsement of the organisation who provide it.

If you hate the sound of a viola you will seven times hate this video. And also not be me; I love violas.

1. Citation needed.

Xopher @ 11, I always thought it was a regular nationalist trick, as per the famous saying about a language being a dialect with an army and a navy. Would a highly distinct Italian 'dialect' like Venetian be what you're looking for?

The legacy of the colonial and slaving eras then generates the full spectrum of lazy racist assumptions for free, like weevils effortlessly emerging from spoiled meal.

> There may be counterexamples. I'd love to hear about them.

Ulster Scots

To all: Compliments of the season.

2:1 E aconteceu naqueles días que saíu un decreto de César Augusto, para que o mundo enteiro estaría matriculado.
2:2 Esta foi a primeira inscrición; foi feita polo gobernador de Siria, Quirino.
2:3 E todos ían ser declarado, cada un á súa propia cidade.
2:4 E José tamén subiu da Galilea, da cidade de Nazaret, na Xudea, para a cidade de David, chamada Belén, porque el era da casa e familia de David,
2:5 a fin de ser declarada, con María, súa esposa, que estaba embarazada.
2:6 Entón sucedeu que, mentres eles estaban alí, os días foron concluídas, de xeito que se daría a luz.
2:7 E deu a luz o seu fillo primoxénito. E ela implica o en panos eo deitou nunha manjedoura, porque non había lugar para eles na hospedaxe.
2:8 E alí foron os pastores, na mesma rexión, estar vixiantes e manter vixilia da noite sobre o seu rabaño.
2:9 E eis que, un anxo do Señor apareceu preto deles, eo brillo de Deus brillou arredor deles, e eles quedaron impresionados cun gran medo.
2:10 E o anxo lles dixo:: "Non teña medo. Para, manter, Eu vos anuncio unha gran alegría, que será para todo o pobo.
2:11 Para hoxe, un Salvador naceu para ti, na cidade de David: El é o Cristo Señor.
2:12 E iso será un sinal para ti: vai atopar o neno envolto en panos e deitado nunha pesebre ".
2:13 E, de súpeto, apareceu co anxo unha multitude do exército celeste, louvando a Deus e dicindo:,
2:14 "Gloria a Deus nas alturas, e paz na terra ós homes de boa vontade ".

Of course, there's often a case to be made for calling these "dialects", but what has to be remembered is that it's not a matter of a "proper language" and a "dialect" which is a distorted derivative of it; rather, the prestige variety itself is equally a dialect of the language, and a sibling rather than a parent of the other.

Another example, of course, would be Yiddish - that's what "a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot" is originally about. Ukrainian would be yet another.

While my region of birth (Twente) has it's own translation I cannot find it, so I'll substitute with the related Gronings (2008).

1 t Vuil veur in dij doagen, dat kaaizer Augustus bevel gaf om in zien haile riek n volkstellen te holden.
2 Dij volkstellen wer veur eerste keer holden dou Quirinius in Syrië regaaierde.
3 Dou ging elkenain aan raais om inschreven te worden, elk noar zien aigen stad tou.
4 Ook Jozef ging op pad, van Nazaret in Galilea noar Judea, noar stad van David dij Betlehem hait, omreden hai stamde oet t hoes en t geslacht van David,
5 om zok inschrieven te loaten mit Maria, doar e mit op traauwen ston en dij in verwachten was.
6 Dou ze doar touhuilen, was t zo wied.
7 Ze schonk t levent aan heur eerste zeun, won hom in douken en legde hom in n krub, omreden der was gain stee veur heur in haarbaarg.
8 Der wazzen hedders in dij aigenste kontrainen dij snaachts in t veld om beurten wacht huilen bie heur kudde.
9 Inains ston der n engel van de Heer bie heur. De Heer zien glorie stroalde om heur tou en ze werden slim benaauwd.
10 Dij engel zee tegen heur: "Wees mor nait baang. Ik kom ja mit n bliede bosschop dij t haile volk rakt.
11 Vandoag is Haailand veur joe geboren, Christus, de Heer, in stad van David.
12 En dit is n aanwies veur joe: ie zellen n potje vinden dij in douken wikkeld is en in n krub ligt."
13 En inains was doar bie dij aine engel n groot heerleger oet hemel.
14 Ze prezen God en zeden:
"Eer veur God in hoge hemel
en vrede in wereld veur mensken,
doar hai behoagen in het."

01 Noew gebuëhrden ’t in diej daag, dat va kehzer Augustus ‘t bevèèhl oehtgóng, dat in de gahnse bewóhnde welt een vohlkstèlling gehahwte moos wèèhre.
02 Dit woar de iësjte vohlkstèlling, wiej Quirinius goevernèùhr va Siëhrieje woar.
03 En allenej góhnge ze zich loaten isjriehve, jiëhdereehn i zien ehge sjtad.
04 En oohch Joëzef góng vanoet de sjtad Nahzaret i Galilèjja noa Juedèjja, noa de sjtad van David, diej Betlehem heehsj, ómdat hèèh oet ’t hoehs en ’t gesjlach van David woar,
05 óm zich te loaten isjriehve mit Maria, zie mèèdje, dat i verwachting woar.
06 En wiej ze doa woahre, woar ‘t zoëh, dat ziej ‘t kienjde kreeg, want hèùr daag woaren oehtgetèld,
07 en ze baarden hèùre zoëhn, den iësjgeboahrene, en ze dèj hèùm wèhnjelen óm en lag hèùm in ene krub, ómdat vuër huhn geen plaatsj woar in den hehrbehrg.
08 En doa woahren oohch sjiëpisj in dèèzellefde sjtriëhk; diej lohgen ‘t sjnachs i gevehljd en hóhlje de wach biej den trob sjèùp van huhnne.
09 En enen èhngel dès Hiëre keem biehj hun sjtoahn en de hiërlikheehd van den Hiër ómsjtroalde huhn, en ze woërte bang mit groëten angs.
10 En den èhngel zag tèèngen huhn: Zeet neet bang, want kik, es good nuejts brèng ich uch een groëte bliejdsjap, diej uëver gahns ‘t voohk zal kóhmme,
11 want huej is uch in de sjtad van David de redder geboahre, dèè de Christus, de Messias, is, den Hiër.
12 En dit zahl vuër uch ’t tehke zihnne: Ger zult ee kienjde vèhgne mit wèhnjelen óm en ligkend in ene krub.
13 En op eehmoahl woar biej den èhngel ee massaal lèèhger oet den hiëhmel, dat God priëhs en zag:
14 Iër aa God hiël hoëg in den hiëhmel en vrèj op de welt vuër de luej va gowwe wihlle.
15 En wiej de èhngele va biej dehn vandaan noa den hiëhmel woare gegahnge, gebuëhrden ‘t, dat de sjiëpisj tèèngen eeh zagte: Kómp, da góhnt ver noa Betlehem en kiehk ver wat dat is, wat doa gebuëhrd is en wat den Hiër ós bekènd hèèt gemak.
16 En ze sjpowde zich der hèèhr en vóhnge Maria en Joëzef en ’t kienjde, dat in de krub loog.
17 En wiej ze dathawwe geziëh, makde ze de wuërd bekènd, diej hun uëver dat kèhnjd gezag woare woëhre.
18 En alle luej diej dat hoëhrte, wóhnjerde zich uëver wat hun doër de sjiëpisj vertèld woëhrt.
19 En Maria bewaahrde diej wuërd allenej in hèùr hart en dach doa uëver noa.
20 En de sjiëpisj góngen truk, God verhiërlikend en priehzend vuër ahl wat ze hawwe gehuërd en geziëh, krek wiej ’t hun gezag woar woëhre.

At first, Google blamed a third-party data supplier*; they've since said it's an internal fault. It looks like it's the product of global search-and-replaces, rather than plain dumb machine translation. According to Twitter, it's being fixed on Maps, but still occurs on StreetView.

----
* Full disclosure: the data supplier in question is TeleAtlas, owned by my employer, TomTom.

A century and a half ago, only about 5% of the residents of Italy spoke the language we call Italian, which is actually Tuscan. The others spoke languages that were/are at least as different from Tuscan as Fragano's text there is different from Spanish. The same thing happened in France, where Parisian French rolled over all the provincial languages; and I assume it also happened in Germany and other nation-states during the advent of railroads, mass literacy, and mass communications. A completely foreign language has its own problems, but a closely related language = UR DOIN IT RONG.

Standard Dutch crystallized in the early 1600's, a generation or so after the Spanish took Antwerp and drove many of the city's residents north to Amsterdam. The combination of Amsterdam's Hollands and the Antwerp refugees' Brabants led to the Bible translation of 1618, which could be understood by pretty much everyone in the then-Dutch Republic.

Luke 2:1-14 in Old Georgian, in what I believe is the 11th century translation of Giorgi Mtats'mendeli**. From here, where it's presented with a facing translation in modern Georgian.

და იყო მათ დღეთა შინა გამოჴდა ბრძანებაჲ აგჳსტოს კეისრისაგან აღწერად ყოვლისა სოფლისა. ესე აღწერაჲ პირველი იყო მთავრობასა ასურეთს კჳრინესსა. და წარვიდოდეს ყოველნი აღწერად კაცად-კაცადი თჳსსა ქალაქსა. აღმოვიდა იოსებცა გალილეაჲთ, ქალაქით ნაზარეთით, ჰურიასტანად, ქალაქად დავითისა, რომელსა ჰრქჳან ბეთლემ, რამეთუ იყო იგი სახლისაგან და ტომისა დავითისა, აღწერად მარიამის თანა, რომელი მოთხოვილ იყო მისა, და იყო იგი მიდგომილ. და იყო ვიდრე იყვნესღა იგინი მუნ, აღივსნეს დღენი იგი შობისა მისისანი. და შვა ძე იგი მისი პირმშოჲ და შეხჳა იგი სახუევლითა და მიაწვინა იგი ბაგასა, რამეთუ არა იყო მათა ადგილ სავანესა მას.

და მწყემსნი იყვნეს მასვე სოფელსა, ველთა დგებოდეს და ჴუმილვიდეს საჴუმილავსა ღამისასა სამწყოსოსა მათსა. და აჰა ანგელოზი უფლისაჲ დაადგრა მათ ზედა, და დიდებაჲ უფლისაჲ გამოუბრწყინდა მათ, და შეეშინა მათ შიშითა დიდითა. და ჰრქუა მათ ანგელოზმან მან უფლისამან: ნუ გეშინინ, რამეთუ აჰა ესერა გახარებ თქუენ სიხარულსა დიდსა, რომელი იყოს ყოვლისა ერისა: რამეთუ იშვა დღეს თქუენდა მაცხოვარი, რომელ არს ქრისტე უფალი, ქალაქსა დავითისსა. და ესე იყოს თქუენდა სასწაულად: ჰპოოთ ყრმაჲ იგი შეხუეული და მწოლარე ბაგასა. და მეყსეულად იყო ანგელოზისა მის თანა სიმრავლე ერთა ცისათაჲ, აქებდეს ღმერთსა და იტყოდეს: დიდებაჲ მაღალთა შინა ღმერთსა, და ქუეყანასა ზედა მშჳდობაჲ, და კაცთა შორის სათნოებაჲ.

(Not that I, halfway through a beginner's textbook on the modern language, can do more than pick out a few words of the above.)

*Although the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas in January, and the main focus for secular celebration seems to be the new year.

**I mean, presumably he'd have written it in khutsuri rather than mkhedruli, but copying & pasting it in the modern*** script is both way less work than trying to transcribe it into one I can't read, and more likely to actually show up on your screen.

***Well, relatively modern. It includes a few letters no longer used today.

Hope for the world, I has it.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Fragano: I went and listened to the first chapter of Luke in Jamaican patois/Patwa/Jamic. It was fascinating. I'm embarrassed now for all the times I've said "Jamaican might as well be another language."

I haven't listened to it, but the whole Christmas story is supposedly available here. The site also has an audio dictionary, a sparse member-generated written dictionary, some children's stories which are also audio files, and a collection of "Patois articles," all of which are in English.

I'm figuring out what you must already know: the Bible in Jamaican patois isn't just a translation project. They're having to invent Jamaican as a written language. Maybe we'll have the text in time for next year.

I just now managed to do something I've been trying to remember for ages, which is to add a version in Kreyol Aisyen to the main list. As usual, it fascinates me: yon zanj Bondye parèt, "an angel of the lord appeared." I know Bondye -- Bon dieu -- from my time at St. Augustine, likewise that Haitian preserves the archaic English yon; but zanj, angel, singular? My wild guess is that les anges turned into le zanj, in the same way that English turned a napron into an apron.

The difficulty is that the Cassidy orthography isn't yet familiar to most people outside the academy (though its advocates are having some success), and to people used to the norms of standard International English, it seems odd or even barbaric. Advocates of the traditional approach of rendering Patwa in writing would have given the last sentence of the previous paragraph as 'Dat a fe seh de proper way fe write down how de people dem chat dem chat'. That's more comprehensible to an English-speaker, but doesn't get across the rhythm or flow of the words unless you know them already. An advocate of the Cassidy orthography, like Carolyn Cooper of the University of the West Indies, calls the traditional approach 'di mixop sistim'.

Fragano @27: Huh. I did think it looked a lot like Portuguese -- all those x's.

I happen to like violas, but for those who don't: Mozart played the viola. 'Nuff said.

Back on the main topic: the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project uses as one of its sources the translation of the Bible into Wôpanâak by John Eliot (1663). If you ever run across the documentary "We Still Live Here/Âs Nutayuneân", take the time to watch it.

I wouldn't be surprised there have been times when people have said it about Welsh

See, e.g., Brad y Llyfrau Gleision

(Everyone raise a glass to the Unicode Consortium!)

ls, dcr lk tht (n rdr t ppl rgstr thmslvs n thr hmtwns) wld b slss drng WNTR TM whr ppl tndd t trvl lss. Nt nly wld b mprctcl bt ls wld str p mr nmsty btwn th ppl nd thr Rmn gvrnrs.

ND...f th brthdy f Jss ws mnt t b clbrtd, 'm rlly sr thr wld b t lst N vnt dscrbd n th Bbl, whr Jss clbrtd t wth hs dscpls. Hw mny r thr? ZR!

S... dn't ndrstnd HW ppl wh ftr hv rd ths prtclr vrss f th Bbl n svrl lnggs vlbl hr...stll sy "Mrry Chrstms". Sch pgn nn-bblcl fstvl shld nt b ssctd t ll wth Chrst.

Ds t mk sns?

Did you really search through the internet for people having fun in order to drop that little rant on them? Or are you a lurker who has somehow decided to make your debut in the community with that nugget of Scroogishness?

What was the point of so doing? Did you think to persuade with such a tone? Or are you just playing the timeless game of Holier than Thou on the internet*?

Does it make sense?

Since we're not Biblical literalists, yes it does.

Those of us here who are Christians are celebrating the mystery of the Incarnation, at the point in the year in which it is natural to rejoice in the coming of Light† into the world. If all of those things: the Incarnation, the turning of the year, and the bodies calibrated to notice it, are from God, then surely it is suitable to celebrate them, even if other people of other faiths do so as well.

(I don't expect an answer. You clearly weren't interested in having a conversation.)

-----
* In which case, please consider Matthew 6:5-6
† John 8:12

It's not clear whether this tradition for Christmas predates the idea of a solstice or Roman-festival overlay, and I don't know how seriously scholars as a whole take this idea as an explanation for the date. But it's an interesting idea, and not one I'd heard previously.

Midnight Mass at my parish last night was joyful and triumphant, and (because the parish is majority Filipino-American) included Philippine carols. In keeping with the ML tradition, here is Luke 2:1-14 in Tagalog.

2:1 Nangyari nga nang mga araw na yaon na lumabas ang isang utos mula kay Augusto Cesar, na magpatala ang buong sanglibutan.

2:2 Ito ang unang talaang-mamamayan na ginawa nang si Quirinio ay gobernador sa Siria.

2:3 At nagsisiparoon ang lahat upang sila'y mangatala, bawa't isa sa kaniyang sariling bayan.

2:4 At si Jose naman ay umahon mula sa Galilea, mula sa bayan ng Nazaret, hanggang sa Judea, sa bayan ni David, na kung tawagi'y Bet-lehem, sapagka't siya'y sa angkan at sa lahi ni David;

2:5 Upang patala siya pati ni Maria, na magaasawa sa kaniya, na kasalukuyang kagampan.

2:6 At nangyari, samantalang sila'y nangaroroon, at naganap ang mga kaarawang dapat siyang manganak.

2:7 At kaniyang ipinanganak ang panganay niyang anak na lalake; at ito'y binalot niya ng mga lampin, at inihiga sa isang pasabsaban, sapagka't wala nang lugar para sa kanila sa tuluyan.

2:8 At may mga pastor ng tupa sa lupain ding yaon na nangasa parang, na pinagpupuyatan sa gabi ang kanilang kawan.

2:9 At tumayo sa tabi nila ang isang anghel ng Panginoon, at ang kaluwalhatian ng Panginoon ay nagliwanag sa palibot nila: at sila'y totoong nangatakot.

2:10 At sinabi sa kanila ng anghel, Huwag kayong mangatakot; sapagka't narito, dinadalhan ko kayo ng mabubuting balita ng malaking kagalakan, na siyang sasa buong bayan:

2:11 Sapagka't ipinanganak sa inyo ngayon sa bayan ni David ang isang Tagapagligtas, na siya ang Cristo ang Panginoon.

2:12 At ito ang sa inyo'y magiging pinakatanda: Masusumpungan ninyo ang isang sanggol na nababalot ng lampin, at nakahiga sa isang pasabsaban.

2:13 At biglang nakisama sa anghel ang isang karamihang hukbo ng langit, na nangagpupuri sa Dios, at nangagsasabi:

2:14 Luwalhati sa Dios sa kataastaasan, At sa lupa'y kapayapaan sa mga taong kinalulugdan niya.

Peace on earth, joy to the world, and may God bless us, every one!

Almost all of our snow associations with Christmas come from northern Europe. Obviously, the weather is not much the same in the Middle East.

1 EIA kekahi mea ia mau la, hoolahaia'e la ke kauoha a Kaisara Augusato, e kakauia i ka palapala ko ke aupuni a pau.
2 I ke alii kiaaina ana o Kurenio ma Suria, ka hoomaka ana o keia kakau mua ana.
3 Pau no i ka hele i kakauia'i i ka palapala o keia mea kela mea i kona kulanakauhale iho.
4 O Iosepa kekahi i hele ae, mai Galilaia ae, mailoko mai o Nazareta ke kulanakauhale a hiki Iudaia, i ko Davida kulanakauhale i kapaia o Betelehema, (no ka mea, na ka hale ia a me ka ohana a Davida,)
5 I kakauia'i me Maria ka wahine i hoopalauia nana, e koko ana.
6 A oiai laua malaila, hiki kona manawa e hanau ai.
7 Hanau iho la oia i kana makahiapo kane; wahi iho la ia ia i ke kapa keiki, a hoomoe iho la ia ia ma kahi hanai holoholona, no ka mea, aole wahi kaawale no lakou maloko o ka hale hookipa.
8 ¶ Aia i kela aina he mau kahuhipa e noho ana i ke kula a e kiai ana i ka lakou poe hipa i ka po.
9 Aia hoi! Kau mai la ka anela a ka Haku io lakou la, a hoomalamalama mai la ka nani o ka Haku ia lakou a puni, a makau loa iho la lakou.
10 A olelo mai la ka anela ia lakou, Mai makau oukou, no ka mea, eia hoi, ke hai aku nei au ia oukou i ka mea maikai, e olioli nui ai e lilo ana no na kanaka a pau.
11 No ka mea, i keia la i hanau ai, ma ke kulanakauhale o Davida, he Ola no oukou, oia ka Mesia ka Haku.
12 Eia hoi ka hoailona no oukou, e loaa auanei ia oukou ke keiki ua wahiia i ke kapa keiki e moe ana ma kahi hanai holoholona.
13 A emo ole mai la ka lehulehu o ka puali o ka lani me ua anela la, e hoolea ana i ke Akua, e olelo ana,
14 E hoonaniia ke Akua ma na lani kiekie loa, A he malu hoi ma ka honua; He aloha no i kanaka.

B. Durbin: If sheep were all that susceptible to hypothermia, there'd be a lot less wool in places like Britain, Scandinavia, and Iceland.

Israel's climate isn't completely alien to me. Midwinter is cool and relatively wet, so I expect it sees some of their best grazing of the year. Tourist guides say you'll need a coat, but probably won't wear it every day. Citrus is a major export of the region. I can read that. Nights aren't comfortable, but they're doable if, like sheep and shepherds, you're wearing wool.

Erunno's assertion that "BVSLY ... th shphrds NVR VR spnt tm wth thr flcks drng th HRSH WNTR f Israel!" is bllsht. It's their summers that are harsh.

There are a few fundamentalists out there who've actually read and thought about the Bible, but Erunno isn't one of them.

It looks as though formal Hawaiian is less purist about the spelling of imported words than formal Reo Maori (compare Rawiri and Davida, Peterehema and Betelehema).

1. Ka nyara palula aṟangka wati ini Tjiitja Ukatjanya mayatja puka nyinangi ngura panya ini Rome-ala munu ngura winki mulapa mayatjangku tjunguṟa kanyiningi Israelnga kuḻu. Wati nyanga paluṟu mayatja uwankarangka wangkapai, kaya wangaṉarangku kulilpai palula. Ka Johnnga iṯi nyinanyangka mayatja nyara paluṟu aṉangu winki kantamilantjikitja mukuringangi, munu tjananya unwankara wituningi ngura uwankaranguṟu ankula ngura walytjangka walytjangka ini nyiringka walkatjunkunytjaku.

2. Ka nyara palula aṟanka wati panya ini Kuṟiniyatjanya ngura Tjiṟiyaku mayatja nyinangi.

3. Kaya ngura uwankaranguṟu aṉangu winki ngura walytjakutu walytjakutu anangi tjanampa tjamuku ngurakutu ini tjanampa nyiringka walkatjunkunytjikitja.

4. Ka Josephanya ngura Nazarethala nyinangi munu uḻpaṟiralku ma-pakaṉu tawunu walytjakutu ngura ini Bethlehemalakutu, panya ngaṉmanypa mulapa palumpa tjamu Davidanya iṯi ngaringu ngura nyara palula, ka palulakutu paluṟu anu ini walkatjunkunytjikitja.

5. Munu katingu Mary-nya panya palunya kalkuntjatjanungku. Ka Mary-nya paku puḻka nyinangi munu ngaṉmanypa tjuni puḻkaringu.

6. Munu paluṟu pula Bethlehemala wirkanu, ka Mary-nya tjuni iniringu.

7. Munu paluṟu iṯi katja kuwari kutju ngurpangku kanyinu, munu mantarangka karpiṟa pantja-pantjangka ngaritjunu piti ngaṯingka. Piti nyara paluṟu panya pulaka tjuṯaku munu tjiipi tjuṯaku mai tjunkupai ngalkunytjaku. Tjinguṟu pula waḻingka payamilaṟa tjarpanyangka iṯi wirkanama, palu aṉangu winkingku ngaṉmanypa tjarpara waḻi uwankara angaṉu, ka palulanguṟu pulampa ngura wiya ngaṟangi waḻi unngu ngarinytjaku, ka pula tjulypinytja ngaringu pulukaku ngurangka.

8. Ka ngura nyara palula itingka tawunungka uṟilta wati tjapata tjuṯangku tjiipi tjuṯa aṯunymaṟa kanyingingi mungangka.

9. Ka Mayatjaku angelpa utiringu tjanala munu pitalytji puḻka mulatu tjananya irnyaṟa kanyingingi. Kaya urulyaraṟa puḻkaṟa nguḻuringu.

10. Palu angeltu palula tjanala wangkangu, "Nguḻuringkunytja wiyangkuya kulinma. Ngayuluṉa pitjangu nurala tjukurpa wiṟu mulapa tjakultjunkunytjikitja aṉangu uwankaraku, kaya kuliṟa uwankara puḻkaṟa pukiḻariku.

11. Kuwari nyanga Mayatja Davidaku nurangka iṯi wirkanu nyuranya wankaṟunkunytjikitja panya Christanya Mayatjanya.

12. Ka nyura ankula ngurila munu nyawa iṯi nyara palunya mantarangka karpintja puluka tjuṯaku mai ngaripaingka ngarinyangka. Alatji ngarinyangka nyakula nyura kulilku, 'Munta, nyangatja iṯi panya paluṟu.' "

13. Ka angelpa paluṟu wangkara wiyaringkunyangka maḻangka algelpa kutjupa tjuṯa mungilyi mulapa ilkaṟinguṟu ukalingkula palula tjunguringkula tjungungku inma inkara Godanya waḻkuningki alatji wangkara.

14. "Godanya wiṟu mulapa nyara ilkaṟingka nyinanytja panya. Kayanku mantangka nyanga aṉangu Godala kulilpai uwankara kurunpa pukuḻpa nyinama."

what do you normally do with the letter "y" when disemvowelling? Kill them all, leave them all, or try to parse out which ones are consonants and which are vowels?

Practice varies. I differentiate; it's not that difficult, but it's time-consuming. Looking at the text above, Teresa (who, I believe, was at the controls of the Disemvoweler*) left them all in.

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* Actually, she wasn't; the rest of us need a device, but TNH can kill vowels with her mind. But we pretend otherwise.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of Luke from the 1839 edition to the 1994 edition. A cursory look doesn't show much difference between the two passages to me.

Hawaiian pidgin is a whole 'nother ball of wax. It's all about the bending of words, even when "fun" is the only reason to do so.

(interested enough in these things to be concerned about the revision, but not to actually turn up to Mass—I'm a bog-standard poor-Catholic cliché from Central Casting)

Why does it sometimes break? I don't know yet. It's got to have something to do with individual diction, because you don't usually see one post out of several by the same writer breaking, or staying legible. I keep procrastinating on figuring it out because doing so is bound to be tricky, the answer is unlikely to be interesting in its own right, and I already know the important part, which is the effect it has.

One of the priests at Elise's parish in Minneapolis has been referring to it as the Roman missal crisis. After a couple of services where I was having to juggle three documents -- St. Boniface hands out sheet music along with the order of service, and to this was added the cheat sheet for the new liturgical responses -- I started referring to it as Mass Mass Revolution.

Te Reo Maori is one of the three* official languages here, so there are official written spellings. I think imported words are used pretty flexibly in spoken language, but a fairly large fraction of writing is more-or-less official and imported words get a standard transliteration applied.

* NZ sign language

Everyone was supposed to change over on the first Sunday of Advent, and mostly they did. New Zealand was delayed by printing problems. The Eucharistic prayers were printed on heavier paper, because they get used more, but the binding wasn't done right, so the books wouldn't lie flat when opened. D'Oh.

Listening to the discussions about when changes in language provide a useful small startlement has been interesting.

Yes; I see that in our choir with the "And with your spirit" change. Most of us younger folks are still working at not slipping into "And also with you" at those points, but a few older members say they're tending to slip into "And with *thy* spirit".

This year our pastor decided to use John in all the Christmas masses so he could prepare one homily on that gospel for all of the Masses. I like John's gospel as well, but I've grown accustomed to hearing Luke at midnight, and missed hearing it this year.

About Erunno: This thread is about the traditional celebration of Christmas, and about the text that describes the events as described in the Gospel in question.

I believe it is a fact that shepherds don't abide with their sheep in the fields during the rainy season, and there's other internal evidence that the events described took place at a time closer to August of 4 BCE, and that would account for the Magi (astrologers) coming too. BUT the point is that's irrelevant to this discussion.

"Was Jesus Born on December 25?

The custom: According to tradition, Jesus’ birth took place on December 25 and is celebrated on that date. “Christmas,” says the Encyclopedia of Religion, means “‘Christ’s Mass,’ that is, the mass celebrating the feast of Christ’s nativity,” or birth.

Its roots: “The establishment of December 25 evolved not from biblical precedent,” says The Christmas Encyclopedia, “but from pagan Roman festivals held at year’s end,” about the time of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Those festivals included the Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn, god of agriculture, “and the combined festivals of two sun gods, the Roman Sol and the Persian Mithra,” says the same encyclopedia. Both birthdays were celebrated on December 25, the winter solstice according to the Julian calendar.

Those pagan festivals began to be “Christianized” in the year 350, when Pope Julius I declared December 25 to be Christ’s birthday. “The Nativity gradually absorbed or supplanted all other solstice rites,” says the Encyclopedia of Religion. “Solar imagery came increasingly to be used to portray the risen Christ (who was also called Sol Invictus), and the old solar disk . . . became the halo of Christian saints.”

What the Bible says: The Bible does not give Jesus’ birth date. But we can safely conclude that he was not born on December 25. How so? The Bible tells us that when Jesus was born, shepherds were “living out of doors” tending their flocks at night in the vicinity of Bethlehem. (Luke 2:8) The cold, rainy season usually began in October, and shepherds—especially in the colder highlands, such as those around Bethlehem—brought their sheep into protected shelters at night. The coldest weather, sometimes accompanied by snow, occurred in December.

Significantly, the early Christians, many of whom had accompanied Jesus in his ministry, never celebrated his birth on any date. Rather, in harmony with his command, they commemorated only his death. (Luke 22:17-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26) Still, some may say, ‘Does the pagan connection really matter?’ The answer? It does to God. “The true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth,” said Jesus Christ.—John 4:23."

So...I'm not making things up from my own creative mind. If you wanna see the truth, you will. If you don't wanna...I wish you a Happy Saturnalia """christians""".

You'll hear about California's "drought" quite often. It usually gets overlooked that "drought" is closer to the natural state of being and last winter's rainfall that continued into spring was highly unusual and did weird things to the tomato plants.

(Sacramento has either two seasons—Summer and Sprawl—or three—Summer, Fog, and Allergy—depending on who you ask. I also submit that there is another way to designate the year: Tomato Season. Which is not eleven months long, no matter what the locals want to believe.)

So yes, the temperature breakdown of Bethlehem looks very familiar to me. As do the photographs of the Iraqi foothills, for that matter.

1Und it ceme-a tu pess in thuse-a deys, thet zeere-a vent oooot a decree-a frum Ceeser Oogoostoos thet ell zee vurld shuoold be-a texed.

2(Und thees texeeng ves furst mede-a vhee Cyreneeoos ves gufernur ooff Syreea.)

3Und ell vent tu be-a texed, ifery oone-a intu hees oovn ceety.

4Und Juseph elsu vent up frum Geleelee-a, oooot ooff zee ceety ooff Nezeret, intu Joodeea, untu zee ceety ooff Defeed, vheech is celled Bethlehem; (becoose-a he-a ves ooff zee huoose-a und leeneege-a ooff Defeed:)

5Tu be-a texed veet Mery hees ispuoosed veeffe-a, beeeng greet veet cheeld.

6Und su it ves, thet, vheele-a zeey vere-a zeere-a, zee deys vere-a eccumpleeshed thet she-a shuoold be-a deleefered.

7Und she-a bruooght furt her furstburn sun, und vrepped heem in sveddleeng cluzees, und leeed heem in a munger; becoose-a zeere-a ves nu ruum fur zeem in zee inn.

8Und zeere-a vere-a in zee seme-a cuoontry shepherds ebeeding in zee feeeld, keepeeng vetch oofer zeeur fluck by neeght.

9Und, lu, zee ungel ooff zee Lurd ceme-a upun zeem, und zee glury ooff zee Lurd shune-a ruoond ebuoot zeem: und zeey vere-a sure-a effreeed.

10Und zee ungel seeed untu zeem, Feer nut: fur, behuld, I breeng yuoo guud teedings ooff greet juy, vheech shell be-a tu ell peuple-a.

11Fur untu yuoo is burn thees dey in zee ceety ooff Defeed a Sefeeuoor, vheech is Chreest zee Lurd.

(I grew up in the bay area; my brother lives in Davis. I was reading a paper on the native perennial grasses vs the imported annual grasses.)

You're making quite a number of assumptions there, mostly unwarranted. The reactions here, you'll find, will range from "So what?" to "Old news," to "Ho-hum."

As the Catholic Encyclopedia says, "...there is no month in the year to which respectable authorities have not assigned Christ's birth."

Your argument is, essentially, that "admiral" could not possibly be an English word because it derives from the Arabic "emir-al." That would be a foolish argument when applied to English. It's an equally foolish argument when applied to holidays.

(Incidentally, the Catholic Encyclopedia goes on to say, "The origin of Christmas should not be sought in the Saturnalia...." I recommend the entire article to you: You might learn something.)

I usually credit Sacramento with Summer, Drop, and Drown (where Drown is optional, depending on the weather's mood in a given year).

I agree that Cali is, in general, drier than other locations, and I agree that the drought conversations we've had over the last ten or fifteen years seem to be more about water management and conservation than actual weather pattern deviation. But I'll also note that when we finally started getting rain again when I was in high school (in Chico, in the nineties), I had trouble adjusting to rain that fell more often than twice or three times per year, for more than one to three days at a time, between approximately Thanksgiving and early January.* California has had real droughts, even when compared only with itself...

* I was excited to be able to give up two-inch baths and five minute showers -- there was an ongoing controversy among the students at my school about whether you could fill a bath more than two inches with a five minute shower, and whether that justified variance from the general rule.

Just something to read. If you are truly a Christian (PS: I AM NOT) you would be interested in following Christ and what is written in the Holy Scriptures, right???

We aren't, and we don't.

If you're honestly interested in the subject, I suggest you follow Jim Macdonald's advice about where to read up on it. I'll be pleasantly surprised if you do. (Note: My saying that should not be taken to mean that we'll thereafter feel obliged to listen to what you have to say on the subject.)

(Having said that, I was interested to notice from the Wikipedia article how early it was (1888) that Welsh became used as an officially recognised language of education in the UK: I have the impression that France was doing much worse things to its regional languages for much longer.)

Oh, I dunno. I kinda like the version of truth where self-identification is left up to the individual. I mean, I'd never cast aspersions on someone I didn't know, simply because they elected (apparently uncritically) to extensively block-quote a single source of questionable academic merit in a misguided and probably fallacious appeal to authority. Not only would that be out-of-season uncharitable, I would probably be mistaken in coming to such a hasty conclusion on the basis of very little extended evidence.

Likewise, I would suggest that you may wish to consider whether you might have been a trifle overhasty in evaluating "what it is to behave in a Christian manner," "what it is to behave in a way consistent with the (Christian) Bible," and "who these 'Christians' are to whom you are speaking in this particular forum (Making Light)." These are weighty matters, and each question could provide basis for considerable debate. As such, I believe that your awkward attempt to force the Christian members of this community to make a false* choice between being "bad Christians" and accepting your conclusions about the origin of their holiday is, again, misguided, and misses the opportunity to have an actually interesting discussion on any of the above topics, which you so casually overglanced in your apparent rush to condemn.

But I hope your Christmas was very merry anyway, as well as any other days you've had recently or plan to have in future. Or even any days that you don't plan to have, but end up having anyway, as these things can sometimes be unpredictable.

*Not to mention shallow and uninteresting.

The congregations' responses at all the Christmas masses[1] had an underlying rumble of old words that may have been due to people who hadn't set foot in a church since before the changeover. It was particularly noticeable on the response to "Let us give thanks to the Lord our God", because the old version of the response goes on quite a bit longer than the new one.

Our parish priest balanced John Mark Ockerbloom's pastor by using the Luke in all the masses so he could do a homily on the nativity. (Though actually quite a bit of it was about the wise men and the star; he wanted to get in some topical references to Comet Lovejoy before it was too late.)

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[1] Except the evening mass, which had a tiny congregation that, according to the priest when we were chatting afterward, included at least one person who professed to have come out of consideration for the priest's feelings in the event of being faced with no congregation at all. (It was the usual Sunday evening mass time, but we don't usually have a Christmas Day evening mass.) Most of the people there not only weren't coming for the first time since the changeover, they weren't coming for the first time that day.

Alan Bennett, talking about the Book of Common Prayer's replacement with the Alternative Service Book, quotes someone to the effect: Have a revolution, sure, but after that, don't change anything for 50 years. That is, if you are going to have a big change, beware of getting addicted to fiddling with things for ever after. On general grounds of community ownership, the mass belongs to those who, unlike me, tend to turn up more than once every few years, so I have no honest grounds for complaint, but I still feel a slight pang of being left behind by changes that make me want to mumble Well If You Want To Stick That Closely To The Meaning Of The Latin You Might As Well Just Stick With The Latin.

Lok 2:1 Giipagami'ayaamagat apii iniw giizhigon, iw gii'onjimaajishkaanig iw otinaakonigewin aw Kaisar Augustus, kakina dash imaa miziwe gaatanakijig jimiigiwewaat iniw zhoonyaan.
2 (Miidash o'o miinitiwin nitam giiozhijigaadeg megwaa giiogimaawiwit aw Sirenios imaa Siriiya.)
3 Kakina dash giimiigiwewaat enashipaat imaa tetibinaawe ototenawiwang.
4 Josap dash gaye wiin giionjimaajaa imaa Galiliing, imaa iw odenaang Nazaret, giizhaat iwidi Joodiiya, ototenaawi aw Debid, Bethlehem ezhinikaadeg, (gaye wiin maa ogiiogitiziminan iniw Debidan,)
5 Giiwiijiwaat iniw Meriian wiiwan, iw gii'aawimigiwewaat iniw zhoonyaan, iw megwaa gii'otaabinoojiimit.
6 Giipagami'ayaamagat dash megwaa imaa ayaat, iniw giizhigon ogii'otisigonan iw jiniigi'aawazot.
7 Ogiiniigi'aan dash iniw nitam gaaogwiisijin, giiwiweginaat dash imaa waabishkiginong, giipagidinaat dash imaa endashiwiisininit iniw awaakaanan, kaa maa ningoji giinatesiinoon iw abinaasowin imaa ashangewigamigong.
8 Gii'ayaawag dash imaa tanakiwining igiw maanishtaanishiwininiwag, ayaawaat imaa kitigaaning, ganaawenimaawaat, gaye ganaawaabamaawaat omaanishtaanishimiwaan tibigatinik.
9 Inaa dash iniw otaanishinaabeman aw Tebeninget ogiipagamishkaagowaan, iw dash obishigendaagoziwin aw Tebeninget giisaagaateni imaa giiwitayii ayaawaat; gaye dash giikichisegiziwaat.
10 Iniw dash ishpiming tazhianishinaaben ogiigowaan, Kego wiin segizikegon. Inaa, kibitibaajimotoninim wenishishingin inaajimowinan, iw kichionaanigoziwin igiw kakina bemaatizijig oganoondaanaawaa.
11 Kiinawaa wenjiniigit o'o nongom giizhigak imaa ototenaawing aw Debid, gebimaaji'iwet, aw Krist, aw Tebeninget.
12 Miisa dash o'o geokikinaawaajijiganiyeg; kigamikaawaawaa aw abinoojii wiiweginiigaazot imaa waabishkiginong, abit imaa endashiwiisiniwaat igiw awaakaanag.
13 Sesikaa dash aw ishpiming tazhi anishinaabe ogiiwiijayaawigon iniw kichimaamaawinoonijin ishpiming gaaonjibaanijin, nagamotaawaanit iniw Kishemaniton, gaye giikitonit,
14 Maano takichitaawendaagozi sa aw Kishemanito eshpe ndagozit, gaye omaa akiing pizaaniiwewin, gaye iw shaawenjigewin taminaawag igiw anishinaabeg.
15 Giipagami'ayaamagat idash, apii igiw ishpiming tazhi anishinaabeg gamaajaawaat inakaken ishpiming, igiw maanishtaanishiwininiwag giigaganoonitiwag, Haw, ambe sa izhaataa iwidi Betleheming jiwaabindamang o'o pegamishkaamagak, aw Tebeninget gaakikendamoninang.
16 Miidash giianiwewibishkaawaat, giimiikaawaat iniw Merii'an, gaye Josapan, gaye iniw abinooji'an shingishininit imaa edashi wiisiniwaat igiw awaakaanag.
17 Apii dash gaawaabindamowaat, giikikendamozhi'iwewag iniw ikitowinan gaainintwaa, giitazhimint aw abinoojii.
18 Kakina dash igiw gaanoondangig giimaamaakaadendamog, iw gaaikitowaat igiw maanishtaanishiwininiwag.
19 Meriii dash wiin ogiiganaawendaanan kakina ono ayiin, giiatot dash imaa odeing.
20 Igiw dash maanishtaanishiwininiwag giikiiwewag maamoyawamaawaat iniw Kishemaniton, onji kakina iniw ayiin gaa'izhinoondamowaat gaye gaa'izhiwaabindamowaat, iw gaa'inintwaa.

(from an 1884 translation of the New Testament into Anishinaabemowin, the constellation of dialects used by the Ojibwa, Chippewa, and their relations. The main website has a great deal of information about the language in its various forms, for those of you wanting to know more. It's one of the most-used Native American languages in both the US and Canada.)

God jul to everybody!

Joy to the world, kittehs! Srsly!

(1) Tharla sna laethanta sin go ndeachaigh forógra amach ó Chéasar Agust an domhan uileachlárú. (2) B'é seo an chéad chlárú a rinneadh nuair a bhí Cuiríon ina ghobharnóir ar an tSuír. (3) Agus chuaigh cách chun a gcláraithe, gach aon duine go dtí a chathair féin. (4) Agus chuaigh Iósaef freisin suas ón nGailíl, ó chathair Nazarat, go hIúdáia, go dtí cathair Dháiví ar a nglaotar Beithil, de bhrí gur de theaghlach agus de threabhchas Dháiví é féin, (5) chun a chláraithe mar aon le Muire, a bhean chéile, a bhí ag iompar clainne. (6) Agus tharla, le linn dóibh bheith ann, gur tháinig a hionú, (7) agus rug sí a céadghin mic, agus chuir i gcrios ceangail é, agus shín i mainséar é, de bhrí nach raibh slí dóibh san ósta. (8) Agus bhí aoirí sa taobh tíre céanna, amuigh faoin spéir, ag faireacháin oíche i mbun a dtréada. (9) Agus sheas aingeal an Tiarna láimh leo, agus shoilsigh glóir an Tiarna ina dtimpeall, agus bhí uamhan agus eagla mhór orthu. (10) Agus dúirt an t-aingeal leo: "Ná bíodh eagla oraibh: óir féach, tá dea-scéala agam daoibh a chuirfidh áthas mór ar an bpobal uile: (11) rugadh Slánaitheoir daoibh inniu -- is é Críost an Tiarna é -- i gcathair Dháiví. (12) Agus is comhartha daoibh é seo: gheobhaidh sibh naíonán i gcrios ceangail agus é ina luí i mainséar." (13) Agus bhí go tobann, mar aon leis an aingeal, cuallacht de shlua na bhflaitheas ag moladh Dé agus ag rá: (14) "Glóir do Dhia in uachtar neimhe, agus síocháin ar talamh don mhuintir ar a bhfuil a ghnaoi!"

Which is why we, generally speaking, don't care about inconsistencies in the story of Christ's birth. The simple fact is that this story is widely understood to be a later fabrication -- note that the gospel of Mark, generally understood to be the oldest source, does not include it. Other gospels added the story later in an attempt to agree with pre-existing prophecy. The fact that your reading of it points to a birth in spring does not have any real significance, as the story provides no real evidence one way or another for anything that may or may not have actually occurred.

And yet... we read it, and laugh at it, and know what is being said and also why it's funny....

... so is it not real language? (Having a philosophical moment instead of doing something useful.)

Furthermore, it is possible to evaluate LOL-speech in terms of being better and worse examples of the genre. (Some of the LOL-Bible is clearly more idiomatic than other parts.) Given long enough and a sufficiently invested and practicing community and you will end up with an official Grammar of LOL setting forth correct and incorrect usage.

I'm trying to figure out why I don't think that LOLcat is a language, and lots of the things I've come up with don't work. (Eg, 'primarily written rather than spoken';'no-one has it as a mother-tongue'). But I guess the reason I think it doesn't qualify as a 'real' language is that people's undestanding of it is almost always parasitic on their understanding of English.

It feels as though there ought to be a technical term for that kind of thing (and maybe there is: IANALinguist). I think that cockney rhyming slang might fall into the same category.

This year we went to an English-speaking service for Christmas eve. A year or two ago we went to the local Methodist church, and found they were running a combined service with their English+ASL congregation and their somewhat larger Fijian-language congregation (and found that the reason the Fijian choir sounded African was that the choir director was from South Africa.)

I'm sure Ive seen, somewhere, an academic paper which was presented at some conference. As I recall, it was looking at LOLcat with the tools of linguistics and effectively saying, "Here it is, happening where we can watch it happen. Interesting..."

LOLcat isn't just a vocabulary, so I doubt you could call it a jargon. It doesn't really fit with any of the classifications I come across, such as argot or slang. But it isn't really a language distinct from English. Maybe it's sitting somewhere between standard English and Jamaican patwa. And maybe that's where it was sitting, until somebody started waving a laser pointer around.

But it is something that linguists can talk about.

My personal favourite quote from the Blue Books is "The Welsh language is a vast drawback to Wales, and a manifold barrier to the moral progress and commercial prosperity of the people. It is not easy to over-estimate its evil effects."

There's Government equivocation for you.

I've seen it referred to as "Catois".

To be clear, I'm not at all claiming that LOL-speak "is a language" or even on its way to becoming a language -- just that, linguistically speaking, it has certain language-like characteristics. In particular, as Dave notes (@97), it doesn't simply consist of vocabulary elements or word-play. Some of the aspects that, for me, make the difference between whether I consider something "good LOL-speak" or not have to do with grammatical constructions and syntax.

I'm also fascinated by the way that -- especially in the early evolution of the genre -- a clearly identifiable set of cultural themes evolved, with the equivalent of a folklore/mythology (or perhaps, a classical literature) which users regularly alluded to or invoked.

A link to a presentation on LOLspeak has featured on boingboing. The presenters were of the opinion that it is language play more than a proper language.

link to the post

Did anything using that root make it into modern English?
and
Is it related to the German "Herr", or is it a different root, or what?

Interestingly, the Mac's dictionary is suggesting to me that there is a related word in ME to that OE root, albeit with shifted meaning: the verb "harry" is reported to be from "Old English herian, hergian, of Germanic origin".

I thought of "harry", but dismissed it as a false cognate because I couldn't figure out any reasonable path. It'd be neat if it were, though!

There are three modern German words that sound similar, but have different origins: Heer, Herr, and herrlich.

According to my Duden*,

Heer = army, related to the military. "himmlische Heerscharen" = heavenly hosts, so the connotations aren't entirely negative. However, the verb "verheeren" = to destroy, plunder, lay waste. These words are related to the English "to harry" and "to harrow", and to old-Icelandic 'herja' = to raid or plunder, and Swedish 'här'. The common origin appears to be the indogermanic 'koro-s' = war, conflict.

Herr = lord, master, ruler, which comes from Old High German 'hēriro' = older, more venerable (a comparative which became a noun).

herrlich = magnificent, glorious. 'Verherrlichen' = to glorify. Interestingly, Duden notes that the word is related to 'Herr', but somewhat indirectly. The true, mostly forgotten origin of both Herr and herrlich seems to be in 'hehr' (noble, sublime, holy). 'Hehr' in turn is related to words in English (hoar, hoary) and other languages that all go back to words meaning gray and implying something venerable, worthy of respect.

*Bd. 7, Das Herkunftswörterbuch

The word "härskaran" is the singular determined form of the compound noun "härskara", composed of two words, "här" (roughly 'army') and "skara" (roughly, 'crowd'). Swedish normally doesn't have a definite article, instead using suffixes for that purpose (although it does have indefinite articles).

So, yeah, "en stor hop av den himmelska härskaran" is, roughly, saying 'a large crowd of the heavenly angelic army'.

As far as the Swedish equivalents of `heer`, `Herr` and `herrlich`, they're "här" (also, confusingly, meaning 'here') "herr" and "härlig".

I'm not positive, but I'd say "laudable" probably shares roots with "laudyng," and that both "hearken" and "harangue" are likely related to that whole "heriendra" family.