The paper provides an overview of blessings and curses in verbal art and in daily life among the Iraqw (Cushitic) of Tanzania. Blessings and curses are common in the verbal art and these seem to be... Show moreThe paper provides an overview of blessings and curses in verbal art and in daily life among the Iraqw (Cushitic) of Tanzania. Blessings and curses are common in the verbal art and these seem to be formally different from how traditionally in daily life people would intentionally bless and curse.The fiiro traditional prayer (literally requesting) is interspersed with blessings/curses or strong wishes which are clearly set apart from by a high speed of speech, high pitch and loud voice for a whole sentence upon which the audience waves the hands in the air or towards the ground. The slufay poetry which follows the fiiro can be seen as one long blessing, using subordinate verb forms and other archais elements but not containing these formally marked utterances of the fiiro (Beck and Mous 2014).In daily life cursing is done sometimes standing on a hillock wishing bad fortune on ones opponent but the actual words nor the way they are performed seem to be essential (Kamera 1986). Lifting the curse is a major event however. This can easily take up a whole day of discussing, singing, drinking and eating and the ceremony needs to be performed with the families of the two opponents and other people from the area present and with text emphasizing peace, good wishes and community spirit. The anthropological literature discusses the societal functions of curses (Hagborg 2001, Lawi 2000, Rekdal 1999, Snyder 2005, Thornton 1980).Blessing is often done by putting a piece of grass, barsi, above the door of the house between the cross bar above thr door opening and the roof. This can but need not be accompanied with speech. Show less
This work sets out to investigate the form and function of the imperative in the Rigveda. The morphology (and, where relevant, etymology), syntax and semantics of the imperative are covered.The... Show moreThis work sets out to investigate the form and function of the imperative in the Rigveda. The morphology (and, where relevant, etymology), syntax and semantics of the imperative are covered.The work is divided into the following major parts:Introduction: The place of the imperative within the Rigvedic verbal system is discussed. A section is devoted to the addressees of the second and third person imperatives. Particular attention is paid to the meaning of the latter. The relationship between the imperative and the optative is also investigated, since on the face of it, some of the functions of the imperative - those which do not denote commands but rather wishes and entreaties - are shared between the two. Owing to the extreme rarity of the third-person optative - with the single exception of the form syāt - the conclusion of this section is that the imperative is the usual method of expressing not only commands, but also wishes and aspirations.The morphology of the imperative: All of the forms of the imperative are considered. There is a comprehensive section on stem-ablaut, on accentuation, as well as an individual treatment of each verb ending, and their contact forms in the case of the athematic stems. The imperatives in –tāt and –si are given special consideration, as well as a group of analogically created imperatives in -i such as yódhi.Aorist versus present imperative: This section discusses the relationship between the present and aorist imperatives. It shows that the aorist imperative is a moribund archaism at the time of the Rigveda - more so in the late tenth book - and that it functions as a metrical variant of the present imperative, with no functional difference existing between the two forms. An exception to this is in fixed formulae, in which the ancient, pre-Vedic difference between these forms is preserved.Index of attested forms: A treatment of every attested imperative form in the Rigveda. All attested imperative forms are noted, their grammatical classification, and their frequency. Many verbs are discussed in detail, and copious examples from the text are given. Show less
