[Mihalic] [Fwd: Korapsen]

[David Week (personal)]

The English word "corruption" is part of a broader metaphor which includes such phrases as "body politic", "mechanism of government", "head of government", "an arm of government", etc. The underlying idea is that government is a selfless, impartial instrument which exists to do the will of the people, for the good of the people, as your body serves your mind (in our Cartesian conception of such things).

This metaphor goes back several hundred years, at least as far as Thomas Hobbes. Before Hobbes, government was conceived very differently: as divinely authorised, rather than an instrument of the people.

Within this metaphor, when the government starts acting in its own interest, it has become "corrupt", in the same way that a dead body putresces. The word "corrupt" itself has the following roots in English: [Middle English, from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere, to destroy : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + rumpere, to break; see reup- in Indo-European roots.] So another sense is that government has become "broken". But one can only understand what is "broken" if one is already culturally inducted into this idea of the government as a mechanism for implementing the popular will.

I think rather than attempt to translate this complex and historically-given metaphor, it might be better to use a literal translation:

Gavman i stilim mani bilong yumi.

Best

David Week 

PS	I'd be careful using the Biblical translations, because in that text corruption means something very else again. The full NIV texts of the passages cited below are:

"The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption--the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon." (Kings 23:13)

"you gave through your servants the prophets when you said: 'The land you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the other." (Ezra 9:11)

"Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him." (Isaiah 1:4)

In all these cases, "corruption" doesn't refer to broken mechanism of government, or a putrescent body politic, but to religious deviance or ritual impurity. Not the same thing at all.


On 16/11/2009, at 7:01 AM, John Burton wrote:

>  All
> 
> A correspondent has asked this question:
> 
> "I am trying to workout the orgins, and the extent of use, of the word Korapsen (Corruption) in PNG Tok Pisin.  A number of NGOs are using this word in their promotional materials, but I can't find it in any dictionary (including the 2008 Oxford Tokpisin to English and the Mihalic's Jacaranda Dictionary).   I see that you are involved in a project on Mihalic and was wondering if you have come across anything."
> 
> I replied as follows. Korapsen is new (as a tp word) and wouldn't be in any dictionaries. However, the translaters of the Buk Baibel also had to confront this thorny problem:
> 
> "The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption", 2 Kings 23:13 is translated as "Na Josaia i bagapim ol alta bipo King Solomon i bin wokim long hap bilong Jerusalem, em long hap saut bilong maunten Oliv*" and the note says: "* Long dispela hap, tok Hebru i kolim maunten Oliv long narapela nem, em Maunten bilong Bagarap".
> 
> "a land polluted by the corruption of its peoples",  Esra 9:11 , is translated as "graun ... i no klin long ai bilong mi".
> 
> "Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption",  Isaiah 1:4, is translated as "yupela ol manmeri i nogut tru na pasin bilong yu i nogut olgeta"
> 
> Any other brilliant ideas?
> 
> John Burton
> 
> 
> 
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