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Doomi aadama yépp danuy juddu, yam ci tawfeex ci sag ak sañ-sañ. Nekk na it ku xam dëgg te ànd na ak xelam, te war naa jëflante ak nawleen, te teg ko ci wàllu mbokk. (listen to audio)

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

 

doom – child, doll, fruit, tablet (of medicine), ashes
doom i aadama – human being; doom i Aadama yi – human beings
Aadama – Adam (Ar.), a name given to a twin the other being Hawa (Eve)
yépp/yéppa – all
danuy/dañu – they
juddu – to be born
yam – ?
ci – to, in, at, a bit, some
tawfeex – ?
sag – honor, personality, charm
ak (ag) – and, with (used with nouns and pronouns)
sañsañ – to be authorized, to dare, to stop up (note: the sources I used only had ‘sañ‘ as a single word, not doubled, so uncertain if that changes the definition)
nekk/nekka/neka – to be at a place; ku nekka – everyone
na – he/she has, sign of optative, like, how (naka)
it – also
ku – article, relative form, or interrogative
xam – to know
dëgg/dégga – to hear, understand
te – to be stubborn, and, (as a suffix indicates repition of action)
ànd – together?
xelam – (to have?) intelligence, mind (my source only has ‘xel‘. I’m guessing the suffix ‘-am‘ indicates possession)
war – to mount (a horse, etc.), ought to, to have to
naa – I have
jëflante/jeflante – reciprocal, relationship (jéf/jëf – action, act, deed)
nawleen – (closest I could find was ‘naw‘ which means ‘to esteem highly’ & ‘breath’/’nawle‘ – person of the same rank, rival – ‘leen‘ is a plural form of ‘you’ so I’m guessing this is a compound word)
teg/tek – saddle; tega – to put down; teggin – politeness, courtesy; tegoo – to support
ko – him, it
wàllu (walla?) – share, part; (wollu?) – to save, help
mbokk/mbokka – relative, to be related

 

Sources: Omniglot.com, David P. Gamble dictionary, Firicat.com

 

4 responses to “Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Wolof w/Breakdown”

  1. Amran Gaye Avatar

    Interesting – do you have a link to the full declaration in Wolof? “tawfeex” means something like “peace of mind”. Thanks and keep the blog posts coming.

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  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Tawfeex is an Arabic loanword tawfiiq meaning divinely given success, achievement of one’s aim.

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  3. lynette wich (@missxooley) Avatar

    Hi a little more about Tawfeex. Tawfeex is a word for a very light rain.
    So as it’s other meaning (wolof is so great) It means ‘Blessing’

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