Skip to content

Translation Test: Ars Goetia — The Solomonic Binding

Source

The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis), Book I: Ars Goetia — the framing narrative of how Solomon bound the 72 spirits. Multiple manuscript versions (British Library Sloane MSS 2731, 3648 etc.); composite reading of the commonly transmitted narrative.

Status

Draft — first pass

Purpose

The Ars Goetia's framing narrative is a six-act structure: (1) Solomon holds authority over 72 powerful spirits; (2) he binds them; (3) seals the vessel; (4) the Babylonians discover it later; (5) they open it; (6) the spirits are released. This is the canonical "sealed vessel" account that underlies the entire Goetia tradition.

This batch tests structural questions that are distinct from anything previously in the corpus:

  • Authority construction: Does la-X ne wi-ra lo-Y (X holds directed-power over Y) — extended from the DIP-001 rights-claim pattern — translate "commanded and had power over" for magical authority?
  • wi-ra-li as a new entity class: Solomonic "spirits" are neither angels (si-ki-li, W158 — defined by mission) nor adversaries (wi-de-li, W124 — defined by opposition) nor humans (zo-li). They require a distinct term for "powerful intentional non-human agent."
  • ka-be-ne as the binding predicate: "Bind" in the magical/legal sense — deliberate bond-creation — needs a productive antonym to ka-ne-de (W092, deliberate bond dissolution).
  • lu- as destination: The bound spirits end up in the vessel; lu-ko-mu tests whether the result/beneficiary slot can carry a spatial destination argument.
  • Causal nominalization with ': S677 tests whether go-ka-no-ko'ko-mu (caused by the opening-of-the-vessel) works as a complex causal argument — the ' juncture binds action to its object and go- takes the whole thing as a causal origin.

Primary tests:

  • la-X ne wi-ra lo-Y authority construction (DIP-001 pattern extension)
  • W217 wi-ra-li first attestation (spirit / directed-force-agent)
  • W218 ka-be-ne first attestation (binding / deliberate bond-creation)
  • Numeral phrase in patient position: lo-yom bun nu wi-ra-li (72 spirits)
  • go-[nominalized-event] with ' juncture: go-ka-no-ko'ko-mu

Secondary tests:

  • lu- result slot as spatial destination
  • Proper-name agent (la-Solomon) and proper-name group NP (la-li-Bavel)
  • ka-fe-si as the sealing predicate
  • ka-no-ko as "open a sealed container"

Corpus sentences: S672–S677

Vocabulary Framework

Two new entries registered (W217, W218). All other forms are existing vocabulary or productive compositions.

Form W# Reading Notes
wi-ra-li W217 spirit / directed-force-agent New. Entity whose nature is willed force — the 72 Solomonic spirits are the paradigm case. Distinct from W158 (messenger/angel) and W124 (adversary).
ka-be-ne W218 binding / deliberate bond-creation New. By parallel with ka-ne-de (W092, deliberate bond dissolution).
ka-fe-si — seal (deliberately impose boundary-signal) Compositional: ka + fe-si (W024). No new registry entry.
ka-no-ko — open (deliberately un-contain) Compositional: ka + no + ko. No new registry entry.
li-Bavel — Babylonian / person of Bavel Proper-name modifier (Bavel = Hebrew name for Babylon).

Source Text

These be the seventy-two Mighty Kings and Princes which King Solomon commanded into a Vessel of Brass, together with their Legions, by the Wisdom given unto him by God. […] Solomon did this because of their wicked nature: to imprison them and shut them up within the vessel. And this vessel was buried in a deep Pit or Hole in the ground in the country of Babylon. […] And the men of Babylon, wondering, came and digged in the place where the vessel was buried, hoping to find a treasure there; and having broken the vessel, came forth against them the seventy-two Kings and their companions.

— Composite rendering of the Lemegeton Ars Goetia framing narrative

Verse-by-Verse Analysis

S672 — "Solomon held authority over 72 spirits."

la-Solomon  ne  wi-ra  lo-yom bun nu wi-ra-li

Written: laSolomon ne wira loyom bun nu wirali

Reading: "Solomon held authority over 72 spirits of directed power."

Notes: Extends the DIP-001 rights-claim pattern: la-X ne wi-ra lo-Y = X holds directed-power over Y. wi-ra (W177, directed power/authority) here acts as the mediating property connecting agent to patient via ne. The numeral phrase lo-yom bun nu wi-ra-li puts the patient head (wi-ra-li, W217) after the positional chain yom bun nu (7·2 quantity = 72). The lo- patient prefix attaches to yom, the first element of the number phrase. W217 first attestation.

S673 — "He bound them into a vessel."

la-Solomon  ka-be-ne  lo-wi-ra-li  lu-ko-mu

Written: laSolomon kabene lowirali lukomu

Reading: "Solomon bound the spirits, confining them in a vessel."

Notes: W218 (ka-be-ne, deliberate bond-creation) first corpus attestation. lu-ko-mu uses the result/beneficiary slot for a spatial destination: the vessel is what the binding produces/fills, not merely where it happens. Compare lu- used for beneficiary (SUT-001: lu-su-ti-be) — here both readings (result and destination) are simultaneously active and neither is wrong.

S674 — "He sealed the vessel with his sign."

la-Solomon  ka-fe-si  lo-ko-mu  go-si

Written: laSolomon kafesi lokomu gosi

Reading: "Solomon sealed the vessel with his sign."

Notes: ka-fe-si = deliberately-impose-boundary-signal = seal. Compositional from ka (deliberate action) + fe-si (W024, boundary-condition signal); no new registry entry required. go-si = "by means of signal / originating from [his] signal." The go prefix operates instrumentally: the causal origin of the sealing is Solomon's sign/mark. Agent identity makes the referent of si unambiguous — it is Solomon's sign.

S675 — "The Babylonians found the vessel."

la-li-Bavel  se-ka  lo-ko-mu

Written: laliBavel seka lokomu

Reading: "The Babylonians found the vessel through investigation."

Notes: li-Bavel = person-of-Bavel = Babylonian (Bavel = Hebrew name for Babylon, used as a proper-noun modifier). The group NP la-li-Bavel = Babylonians-as-agent. W034 (se-ka, examination/deliberate inspection) fits the tradition: the Babylonians were deliberately excavating the buried pit, not stumbling upon it accidentally.

S676 — "They opened it."

la-li-Bavel  ka-no-ko  lo-ko-mu

Written: laliBavel kanoko lokomu

Reading: "The Babylonians opened the vessel."

Notes: ka-no-ko = deliberately-act-toward-no-containment = open a sealed container. Compositional: ka (deliberate) + no (negation/absence) + ko (containment/interior) = deliberately un-contain. The simplicity here is intentional — the act needs no new vocabulary. The narrative's claim that they thought treasure was inside can be expressed in a follow-on sentence if needed; for the structural test, the act itself is the focus.

S677 — "The spirits came forth."

la-wi-ra-li  ki  go-ka-no-ko'ko-mu

Written: lawirali ki gokanoko'komu

Reading: "The spirits moved forth, [released by] the opening of the vessel."

Notes: go-ka-no-ko'ko-mu = "caused by [the deliberate opening]-of-[the vessel]." The ' juncture binds ka-no-ko (the opening-act) to ko-mu (the vessel) to form the nominalised event "the opening of the vessel." The go- prefix then takes this nominalized event compound as a causal argument. This is the first go-[action'object] causal nominalization in the corpus — confirming that ' can bind an action to its object inside a go- causal frame. ki (motion, primitive) = moved / came forth; direction is unspecified in the slot, supplied by narrative context.

SOL-001 Batch Summary

# English Tonesu Notes
S672 Solomon's authority over 72 spirits la-Solomon ne wi-ra lo-yom bun nu wi-ra-li W217 first att.
S673 Solomon binds them in a vessel la-Solomon ka-be-ne lo-wi-ra-li lu-ko-mu W218 first att.
S674 Seals it with his sign la-Solomon ka-fe-si lo-ko-mu go-si instrumental go-si
S675 Babylonians find the vessel la-li-Bavel se-ka lo-ko-mu proper-name group NP
S676 They open it la-li-Bavel ka-no-ko lo-ko-mu ka-no-ko = open
S677 Spirits come forth la-wi-ra-li ki go-ka-no-ko'ko-mu causal nominalization with '

Key finding: The Ars Goetia binding narrative — command, bind, seal, discover, open, release — translates into six clean sentences with two new compounds. The ' juncture used in S677 (go-ka-no-ko'ko-mu) demonstrates that action-plus-object nominalization is available inside go- causal frames without new grammar.

New vocabulary introduced: W217 wi-ra-li (spirit / directed-force-agent) · W218 ka-be-ne (binding / deliberate bond-creation)

Open questions logged: none. Follow-on noted in testing-ideas.md: individual spirit descriptions (rank, territory, legion count, offices) require rank vocabulary before the next Goetia batch can proceed.

Colloquial Register Analysis

Form used CLQ entry Colloquial form Notes
wi-ra (predicative) none — 2-root — below 3-morpheme contraction threshold
wi-ra-li none — First attestation; no corpus pressure for contraction yet
ka-be-ne none — First attestation; semantically load-bearing magical/legal predicate
ka-fe-si none — 3-root compositional; low corpus frequency
go-si none — 2-element causal frame; below threshold
ka-no-ko none — 3-root compositional; "open" is high-frequency, but no corpus pressure yet
go-ka-no-ko'ko-mu none — Complex juncture compound — outside CLQ scope

Verdict: irreducibly formal — all forms are either below threshold, first attestations without pressure, or structurally complex compounds outside CLQ scope.

CLQ entries registered from this batch: none.