Translation Test: Greater Key of Solomon — Ritual Preparations
Source
The Greater Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis), Book II — chapters on planetary timing, purification of the operator, prescribed garments, consecration of instruments, and the first pentacle description. Mathers/MacGregor composite text (1888), drawing on Sloane MSS 2383, 3091, 3847, 3091 and related MS traditions.
Status
Draft — first pass
Purpose
The Greater Key's preparation system raises a problem the Ars Goetia's narrative did not: it contains instruction in prescriptive register ("do this at the Saturn hour; purify yourself; wear white; make the tools on the Mercury day"). This is not narrative description but a temporally-structured command sequence. Additionally, the planetary-hour system attributes each time-slot to a planet — which in Western astrology implies a cosmological governance claim. The structural question is whether Tonesu can express these instructions without importing that cosmological ontology.
The second problem is the pentacle as an object class. The pentacle is not like a wand or sword (generic ka-mu, tool); it is specifically a consecrated and inscribed artifact whose identity is constituted by both features simultaneously.
Primary tests:
ti-re-[Planet]pattern: Can proper-noun modification ofti-re(W103, scheduled time-cycle) name planetary hours without asserting cosmological governance?ne ne-fefor positive prescription: "Must do X" vs "must not do X" (wi-fe-ka). Positive requirements usela-X ne ne-fe Y(X holds as requirement Y).ka-fe-vocompositional consecration: Deliberately impose sacredness — is this compositionally clear without a new entry?- W137
vo-muactivation: The proposed garment entry gets its first corpus pressure here. - W219
fe-vo'si-ko-mu: A pentacle requires a new compound — defined by the intersection of sacredness (fe-vo) and inscription (si-ko-mu). Neither feature alone is sufficient.
Secondary tests:
- Duration topic frame:
gal nu lu-ti := for three day-periods su-ti(W101) as reflexive object: purifying "one's current state"lu-result slot for creation:la-X ka lu-Y= X makes / produces Y- Non-person authority holder: pentacle holding
ne wi-ra lo-Y
Corpus sentences: S678–S683
Vocabulary Framework
One new entry (W219). W137 activated from proposed to active.
| Form | W# | Reading | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
fe-vo'si-ko-mu |
W219 | consecrated inscribed object / pentacle / talisman | New. Defined by both sacredness (fe-vo, W065) AND inscription (si-ko-mu, W067). Juncture ' is mandatory. |
vo-mu |
W137 | garment / clothing | Proposed → active. First corpus sentence: S680. |
ti-re-Saturn |
— | Saturn time-slot / Saturn hour | Productive pattern: ti-re + proper noun. No new entry. |
ti-re-Mercury |
— | Mercury time-slot / Mercury hour | Second instance confirming pattern productivity. |
ka-fe-vo |
— | consecrate (deliberately make sacred) | Compositional: ka + fe-vo (W065). No new entry. |
The cosmological-ontology problem
The planetary-hour system in the Greater Key assigns each hour to a planet: the first hour after sunrise on Sunday belongs to the Sun, the second to Venus, and so on through a fixed sequence. "Perform the operation in the hour of Saturn" presupposes this assignment.
In Tonesu: ti-re-Saturn names the time-slot by its tradition-label without asserting why Saturday's first hour belongs to Saturn. The commitment is historical-conventional (this slot is called the Saturn slot) not cosmological (Saturn governs this slot by virtue of its celestial nature). This is the same pattern as li-Bavel (person-of-Bavel = Babylonian): a proper-noun affiliation label, not a metaphysical claim.
The source text does make cosmological claims ("the nature of Saturn is cold and dry; operations of Saturn concern death, agriculture, and hidden things…"). Those claims are not translated here — they live in the omitted commentary, not in the six sentences of the preparation arc.
Source Text
On timing: Saturday is the day of Saturn, and the first hour after sunrise on that day is governed by Saturn. The operation should be commenced on the proper day and in the proper hour of the planet whose nature governs the work.
On purification: Let the operator abstain from all impurity for three days before the work. Upon the day of the operation let him clothe himself in clean white vestments.
On the instruments: The wand, the knife, and all instruments appertaining to this art shall be made on the day and in the hour of Mercury, and shall be consecrated as herein following.
On the first pentacle of Saturn: The First Pentacle of Saturn is proper for invoking Spirits of the nature of Saturn. It serveth to repress them, and to compel them…
— Composite rendering, Mathers translation of the Clavicula Salomonis (1888), Book II
Verse-by-Verse Analysis
S678 — "Perform the work in the Saturn hour."
Written: tireSaturn : latorali ka lowika
Reading: "In the Saturn time-slot, the practitioner performs the ritual work."
Notes: First use of the ti-re-[Planet] pattern. ti-re (W103, recurring time / scheduled cycle) is modified by Saturn as a tradition-label proper noun: the time-slot called "Saturn's hour" by received astrological convention. The sentence does NOT assert that Saturn cosmologically governs the hour. The : topic frame positions the time-slot as the sentence topic ("as for the Saturn hour…") — the natural structure for timed instructions. wi-ka (W054) as patient = the ritual work itself. to-ra-li (W207, wizard/mage) as practitioner.
S679 — "Be purified for three days."
Written: gal nu luti : latorali ne nefe kanodesu losuti
Reading: "For three day-periods, the practitioner must cleanse their current state."
Notes: Duration topic frame: gal nu lu-ti = three day-units (lu-ti, W140, daytime/day-period). ne ne-fe = holds as requirement (positive prescription). Compare wi-fe-ka (rule-forbidden, negative prescription, SUT-001) — the system now has both poles: ne ne-fe [X] = must do X; lo-X wi-fe-ka = X is forbidden. ka-no-de-su lo-su-ti = "deliberately remove fault from one's current state" — su-ti (W101) as reflexive object: the thing being cleansed is the practitioner's current state. Extension of W120 (ka-no-de-su, deliberate removal of fault / forgiveness) into ritual purification: the structural core is the same — deliberate removal of a fault-state from an entity.
S680 — "Clothe yourself in white garments."
Written: latorali ne nefe loyimvomu
Reading: "The practitioner must [wear] white garments."
Notes: W137 (vo-mu) first corpus sentence — proposed status (⚠️) promoted to active (✅). yim-vo-mu = white-garment compound: yim (CVC color form for white, from color inventory) applied as a modifier to vo-mu (W137, garment). ne ne-fe lo-yim-vo-mu = "has as requirement: white garments" — the lo- marked NP is the content of the requirement, with the precise relational mode (wear on body, be in contact with) left implicit; context specifics supply it. This is the simplest prescription form: "must [have/wear] X" without specifying the nature of the required engagement.
S681 — "Make the instruments in the Mercury hour."
Written: tireMercury : latorali ka lukamu
Reading: "In the Mercury time-slot, the practitioner makes the instruments."
Notes: Second use of ti-re-[Planet] — confirming the pattern is productive without a new entry per planet. lu-ka-mu = result slot for instruments: "acts, with instruments as the result" = makes/produces the instruments. Compare lu-ko-mu (result as destination, S673) and lu-su-ti-be (result as target state, SUT-001) — the lu- slot continues to show range across creation, destination, and target-state readings. The pair S678/S681 structurally separates when to begin the ritual (Saturn hour) from when to make the tools (Mercury hour) — an accurate rendering of the Greater Key's scheduling constraints.
S682 — "Consecrate the instruments through ritual."
Written: latorali kafevo lokamu gowika
Reading: "The practitioner consecrates the instruments through ritual."
Notes: ka-fe-vo = deliberately impose sacredness = consecrate. Compositional: ka (deliberate action) + fe-vo (W065, sacredness / set-apart quality). No new registry entry: the composition is transparent from its roots and maps precisely onto "consecrate" without any semantic drift. go-wi-ka = "originating from / by means of ritual" (W054, ritual / structured intentional practice) — instrumental go-: the ritual is the causal mechanism of the consecration. The three-stage preparation sequence (S679–S682): purify → dress → make instruments → consecrate. Each step is a ne ne-fe requirement or a direct action; the sequence is temporal narrative.
S683 — "The pentacle of Saturn holds power over the spirits of Saturn."
Written: lafevo'sikomuSaturn ne wira lowiraliSaturn
Reading: "The pentacle of Saturn holds directed power over the spirits of Saturn."
Notes: W219 (fe-vo'si-ko-mu, consecrated inscribed object / pentacle) first corpus attestation. The ' juncture is structurally mandatory: fe-vo'si-ko-mu = [[sacred]-[inscribed-artifact]]; without it, default right-branch parse gives fe-[vo-si-ko-mu] = "boundary-[value-encoded-artifact]" which loses the sacredness feature. Proper-noun modification: fe-vo'si-ko-mu-Saturn = the pentacle assigned to Saturn (tradition-label, not cosmological claim). The authority construction is the same as S672: la-X ne wi-ra lo-Y = X holds directed power over Y. Here X is the pentacle, a non-person agent — the first time the ne wi-ra authority frame has a non-person holder. The grammar handles it identically: authority is a property that any entity can hold over another, person or not.
SOL-002 Batch Summary
| # | English | Tonesu | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| S678 | Begin in Saturn hour | ti-re-Saturn : la-to-ra-li ka lo-wi-ka |
ti-re-[Planet] pattern first use |
| S679 | Purify for three days | gal nu lu-ti : la-to-ra-li ne ne-fe ka-no-de-su lo-su-ti |
duration topic; ne ne-fe; su-ti reflexive |
| S680 | Wear white garments | la-to-ra-li ne ne-fe lo-yim-vo-mu |
W137 first att. (→ active); yim in compound |
| S681 | Make instruments in Mercury hour | ti-re-Mercury : la-to-ra-li ka lu-ka-mu |
ti-re-[Planet] confirmed productive |
| S682 | Consecrate instruments | la-to-ra-li ka-fe-vo lo-ka-mu go-wi-ka |
ka-fe-vo = consecrate; instrumental go- |
| S683 | Pentacle compels spirits | la-fe-vo'si-ko-mu-Saturn ne wi-ra lo-wi-ra-li-Saturn |
W219 first att.; non-person authority holder |
Key finding: The Greater Key's planetary-hour system compresses entirely into ti-re-[Planet] — one productive pattern with no additional entries per planet, carrying zero cosmological commitment. The ritual preparation arc (time → purify → dress → make tools → consecrate → use pentacle) maps onto six clean sentences using existing or immediately compositional vocabulary, with one new artifact-class entry (W219).
New vocabulary introduced: W219 fe-vo'si-ko-mu (pentacle / consecrated inscribed object) · W137 vo-mu (garment — proposed → active)
Open questions logged: none from this batch. Follow-on noted: individual spirit descriptions (rank, offices, legion-count, domain, physical form) require rank vocabulary (wi-ra-su-li as a class hierarchy?) before the next Goetia descriptive batch can proceed. The ti-re-[Planet] pattern is now available for any text that references planetary timing.
Colloquial Register Analysis
| Form used | CLQ entry | Colloquial form | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
ti-re-Saturn |
none | — | Proper-noun–modified ti-re — not a compound eligible for CLQ contraction |
ti-re-Mercury |
none | — | Same pattern |
gal nu lu-ti |
none | — | Numeral + quantity expression — outside CLQ scope |
ne-fe (predicative) |
none | — | 2-root — below 3-morpheme contraction threshold |
ka-no-de-su |
none | — | 4-root; first attestation in purification context; no corpus pressure yet |
yim-vo-mu |
none | — | 3-root color-compound; first attestation; no corpus pressure |
ka-fe-vo |
none | — | 3-root compositional; low corpus frequency; semantically load-bearing |
fe-vo'si-ko-mu |
none | — | Juncture compound — outside CLQ scope |
Verdict: irreducibly formal — all forms are proper-noun-modified patterns, numeral expressions, first attestations, or juncture compounds outside CLQ scope.
CLQ entries registered from this batch: none.