So, here are the answers to yesterday’s poll:
1) ክብር ለእግዚአብሔር በአርያም
This is Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia. Greg and Pseudomantid were not too far off geographically with Demotic Egyptian and Coptic – but Amharic uses the Ge’ez script which is an abugida (ie syllabic).
2) Hueyixtica Dios ne ilhuicac, niman nican ipan tlalticpactli ma onya yolsehuilistli intzajlan on tlacamej yejhuan quipiaj tetlajsojtlalistli!
Nahuatl, the language descended from Aztec spoken in Mexico (so I’ll give
3) المَجدُ للهِ فِي الأعالِي
Arabic, as everyone guessed. (I should have chosen Farsi or Urdu for a laugh.)
4) Слава на Бога във висините.
Everyone thought this was Russian. It’s Bulgarian – the use of ъ as a vowel is the clue.
5) ᎦᎸᏉᏗᏳ ᎨᏎᏍᏗ ᎤᏁᎳᏅᎯ ᏩᏍᏛ ᎦᎸᎳᏗᏳ
Greg got this – Cherokee.
6) Gogoniant yn y goruchaf i Dduw, ac ar y ddaear tangnefedd, i ddynion ewyllys da.
Welsh, of course.
7) Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ.
Greek, of course.
8) Kunnia Jumalalle korkeuksissa, ja maassa rauha ihmisten kesken, joita kohtaan hänellä on hyvä tahto!
Finnish, of course.
9) स्वर्ग में परमेश्वर की जय हो
Greg correctly spotted that it is Devanagari script but for some reason thought it wasn’t Hindi; it is.
10) Lavdi Perëndisë në vendet më të larta, dhe paqe mbi tokë njerëzve mbi të cilët qëndron mirëdashja e tij!.
Albanian. Only
11) பரலோகத்தில் தேவனை மகிமைப்படுத்துங்கள்.
Tamil; the combination of curves and right angles is unusual. Greg not far off with Orissa/Oriya/Odia, but that comes up later on.
12) Lwanj pou Bondye anwo nan syèl la, kè poze sou latè pou tout moun li renmen.
Haitian Creole.
13) สรรเสริญพระเจ้าบนสวรรค์สูงสุด
Thai.
14) ¡Wacami, ri chilaˈ chicaj sibilaj niyaˈox (nyaˈ) rukˈij rucˈojlen ri Dios! ¡Y waweˈ chuwech re ruwachˈulef xoka yan ri uxlanibel cˈuˈx. Xoka yan chiquicojol ri winek, ruma ri rutzil ri Dios!
The Mayan language Kaqchikel, spoken in Guatemala. Nobody got this, though guesses of Quechua and Inca were on the right landmass at least.
15) 天では、神に栄光があるように。
Japanese, as almost everyone spotted.
16) Dicsőség Istennek a Mennyben, és békesség a földön azoknak, akik Isten tetszése szerint élnek!
Hungarian.
17) 가장 높은 하늘에서는 하나님께 영광!
Korean.
18) Ȝode sy ƿuldor on heahnesse and on eorðan sybb mannum ȝodes ƿillan;
Three people thought this was or might be Icelandic (with the ð and ƿ, I suppose). But the letter Ȝ/ȝ is typical of Anglo-Saxon/Old English, in this case the West Saxon dialect of the Wessex Gospels.
19) स्वर्गात देवाला गौरव
Marathi, the main language of the Indian states of Maharashtra and Goa. Too obscure; nobody got it.
20) Aiboojoj ñan Anij ilo utiejtata, im aenōṃṃan ioon laḷ ippān armej raṇ E buñbūruon kōn er.
Nobody got this either. It’s Marshallese, spoken in the Marshall Islands. The ṃ is the give-away letter here.
21) ସ୍ୱର୍ଗରେ ରହୁଥିବା ପରମେଶ୍ୱରଙ୍କ ଜୟ ହେଉ
This is Oriya or Odia, spoken in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. I’m generously letting Greg get a full point for this, even though he had already guessed the same answer for a different language. Two people thought it was Georgian, and I can see why.
22) Ilaah ha ku ammaanmo meelaha ugu sarreeya, Xagga dhulkana nabad ha ahaato dadka ka farxiya Ilaah dhexdooda.
Somali – the doubled consonants and vowels, and use of the letter X, are clues; also the word “Ilaah” for God indicates that it’s a Semitic language. Nobody got it.
23) ਸਵਰਗ ਵਿੱਚ ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦੀ ਉਸਤਤਿ ਹੋਵੇ
Punjabi, the most widely spoken language in Pakistan (and also in the Punjab in India).
24) Sáng danh Chúa trên các từng trời rất cao, Bình an dưới đất, ân trạch cho loài người!
Vietnamese. Everyone got it.
25) 荣耀归于至高无上的上帝。
Chinese.
I’m giving
in third place:
pseudomantid – 10
and joint winners:
Greg Hullender – 11
Thanks to everyone!