Na’shaya. Dungi-variben etek pa’gen-lis.

Na’shaya. The VLD defines na’shaya as, “greeting, a word or gesture of welcome or salutation.” Hmmm.

Well, OK, we know that na’shaya is a semi-formal greeting in Vulcan; less formal than dif-tor heh smusma, more formal than wa’na’shau or t’on k’pi (or tonk-peh as it is commonly spelled in FSE).

But does that necessarily mean that na’shaya literally means, “greeting?” I suggest it does not.

Certainly, many greetings in Terran languages do not translate directly to the FSE word “greeting.” “Comment allez vous,” in French means, “Tell me how you are going.” In Arabic, a common greeting, “As-salam ‘alaykum,” translates to “Peace be upon you.” In Shanghai, a common greeting translates to, “Have you eaten?” And hello literally means, “stop!” So we know that a greeting need not be translated directly to “greeting” to be a valid way to say hello.

Not to mention the other problem, the irregular strong verb Shau means “to break, fracture, or to cause to separate into pieces suddenly or violently; smash; to fracture a bone.” Ouch! That means that na’shaya literally means toward the parting (or fracturing!). Which is an odd way to say hello. Or is it?

The issue here is that we should be wary, as we develop and evolve this language, of simply assuming that Vulcan is just another way to speak English with different words and grammar. That it is a form of secret code. That there is – or must be – a direct and easy translation between any word or phrase in Vulcan and an English counterpart. And we must be especially wary of assuming that a social custom translates as easily.

So where does that leave us? Well, we can go two ways.

The first is to assume that have our first pair of Vulcan homonyms, words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings: Lead can mean to guide, or a malleable grey metal, for example. So does shau mean to break and to greet? That is certainly the easy way. But is this just too easy? And too unrealistic?

I would suggest that we go the more realistic route and assume that na’shays means what is says. So what does it mean to say? This is what I think...

Na’shaya

Trans: Greeting, Hello
Lit: Towards parting
Pron: na’ SHY-a

For less formal, but not quite casual greetings (which is typically the ground state of Vulcan social interaction), Vulcans commonly use “Na’Shaya,” which is analogous to the common English greeting, “Hello.” It is more formal than, simply saying, “Hi,” but not as formal as, say, dif-tor heh smusma.

Literally, Na’shaya means, “towards a break.” "Shau” is the verb "to part, break, or fracture," “na’” is a prefix indicating motion towards or at, and "aya" is a suffix which indicates the noun form of a strong regular verb (shaya means part, as in a part of a whole). I'm tap-dancing a bit here, because I want the phrase to mean "towards the parting," which would actually be, "na'shau," since the gerund form of a verb remains the same as the verb form. Note that, later, when we talk about wa'na'shau," the gerund form is properly applied. We can assume that these phrases are so old they pre-date the formal division of noun and gerund forms. Yeah, let's go with that.

The meaning of na'shaya conveys the idea of, “Here we are, for a brief time, before we must part ways again (so let’s make the best of it).”

The phrase is fascinating in its total lack of commitment or emotion. As if one is saying, "You didn't come here to meet me, I didn't come here to meet you. We are just here. Soon, we will not be. What is now, simply is. Soon, it will not be." How very, very Vulcan.

When you don’t know what to say when meeting someone, Na’Shaya is the safe default.

Pronunciation note: Let the final 'a' fall off softly and quickly, almost as a sub-vocal sound: Na'SHY-a. Don't lose it entirely, just let it slide softly away.

Wa’na’shau

Trans: Welcome, or “good to see you”
Lit: Especially towards the parting
Pron: wa’NASH(au)

“Wa’na’shau,” is another casual greeting, a bit more personal or friendly than na'shaya, which commonly translates to, “welcome,” or "good to see you." 

“Wa’” is an affix which means especially or sincerely. So wa'na'sahu can translate as “Sincere welcome.” For a non-Vulcan it might even mean “Warmest welcome,” or “A pleasure to meet you.” Which presents a problem. For a human, used to meeting people with a cheery, “Nice to meet you!” it might seem reasonable to greet Vulcans with a cheery “Wa’na’shau!” It is not. Wa’na’shau is used solely between friends, family, or close acquaintances and implies an established relationship. It is never, ever used to greet someone for the first time or someone who is not a relative or close friend. 

Not that a Vulcan would make an issue of it; they would likely just bow their head slightly and murmur, "Na'shaya," and let the faux-pas pass without comment.

Although they might reply with:

Pa’itaren zherka’es. Na’shau.

Lit.: (I) fully acknowledge (your) emotionalism. Polite greeting. 
Even more Lit.: Oh my gawd! I can’t believe you just said that! Well, hello, anyway, clod.

Again, always best to fall back on a simple, neutral “Na’shaya.”

However, the typical response to this greeting, among intimates, is:

Wa’na’shau kaing

Trans.: Sincere greetings to you, also
Lit. Especially towards the parting, equally
Pronunciation note: Wa’NASssh KH’ay(ng)


And, again, more to the point, like na'shaya, wa'na'shau does not literally mean, “You are welcome (to my house, shop, etc.)” as the FSE translation suggest. 

Instead, wa'na'shau means “sincerely towards the parting.” Which seems rather counter intuitive: “I look forward eagerly to the time when you leave,” is hardly a nice way to greet a friend. However, the connotation is actually,  “I sincerely look forward to spending time together before we must, inevitably, part ways.” Compared to na’shaya which essentially says, “Well, here we are, let’s get on with it,” wa’na’shau specifically says, “I am looking forward to your company.”

The phrase has a certain emotional detachment; even when warmly greeting a friend, a Vulcan accepts that their time together is fleeting and will soon be over. Even at their warmest, Vulcans can be rather melancholy. Or maybe it's a way of managing the emotional nature of friendly greetings by applying an anti-happiness counterweight.

Pronunciation note: The following ‘au’ in wa'na’shau is sub-vocalized much like the ‘u’ in the Japanese verb “Desu” which is typically pronounced “Dess.” It should not be pronounced, "wa'nash'OW."

So there we have it, a way to think about na'shaya and wa'na'shau that does not simply assume they translate directly to FES correlates and, also, conforms to what we know of the rest of the language.

-- T'Lara