This phrase has caused much misunderstanding, controversy and debate. And I believe it is due to or at least in part due to how the Ao Holy Bible-Temeshi Laishiba, has translated the first verse of Genesis 1:
‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’
And in Hebrew it is:
And in Ao, it translated as:
‘Tetenzük nung Tsungremi anung aser alima poktetdaktsü.’ Which in itself, I should say is a good translation but I believe does not do justice to the full meaning of the word ‘Poktet.’
Let us have a closer look at the word ‘Poktetdaktsü.’
In ‘Ao-Naga Dictionary’ by E.W.Clark,
1) POK has been entered as a suffix which may mean popped, as zangpok popped rice, mendipok popped corn, Mendi (or mendi-pok) apoker, popping corn.
2) POK- from tapok a hole, is a modifier to many verbs as Kipok, to-pok, tsyngpok (tsungpok), shipok, tempok, merypok (meripok), metapok, metsykpok (metsupok), sem-pok, napok, repok, rerpok, mejapok, perrep-pok, sapok.
Poktet – as to develop from the inside or expose an internal part as the popping of rice or corn by roasting, as a germ sprouting, as a tooth appearing through the gum. To bring into existence, to originate, nisung aeiga poktet, many births, eg- soya pokya lir. Tejanu aeiga poktet.
To express such ideas as to conceive, to originate, to devise, poktet is much used. Iba O kong poktet? Where did this story originate? Shisatsy (shisatsu) tali poktet, to increase in wisdom, eg- tali bilimtet, temulung ulur, mental development. So temulung indage or intar, shisatsy indage or intar.
The English word for Hebrew word ‘bara’ is ‘create’ and in translating ‘created’ into Ao using the word ‘Poktetdaktsü’ has narrowed down its meaning to bring into existence or to create. The word poktet means much more than just that, as it also means to spread out from a point of beginning. And in poktet, to orginate does not mean to be created ex nihilo-created out of nothing. Instead it means a starting point for something which already exists. Therefore when our ancestors sang ‘Lungterok nung poker’, they did not mean that we came out of stone or we were created from or by stone. What they did mean was that we began as a people from lungterok and started spreading out from there. That is the reason why the next line of the song says that we formed or settled at Chungliyimti, coming out of lungterok, which is the place where there are six stones, the literal meaning of lungterok.
So, the whole issue of we, now, Christians, should not be singing our traditional song, as it portrays us, the Aos, as made or came out of stone, is a wrong understanding of both the Bible and the folksong itself. We should look into the context of both before making a judgement. I believe both are not antagonistic but rather they complement each other. Genesis talks about how God created man and our folk song, sings how we Ao originated as a people at lungterok and thereafter migrated to Chungliyimti and rest of the Ao areas like bursting out of the mother’s womb. Lungterok nung poker.
Dr. N Temjenpokba Longkumer (Ungma)
Padumphukheri, Dimapur, Nagaland.
(The views expressed are those of the writer and not of the newspaper)
