tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Apr 17 10:47:10 1995

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

re: Easter Translation

yea, verily, verily, i thank thee for thy input.    ;)

>>> allelu'ya!  yInqa'ta' QrISt!
>>>yInqa'ta'qu' joH!  allelu'ya!
>>{-ta'} indicates the action is completed and was deliberately undertaken.
>>{-pu'} also indicates completion but does not indicate deliberate intent.
>>{yInqa'ta'} means "He had resumed living" or "He had lived again"  It 
>>indicates that event of his living again had occured and is over.
>>I don't think you would want to use either {-ta'} or {-pu'} 
>>I think I would translate this as {yInqa'taH} (He continues to live again). 

>>Also note that all of these aspect markers are neutral as to time. If you 
>>wanted to specify the present, you could use {DaH} (now).

Of course, i don't wish to enter theological debate here.  But as i understand
the sentence grammatically, the main verbal action of "Christ is risen" is a 
completed specific act of resurrection.  
The English version's construction is actually a commonly misunderstood 
archaic germanic-rooted use of the pres.perf.  "risen" is not a predicate 
adj., but a verb form.  In modern eng., the "is", in this case, would be 
completely interchangeable with "has".  Modern German still retains the 
construction, in which "ist" [instead of "hast"] is used for pres.perf. with 
verbs implying motion -- e.g., "he is risen",  "he is moved", "he is gone", 
and "he is walked away" in literal trans.  So what we're dealing with here is 
really "Christ has risen" or "Christ has resurrected" -- i.e., christ has 
completed his resurrection.

Given that background, this was my logic: 
i took the verb "to rise"("to resurrect") and gave it a Klingon equivalent 
>>yInqa'<< -- to resume living.  since the subject, QrISt, has completed the 
action (grammatically, he's no longer in the process of resurrecting), i added
>>-ta'<< or >>-pu'<<, assuming a "has" trans.  To capture the theological 
point that QrISt rose according to his own prophecy and those of others, i 
narrowed it down to  >>-ta'<<.  
In other words,  I'm not so much trying to say that he continues to live 
again, but rather that he has completed a specific action -- the resumption of
life (which would then implicitly allow him to continue living now, 
>>yIntaH<<.) 

Does >>yInqa'ta'<< at all capture the sentiment described above?  Or in 
working backwards have i still managed to miss the subtleties of the Klingon 
usage?  Given that frame of reference, would >>yInqa'ta'<< still imply that 
QrISt has finished living again (as opposed to resuming living)?  If so, would
>>DaH<< fix it?  I get Eng and German nuances fairly well, i think; but i'm 
still just a wee baby, as far as tlh-H goes.  Again, comments and correction 
are perfectly welcome (I want to get it right!); and thanks for putting up 
with this rather long-winded commentary.

>>As for "The Lord is risen indeed", I would translate this as:
>>{yInqa'bejtaH joH} (The Lord certainly continues to live again).

Hey, wow.  I missed that one completely.  Makes perfect sense.  thanks! :)

>>"Alleluia" or "hallelujah", if I'm not mistaken, is Hebrew for "praise the 
>>Lord" {joH yInaD}.

Since many human languages simply retain certain Hebrew terms in bastardised 
form -- "Alleluia/hallelujah" and "Amen" being the most notable -- i elected 
to do the same with Klingon.  
Is anyone aware of how the KBTP handles these two?

Qapla' 
William ([email protected])

Back to archive top level