tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Feb 26 10:24:16 1995
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Re: Nice Idea ?
- From: Alan Anderson <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Nice Idea ?
- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 95 13:19:34 EST
{Dochmey ngaSbogh chorlIj}? I have two comments on this.
First, since they're "in your belly," might {-Daq} be useful here?
{chorlIjDaq bIHbogh Dochmey'e'} puts the "things" as the subject.
Second, since they're "body parts," maybe they ought to be {DochDu'},
at least as long as they're still in the belly. Or maybe {Dochmey}
implies that you've removed them before reading them.
Here are my suggestions:
(1) vuDlIj vinejnIschugh bIH'e' ngaSbogh chorlIj vIlaD.
"If I must seek your opinion, I read those which your belly contains."
(2) vuDlIj vInejnIschugh burghlIj vIlelpu'bogh vIlaD.
"If I must seek your opinion, I read your stomach which I have removed."
The english would be "If I need your opinion, I will read your entrails."
Even if you change the Klingon to some other organ or body part, keep the
english "read your entrails" part -- it's perfect.
{neH} "know" could easily be substituted for {nej} "seek" in my suggestions.
What do we know of Klingon anatomy? According to TNG "Ethics," most body
systems have redundancy. Could one read {burghDu'lIj} "your stomachs"? Or,
since they're no longer a part of the body, might {burghmey'lIj} be better?
We also know {tagh} "lung." The choice could be made based on how it sounds
rather than accuracy of translation, since as you point out we don't know if
or how Klingons practice(d) haruspication. ("Augurs" were interested chiefly
in the flight of birds.) I think ancient "haruspices" deduced divine will by
examining the entrails of slain victims, which sounds pretty Klingon to me!
-- ghunchu'wI'