tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 30 07:44:59 1998
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The Anthem (again)
- From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
- Subject: The Anthem (again)
- Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 09:44:20 -0500 (CDT)
: [V]oragh writes:
: << yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI' Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw
: << The blood of battle washes clean the warrior brave and true. (Anthem)
:
: Did this really come from canon? Did MO write this?
:
: My problem is in the word {je}. I have a very strong feeling that MO would
: have used {yoHbogh 'ej matlhbogh SuvwI'......}
:
: peHruS
Okrand did indeed translate Hilary Bader's original lyrics. You're not alone
in finding this confusing. The anthem first appeared in the Klingon CD-ROM -
whose script and novelization was written by Bader - and was later sung
twice (with phonetic subtitles) in DS9 "Soldiers of the Empire." KCD
executive producer Keith Halper explains how the song was written:
"The way was that Hilary wrote something in English, then she faxed it out
to Mark Okrand. Then Okrand translated it to Klingon and put his literal
translation below the Klingon verses. The literal translation is always
skewed a bit, so if you send him `Row, row, row your boat,' you'll get back
`Propel, propel, propel your craft.'" (ST:Klingon! novel p.212)
Oddly enough, the anthem was not in Klingon for the Galactic Traveler but
does appear (I'm told) somewhere in the four-book Day of Honor series. I
found this version of the "never-before-published lyrics" in English and in
Klingon at Simon & Schuster's Day of Honor page in September or October 1997
(http://www.simonsays.com/titles/honor):
Qoy qeylIs puqloD.
Qoy puqbe'pu'.
yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI'
Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw.
maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu'.
nI'be' yInmaj 'ach wovqu'.
batlh maHeghbej 'ej yo' qIjDaq vavpu'ma' DImuv.
pa' reH maSuvtaHqu'.
mamevQo'. maSuvtaH. ma'ov.
Hilary Bader's lyrics, c1997:
Hear! Sons of Kahless.
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill.
Our lives burn short and bright,
Then we die with honor and join our fathers in the Black Fleet where
we battle forever, battling on through the Eternal fight.
Okrand's literal English back-translation:
Hear! sons of Kahless.
Hear! daughters.
The battle blood perfectly cleans the warrior who is brave and loyal.
We fight, we're passionate, and we kill perfectly.
Our lives are not long, but they're very bright.
We certainly die, and we join our fathers in the Black Fleet.
There we always really continue fighting.
We won't stop. We continue fighting. We compete.
If it helps, remember that this is poetry, which often utilizes unusual or
archaic syntax for stylistic effect. Also keep in mind that Okrand will
occasionally use an unexpected construction for his own amusement, or to
help with the fiction of a natural feeling, idiomatic language with
occasional irregularities.
Voragh