tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 11 08:53:04 1998

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muHotpu'bogh ghop

There's a line from a song that has been fascinating me lately. 
Translating it into Klingon has proven to be non-trivial, though 
the line seems simple enough:

"Well, I don't know if I've ever been loved -- by a hand that's 
touched me."

I'll start with the most literal translations and work toward 
the one that perhaps expresses the thought most clearly.

mumuSHa'pu'chugh muHotpu'bogh ghop, wanI' vIghovpu'be'.

Then again, given Okrand's MSN example of the use of SIv:

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh 'e' vISIv "I wonder if you speak Klingon"
(vISIv "I wonder it")

Perhaps I should say:

mumuSHa'pu' muHotpu'bogh ghop 'e' vISIv.

Of course, this is a somewhat poetic expression, since it isn't 
really the hand we are talking about. Still the use of this 
reference to the hand makes it a much more personal statement. 
Still, perhaps the somewhat controversial use of {muSHa'} is 
unnecessary. The English word "love" has so many vague 
meanings, perhaps we can dig at this and improve it.

muSaHchu'pu' muHotpu'bogh ghop 'e' vISIv.

The verb {Qorgh} might replace {SaH}, but that might miss the 
finer point of the expression, allowing one to think it simply 
meant that one had failed to nurture the speaker through 
ineptitude or ignorance of method.

The same expression could be faced from the negative 
perspective, since, if one wonders whether, one also wonders 
whether not:

not muSaHchu'pu' muHotpu'bogh ghop 'e' vISIv.

This speaks most directly at the fear implied by the mood of the 
original line from the song. It is not so much that he is 
curious if such a hand has ever cared about him (it was a male 
singer/songwriter, after all. He dreads the recognition that 
there is a good possibility that such a hand has never fully 
cared. The hunger drives the statement.

The suffix {-chu'} might be a concern to some. {-bej} might 
work, or if one really wants to get cynical and wonder if such 
a hand has cared AT ALL, you could leave off any reference to 
certainty or degree.

Still, getting back to the dread, perhaps the mood is carried 
even more clearly by:

not muSaHchu'pu' muHotpu'bogh ghop tlhoS 'e' vISIvvIp.

While this includes the taboo combination of {vI-} and {-vIp}, 
this is a poetic line, after all and in poetry, one can express 
one's deepest, most taboo passions. Perhaps it is enough to 
soften this combination with the adverbial {tlhoS}. It pulls 
short of a confession, but throws out a suggestion like a net so 
that the meaning that is sought might be caught by it.

It is tempting to try to work {vay'} into it to make sure it is 
understood that the concern is not that any specific hand that 
has touched the speaker has cared, but that ANY hand that has 
touched the speaker has cared.

not muSaHchu'pu' muHotpu'bogh vay' ghop tlhoS 'e' vISIvvIp.

I'm not sure if this improves it or muddies it. Each time I read 
it, I change my mind. It could be misread as a fear that while 


many hands which have touched the speaker have cared, perhaps 
one didn't. Ambiguity in language is natural, but there are 
times when it is intolerable. I could go with the clear, but far 
overloaded:

muHotpu'bogh Hoch ghopDu' vIqelDI' muSaHchu'pu' vay' tlhoS 'e' 
vISIvvIp.

Hmmm. As I constructed it, some of the loading peeled away. Some 
might consider it long, but then the original was 15 words in 
English (if you deconstruct the contraction and drop the "well") 
and this is only nine in Klingon. It even allows enough 
slipperiness in terms of using the image of hands touching 
without requiring it be the hands that do the caring. When the 
speaker considers all the hands that have touched him, he is 
nearly afraid to wonder if anyone has clearly cared for him.

I think that pretty much does it. So, for the record:

muHotpu'bogh Hoch ghopDu' vIqelDI' muSaHchu'pu' vay' tlhoS 'e' 
vISIvvIp.

charghwI'

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