tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 31 04:02:27 1998
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RE: word for glory?
> Dawut here, with a quick question about vocabulary.
>
> In the epidsode "Heart of Glory", Worf speaks of "honor and glory and
> legends [we] will write". I tried to find the word for "glory" and I
> counldn't find it. Does it exist? Is there an accepted alternate?
When trying to translate, you will often be confronted with words in one
language that aren't directly mapped to words in another language. Since
Klingon's lexicon is so small, this will happen *a lot*. The thing to do in
this case is ask yourself, what does the original mean? How can a
comparable meaning be represented in Klingon?
What is glory? My webster's says it's "exalted praise, honor, or
distinction bestowed by common consent; something that makes one honored or
illlustrious." In most cases, I would probably stick with {batlh} or {quv},
unless there were a fine distinction I wanted to make. If you *do* want to
make a fine distinction, rather than just translate word-for-word what
someone else wrote, then describe that distinction, and work from there.
And in doing so, don't just focus on the words. Also take into account the
grammatical tools which Klingon provides, and the Klingon culture.
> And what of Worf describing Grilka as glorious? How would be
> transliterated into tlhIngan Hol?
"Transliteration" has to do with how words are represented. I'd
transliterate "glorious" as *{ghI'lor'Iy'uS} or something. If I wanted to
describe someone as glorious in Klingon (meaning, I suppose, someone who is
honored or illustrious), I'd likely write {ghIrIlqa' quv}, or variations on
this. If you are really looking for something different from "honored",
first decide what you *mean*, then decide how to say it.
> Stardate 9807.30
HovpoH 98580.31
> Dawut
--Holtej