tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 17 14:02:28 1998
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Re: Klingon love... one more time!
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Klingon love... one more time!
- Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 16:19:07 -0400 (EDT)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> from "Steven Boozer" at Sep 17, 98 12:43:34 pm
According to Steven Boozer:
>
> Valkris: Qapla' jawwI' bangwI' je
> Success my lord and my love. (movie subtitle)
> "She spoke again, in formal tongue, to Kruge. 'Success,
> Commander. And my love.'" (novelization)
>
> Hmmm... Now that I see this again, I wonder which "love" Harve Bennett, who
> wrote the screenplay, meant? Okrand interpreted it as "my loved one" (i.e.
> Valkris wished "success" to her lord and lover), while Vonda McIntyre, who
> adapted an early copy of the script into the novel, read it as the abstract
> noun (i.e. Valkris wished him "love" as well as "success").
I'd argue that the wording in the novel is ambiguous on that.
She could also be addressing Kruge as her "love". If you add
back in the missing "my" before "commander" it becomes more
clearly the same as in the movie, but as written it can be
interpreted either way.
> I wonder which
> reading actress Cathy Shirriff thought she was giving?
Well, do you mean when she was filmed saying the line in
English, or when she dubbed in the Klingon many weeks later?
Anyway, when it comes to meaning, these two convey pretty much
the same concept. If you take the meaning you read from the
novel, then we have a reference to the person addressed stuffed
between the two nouns joined by a conjunction. That would be
rather complex. Simpler would be one noun (Qapla' essentially
treated as an exclammation, not unlike {HIja'}) followed by two
nouns describing the person being addressed, with a conjunction
following the two nouns, appropriately. "Success, my lord and
my love," instead of "Success, my lord, and my love," which
arguably would have been better said, "Success and my love, my
lord." {Qapla' bangwI' je, jawwI'.}
The point is that she is revealing a very passionate secret to
the audience as her last act before her death. We knew she was
serving under him to have gotten him the information.
Meanwhile, just before he blows her ship to pieces, we find out
that they were lovers.
Kruge is obviously taking this Genisis stuff rather seriously.
> : I think given that, it would be quite appropriate to say
> : {bangwI' SoH}.
>
> Or just growl {bangwI'} while staring meaningfully into your Significant
> Other's eyes, avoiding distractions like correct grammar entirely!
No argument there. Still, there's a lot to be said for things
like: qochwI' Damojchugh tlhIngan tuq'a' wIchenmoHlaH.
loSSaDnem parmaqmajmo' bommey Dun bomchu' latlhpu' 'ej lutmaj
luja'taH 'ej nongchoH. qulmaj tuj law' Hoch qulmey tuj puS.
nItIchbogh Hoch qoHpu' vIHoH. batlh qavuv 'ej HochvaD qaquvmoH.
SoH potlh law' yInwIj potlh puS.
pa'wIj pa'lIj ghap?
> : charghwI' 'utlh
>
>
> --
> Voragh "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons lis est." Horace (Ars Poetica)
>
>
charghwI' 'utlh