tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Apr 24 13:49:13 2002
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Re: Imperial Klingon Vessel
Ubuvor asks:
>In the tlhIngan Hubbeq is there a separate branch for the navy and the
>marines?
>If so, what are they?
If the Klingons have a separate term for ground troops - not to mention one
for marines (i.e. naval infantry), navy, air force, coast guard, border
patrol, strategic rocket forces, etc. - we don't know it. There could,
however, be obsolete words for these branches, which may have been
consolidated into the {tlhIngan Hubbeq} - if, indeed, they ever existed! -
when the Klingons went out into space.
Here are a couple of passages from _Klingon for the Galactic Traveller_
which summarizes our linguistic knowledge of the Klingon military,
exclusive of ranks:
The entirety of a government's military apparatus is its {QI'}, usually
translated simply as "military". The word is rather general in that it may
apply to a nongovernmental military organization as well, such as that of
a group of rebels. Though many Klingons themselves are apt to describe the
Federation's Starfleet as a type of {QI'}, this is not really an appropriate
use of the term, since {QI'} refers to the military only, while the
functions
of Starfleet are scientific and diplomatic as well. This misapplication of
the term may, in part, be responsible for the frequent misunderstandings
between the Federation and the Empire. The official Klingon {QI'} is the
Klingon Defense Force, or {tlhIngan Hubbeq}, which is run by the Klingon
High Command, or {tlhIngan ra'ghomquv}. The Defense Force is subdivided into
units known as {yo'} and {nawlogh}, traditionally translated as "fleet" and
"squadron", respectively, but the relationship between the two is not
straightforward in terms of chain of command." (KGT 51)
A ship's full complement of personnel, crew plus officers, is called a
{wey},
perhaps best translated as "company". The general word for officer (in
addition to the specific term for various ranks) is {yaS}. An individual
crew member is a {beq}. ({QaS} [troops] applies to nonofficers whether or
not assigned to a ship.) (KGT 50)
The word {mang} is used when the warrior under discussion is described in
terms of his membership in a fighting unit (for example, as a crew member
on an attack cruiser). Perhaps for this reason it is sometimes translated
"soldier". The usual plural form of {mang} is a different word altogether:
{negh} (warriors, soldiers). The word {mangpu'} is seldom used used, but it
is not ungrammatical. It carries with it the notion that there are
individuals (more than one {mang}) making up the group; {negh} focuses on
the group as a unit. A similar word, {QaS}, normally translated "troops",
is used in almost the same way as {negh}, but it excludes officers. All of
the {negh} together make up something called a {mangghom}. Literally, this
is "warrior group" or "soldier group," but it is usually translated as
"army".
(KGT 49-50)
That being said, Glen Proechel once came up with *{bIQbeq} for "marine", on
the model of {Hubbeq} "Defense Force". I can also think of *{yavbeq}
"ground crew", *{yavmangghom} "ground army", *{yavmang} "ground soldier",
etc., off the top of my head if you really, really want one. Keep in mind,
however, few will automatically translate these as "marine" unless you
explain them.
>Then I can complete my tlhIngan pong. So far it read as thus:
> baraSugney bu' laqSmIy tugh jIH
> tlhIngan wo' Duj Deb qulHom
I may have misled you a bit. {jIH} is the pronoun "I" and can be used in
equational sentences of the type "I am X": e.g. {tera'ngan jIH} "I'm a
Terran", {voragh jIH} "I am Voragh", or {baraSugney bu' laqSmIy tugh jIH}
"I am Sgt. baraSungney, of the House of laqSmIy". But if you're filling
out an application, you'd omit {jIH} since you're just listing your name,
rank, House, and command. If OTOH you do want to state all this as a
sentence, you could say:
baraSugney bu' laqSmIy tugh jIH 'ej tlhIngan wo' Duj <<Deb qulHom>>Daq
jItoy'.
I'm Sergeant baraSungney, of the House of laqSmIy, and I serve on the
Imperial
Klingon Vessel "Desert Flame".
>It should read:
> baraSungey (marine) bu' laqSmIy tugh jIH
> tlhIngan wo' Duj Deb qulHom
> Arizona
>
>I guess I should also ask for the translation for Arizona, and also what is
>the closest the the Z sound (as in zantai-)
Never translate alien proper names, just transliterate them if you
must. For English z I would use /S/, though I have seen people use /tlh/
on occasion. I've also seen the klingonaase title transliterated as
*{Santay} or *{Santay'}. Personally, I'd just leave it as *zantai* which
warns the alert reader that this is a non-tlhIngan Hol word which should
not be looked up in the dictionary.
We still need to ask Maltz about for more unclassified details of Klingon
military organization.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons