tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 31 08:43:09 2003

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Re: Greeting and Question

Scott Willis ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Johnson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2003 2:34 PM
Subject: Greeting and Question


> I'm new to the list. I received the Klingon dictionary for Christmas, and
> was excited to start learning the language.

Welcome to the list, Bill!
My name is ngabwI', and I am the current Beginners' Grammarian. My job here
is to help out newcomers and beginners in learning Klingon, which means the
people who did it before me have decided you can trust me to evaluate your
work. When you include the letters "KLBC" in the subject line of a message,
it marks it as a beginner-level topic. This may be a question for me, or
just conversation with other beginners in general. KLBC is not limited to
participation by beginners, however. Anyone may contribute. The rule here is
that the first person allowed to discuss the grammar of a KLBC post is the
BG (that's me). Once I've gone through it, anyone can post any corrections
or additions. This keeps the beginner's confusion down to a minimum. If
possible, you should also include what you were trying to say, in English.
This will make it easier for me to make sure you are indeed saying what you
are trying to say.

The three most important web sites to be aware of, if you're not already:

The Klingon Language Institute:
http://www.kli.org

This list's FAQ:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm

The recently set up Klingon WikiWikiWeb:
/wiki/

The FAQ will certainly answer many of your first questions, and it provides
information about learning Klingon, using this mailing list, and KLBC.

Maybe you can introduce yourself  (in English or Klingon) or show us how
much Klingon you know so far.

What language resources do you have already?

Feel free to ask questions, analyze other people's messages, and attempt
your own.

You have been officially welcomed! }}: )

Now on to your question...

> My first translation attempt is to translate my internet handle,
Zombardier.
> [snip]
> The closest thing I found to bombardier was baHwI' the Klingon word for
> gunner.

That's the closest I can find, as well. Good start.

> My first thought was immortal gunner: baHwI' jub
> I figured I could find something closer.
>
> My next idea was to use gunner and living corpse, but when looking up the
> proper syntax to turn yln (live) into 'living' I came across the -qa'
> suffix, which I believe means the verb was doing something, then wasn't,
but
> now is again.

That is indeed the meaning of {-qa'}. It is often translated as "again".

> My final result for Zombardier is:
>
> baHwI' ylnqa'
>
> Which, if I'm translating correctly, would be: Gunner who was once living,
> then stopped, and now lives again.
>
> Is this correct? Any help, advice and input would be greatly apprciated.

OK, I will start by saying that your name is whatever you want it to be.
Period. It's you want to be called. If you want people to refer to you as
{baHwI' yInqa'}, that's what people will call you.

That being said, {baHwI' yInqa'} doesn't mean "re-living gunner".

You've obviously read section 4.4 of The Klingon Dictionary (pg 49), so I
won't quote it here.

As a general rule, the only verbs that can be used in this manner are verbs
whose glosses start with the words "to be...", sometimes called "verbs of
quality" on this list.

There are some exceptions to this, ({vIH} "to move, be in motion" and
{ghal}"to be jealous of" spring to mind), and there has been discussion
about this rule not holding true, but for right now, keep this in mind, and
you'll be OK.

In order to get the meaning "gunner which lives again" across, I recommend
using the type 9 verb suffix {-bogh}. It marks the verb, and the nouns on
either side of it, as a relative clause, and is often translated as "which",
"who", or "whom", in the demonstrative senses of those words. (They can't be
used as question words. There are other words and constructions used for
those cases.) Then the whole phrase is plopped into the sentence as a noun:

{qIppu'bogh yaS} "the officer who hit him/her." (TKD, pg 63)
{yaS qIppu'bogh} "the officer whom he/she hit." (TKD, pg 63)

{'avwI' nejDI' narghta'bogh qama', reH 'avwI' Sambej.}
 "When an escaped prisoner looks for a guard, he always finds one."
(The Klingon Way, pg 200)

The gloss given for {yIn} (v) on pg 114 of TKD is "live". Following the
general rule about "to be.." in glosses, we see that {yIn} probably can't be
used like this. We must use {-bogh}:

{yInqa'bogh baHwI'} "Gunner which lives again."

Like I said, if you want to use {baHwI' yInqa'} as your name, you are
{baHwI' yInqa'}.
But it is highly unlikely that someone would get "gunner which lives again",
or "re-living gunner" as the meaning behind it.

Now it's up to you to pick your name. This is completely your choice, and no
one will tell you to change your name for any reason. So have fun with
it! }}: )

> -- Zombardier
> -- baHwI' ylnqa'

Beginners' Grammarian,
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org/
HovpoH 700982.5

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