tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed May 28 11:49:19 2003
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Re: TKD - vocabulary
Quvar asks:
> >http://www.startrek.com/library/klingon_linguistics.asp?ID=50652
>
>the page tells us:
>"Space vessel primarily used to recover debris and transport waste materials"
>
>Can I use this as a canon resource, and include it in my personal dictionary?
>So far I've included only canon , I don't want to mess it up.
It depends on what you want to use it for. IIRC the sound files of the
words were recorded by Marc Okrand, but their definitions - like the one
cited above - were written by the person at www.startrek.com who maintains
the "Klingon Culture" page. So no, the definitions are *not* Okrandian
canon, but they can be useful in understanding what the word means in a
Star Trek context, particularly if English isn't your first language. Just
don't rely on them for grammatical insights (e.g. questions of
transitivity, plurality, etc.). For example, the above
definition/explanation of "garbage scow" is correct for those unfamiliar
with the English term.
Another example is {pIvghor} "warp drive". Contrast startrek.com's definition:
"a propulsion system that allows a ship to travel faster than the
speed of light"
with that in the new "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary" [2002] for "warp
drive":
"A fictional or hypothetical propulsion mechanism which is capable
of manipulating space-time so as to travel faster than light."
And, for the sake of completeness, the Okudas' "Star Trek Encyclopedia":
"Deuterium was also used as one of the reactants in the matter/antimatter
reaction system in those ships' warp drive. The deuterium was the matter,
and anti-hydrogen served as the antimatter. (TNG 'Relics')"
while this is all Okrand has to say about it in KGT:
"either {cha'pujqutmey} or 'dilithium crystals' will work in a warp
drive system" (p.204)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons