tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jul 06 12:57:34 2004

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Re: mu'qaDmey tIQ (was:Re: imperative + -jaj)

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

quljIb:
>This reminds me of the following ancient curse:
>
>      pa'mey ghajbogh mebpa'mey Daghajjaj 'ej Hoch pa'Daq lomlIj
>         tu'lu'jaj' vay'!
>      May you inherit a hotel with a thousand rooms and be found
>         dead in every one!

Some suggestions:

1) {wa'SaD} "one thousand"

2) *{ghajchoH} "come to have" might be closer to "inherit".  Since we don't 
have the word for this, the only other way I can think of is to say 
something like "receive X from your father/ancestors".  Is the idea of 
inheritance crucial to the curse?  If not, then leave it as {ghaj}.

3) If you use {-lu'} "indefinite subject" you cannot use the noun {vay'} 
"someone, anyone" as the subject.  {vay'} implies a definite someone, even 
if unidentified further.  An indefinite subject just means one that is not 
stated in the sentence, not one that is not known.

Putting this together:

   wa'SaD pa'mey ghajbogh mebpa'mey'e' DaghajchoHjaj 'ej Hoch pa'Daq
   lomlIj tu'lu'jaj!
   May you come-to-have guest-rooms with 1,000 rooms and may your
   corpse be found in each of them!

Since there are so many {pa'mey} and {ghaj}es in this sentence, it might be 
best to drop the relative {-bogh} clause:

   mebpa'mey DaghajchoHjaj 'ej Hoch pa'Daq lomlIj tu'lu'jaj!
   May you come-to-have guest-rooms and may your corpse be found
   in each (every one) of them!

Changing {Hoch pa'} "each/every room" to the plural {Hoch pa'mey} "all the 
rooms" to match the plural {mebpa'mey}:

   wa'SaD mebpa'mey DaghajchoHjaj 'ej Hoch pa'meyDaq lomlIj tu'lu'jaj!
   May you come-to-have 1,000 guest-rooms and may your corpse be found
   in all of them!

A Klingon might well be even more direct:

   wa'SaD mebpa'mey Daghajjaj 'ej Hoch pa'meyDaq bIHeghjaj!
   May you have 1,000 guest-rooms and [may you] die in all of them!

or even more concise:

   wa'SaDlogh bIHeghjaj!
   May you die a thousand deaths!
   ("May you die 1,000 times!")

and might even throw in {batlhHa'} "dishonorably" just for good measure!



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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