tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 07 08:43:44 2004

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

QuljIb ([email protected])



Steven Boozer <[email protected]> wrote:

jIghItlhpu' 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!

jang Voragh:
>Some suggestions:
>
>1) {wa'SaD} "one thousand"

A!! ghuycha! HIvqa' veqlargh!!

>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}.

It's more the idea of an unexpected boon...a double-edged boon, unfortunately. :-)

>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!

Hmmm...close. The meaning is preserved more with the phrase {Hoch pa'Daq}.

>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!

Hmmm... {batlh wa'SaDlogh bIheghjaj} on the other hand sounds like a grand wish.


-quljIb





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