tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 11 08:00:37 2005

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Re: DaHjaj jIlop

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



QeS la':
>jIHvaD Quchbej jajvam. qoSwIj cha'maH cha'DIch 'oH DaHjaj'e'...
>
>SKI: Commander QeS turns 22 today.

Musing on translating "turning 22"...  Okrand wrote on 
msn.onstage.startrek.expert.Okrand (12/12/96):

   The phrase {loSmaH ben jIH} ... if anything, would mean
   "40-year-old me" or the like.  It would parallel {cha'
   vatlh ben HIq} "Two Century Old Wine" ... "I am 40 years
   old" would be expressed as: {loSmaH ben jIboghpu'}. This
   is "I was born 40 years ago". As is normal in Klingon
   sentences, the time element (in this case, {loSmaH ben}
   "40 years ago") comes first.

I wonder if you can use {DaHjaj} or {jajvam} with {-pu'} even though the 
completed act "being born" occurred 22 years ago:

   ? DaHjaj cha'maH cha' ben boghpu' QeS la'
     Cdr. QeS was born 22 years ago today.

   ? jajvam cha'maH cha' ben boghpu' QeS la'
     On this day Cdr. QeS was born 22 years ago.

I also wonder if you can use the Type 3 suffix {-choH} "change in 
state/direction" with {bogh} "be born".  Can the "change in state" refer to 
something happening today (the anniversary), not 22 years ago (i.e. the birth)?

   ? DaHjaj cha'maH cha' ben boghchoHpu' QeS la'

   ? jajvam cha'maH cha' ben boghchoHpu' QeS la'

Another option might be to use {moj} "become" (with the same caveat about 
{DaHjaj} and {jajvam}):

   ? DaHjaj cha'maH cha' ben loD moj(choH) QeS la'.
     "Today Cdr. QeS becomes (turns into) a 22-year-old man."

   ? jajvam cha'maH cha' ben loD moj(choH) QeS la'.
     "On this day Cdr. QeS becomes (turns into) a 22-year-old man."

I can't see anything obviously wrong with it but I'm not sure it 
works.  For those interested, here's {moj} in canon:

   yaS vImojpu'
   I became an officer. TKD

   yaS DImojpu'
   We became officers. TKD

   DIHIvbe'ch[ugh] qo'chajDaq toy'wI''a' DImoj
   Attack or be slaves in their world. ST6

   wa' jaj 'etlh 'uchchoHlaH tlhIngan puqloD;  jajvetlh loD nen moj
   The son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first hold a blade. TKW

   yejquv DevwI' moj ghawran 'e' wuqta' cho' 'oDwI' Dapu'bogh janluq pIqarD 
HoD
   Gowron...named leader of the High Council by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who
   was acting as Arbiter of Succession. S25

{bogh} and {moj} are even used together in:

   bogh tlhInganpu', SuvwI'pu' moj, Hegh
   Klingons are born, live as warriors, then die. TKW

Although very Klingon, that's not a very happy thought for your 
birthday.  Here's a better one:

   SuvmeH 'ej charghmeH bogh tlhInganpu'
   Klingons are born to fight and to conquer. TKW

qoSlIj DatIvjaj!



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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