tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Nov 03 08:19:35 2006
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Re: toj pagh nob
>naHQun wrote:
> > So I've been trying to translate "Trick or treat",
De'vID:
><bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh> "feed (me) or die"
>
>Note the homophony between Klingon "feed" and "purchase".
Good catch:
qa' wIje'meH maSuv
We fight to enrich the spirit. TKW
A more literal translation of this Klingon phrase is "We fight
in order to feed the spirit," focusing more on the role of the
giver of enrichment (the Klingon) than that of the recipient
(the spirit). For Klingons, the spirit is something that must
be cared for actively. As the clone of Kahless pointed out,
fighting is more than a physical activity: "We do not fight
merely to spill blood, but to enrich the spirit." Interestingly,
because of the homophony of the Klingon words for "feed" and
"buy", both {je'}, the phrase could also be translated as "We
fight in order to buy the spirit." If this is not mere coinci-
dence, then, perhaps, to the Klingon way of thinking, while one
is alive, one must sacrifice or give up something (the way one
uses credits or latinum when making a purchase) in order to
ensure that the spirit is one's own. [TKW p.7; TNG "Rightful
Heir"]
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons