tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 09 07:33:05 2006
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Re: [Klingon_Language] (unknown)
karen bank wrote:
> > How would I write "I'm my own grandfather" , using Klingon?
Alan Anderson:
>{vavnI'} "grandfather"
>{-wI'} "my (capable of speech)"
>{jIH} "I, me"
>
> {vavnI'wI' jIH} "I am my grandfather."
>
>To mirror the "my own" of the English phrase, I would use the topic
>suffix {-'e'}:
>
> {vavnI'wI''e' jIH} "I am *my grandfather*."
I would have put {-'e'} on the pronoun:
{vavnI'wI' jIH'e' "*I* (and no one else) am my grandfather.
We've seen emphasized pronouns:
lujpu' jIH'e'
I, and only I, have failed. TKD
'ach HoD, Hevetlh wIghoSchugh veH tIn wI'el maH'e'!
But Captain, that course will take *us* into the [Great] Barrier as
well. ST5
> > I know that's a bit of a silly question, but I've been wondering
> > about this for a while
It's not silly. I've wondered how to translate "one's own" for some
time. I could find only two examples of "own" in canon:
vaj toDDujDaj ngeHbej DIvI'.
That means the Federation will be sending a rescue ship of its own. ST5
Okrand used {-bej} on the verb and {-Daj} on the object: "Therefore the
Federation will definitely send its rescue ship."
tlhIngan ngoQmey chavmeH HoH tlhInganpu'.
Klingons kill for their own purposes. TKW
Here Okrand repeats the noun {tlhIngan} instead of using the pronoun
{-chaj} "their": "Klingons kill [in order] to achieve Klingon goals."
So with those examples in mind, how would you render the difference between:
"Kruge killed the traitor with his (i.e. Kruge's) knife."
"Kruge killed the traitor with his own (i.e. the traitor's) knife."
{tajDaj} "his knife" alone is ambiguous. One could always repeat the noun
- {Qugh taj} "Kruge's knife" vs. {maghwI' taj} "the traitor's knife" - but
I don't think this captures the irony (or justice?) of the second. Perhaps
this is less clumsy in Klingon than in English.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons