tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 19 09:14:25 2009

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Re: Star Trek Klingon opening dialogue

Doq ([email protected])



Okay, armed with this, I'll make wild guesses.
On Aug 19, 2009, at 10:35 AM, qurgh lungqIj wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 11:33 AM, Steven Boozer  
> <[email protected]>wrote:
>> qurgh:
>>> Does anyone have a transcript of what Gowron says at the start of  
>>> Star
>>> Trek Klingon?
>>
>> AFAIK no one has ever been able to successfully decipher this  
>> speech, but
>> here's what I have in my notes:
>>
>
> I found out from Marc today what Gowron's speech is based on. He  
> said it's a
> translation of the "O for a Muse of fire" prologue from Henry V (
> http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/henryv.1.0.html). This sounds  
> right since
> the first line definably has the word <qul> in it...
>
> qurgh
>

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!

  og-loo-mesh-kool

'oghlu'meH qul...

Okay, that pretty much ends the easy part. I start looking for any  
familiar words in either the English Shakespeare line or the Klingon  
line and I get pretty desperate pretty soon.

   ro-va-ka dev-wee
   jo-na-zhazh

Sal? I'd expect {Sal} somewhere. I think {zhazh} is as close to {Sal}  
as I can find here.

   gweev-la-tov-lo
   cha oo-koo
   wuv-bush shouk-ta osh

wov buS? [Surely {wov} has to be in there someplace, though I don't  
know what {buS} is doing there.]

Is {SIto'voqor} in there someplace?

Sheesh.


   lo-hey luch-lu
   lo-cha-wee-pu

Two "wee"s use the apparent use of the device? {lo'Hey luch lulo'  
cha' [wee]pu'.}?

Back to Shakespeare:

"A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!"

Surely, there's a {Da} in there someplace... or a {wo'}

   o-shash shuv-wee-pu-'e'

SuvwI'pu''e'. That's definitely SuvwI'pu''e'.

Are the warriors being horizontal, or shallow or superficial?

So, I'd expect a pronoun before {SuvwI'pu''e'}, and I wouldn't expect  
it to be {'oH}, pronounced "o".

   nesh-luu lo-shash losh-bezh
   lazh bu-glesh-lo
   vee-ash lo-toyl-ma
   gosh-la-ka
   sha-dee-wa
   chea do-go-vam
   oools-cha kay-va-dak
   ungadok chak lu-eesh-puzh-a
   me-vee-ya-mesha
   dee-hoh-la-cha

"Then would the war-like Harry, like himself
Assume the port of Mars, and ht his heels
(Leah'd in, like hounds) should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment.

Compared to this, "To be, or not to be" is easy. Okrand really took  
one on. Too bad we didn't get to hear what it sounds like. I'd be  
seriously challenged to try to translate either side of this.  
Basically, it's translating poetry.

I don't translate poetry.

Doq





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