tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 20 11:05:06 2012

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[Tlhingan-hol] New Canon - King John Shakespeare

Robyn Stewart ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

I got a hold of Scott McCormick, the groom in the wedding ceremony that media outlets recently reported had a King John passage translated for them by Marc Okrand. Scott kindly sent me the text, but there's a wrinkle. When Marc sent Scott the file he noted: 

"Scott --
Here's what we came up with. (By "we," I mean a friend who's an expert Klingon speaker and I. He did one; I did the other.)"
That's right, half of this is canon from the keyboard of Marc Okrand and half of it was done by someone else, presumably looked over by Marc and then sent on. Is it all canon, then? We have the paq'batlh problem again! Each has the English original, the Klingon translation and an English back-translation.
The first one is simpler. From it I see {bID loD} clearly showing that "half a man" is done in that order and the adverb {neH} following one element of a relative clause. I like it and think it's very well done.
The second one is a little more complex. It uses {-Qo'} where I might have used {-be'}, but in a way that is comfortable to me, like an emphatic, and the back-translation shows that's deliberate. It also uses a {ghobe'} where I would have used {Qo'}, i.e. it's answering no question.
There is one new word, {ruS} - "bond" - but that could have been extracted from the compound {ruStay} by anyone. I'm guessing the second one (containing ruS) is Marc's because DoD is back translated as "coordinates."
An 'expert Klingon speaker' wouldn't have chosen DoD to translate "point in space" or "coordinates" but someone looking up "mark" and finding DoD, then looking up DoD to verify the back translation could easily have done that. 

yItIv.
---

King John

He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she;
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fullness of perfection lies in him.


loD Do' ghaH loDvam'e' 'ach bID loD ghaH

loD naQmoHlaH be'vam rurbogh be' neH

'ej naQHa' be'vam povtaHghach quvqu'

'ach be'vam pupqu'moHlaH loDvam neH


This man is a lucky man, but he is a half man

Only a woman who resembles this woman can cause the man to be complete

And this woman's very honored excellence is not complete

But only this man is able to make this woman very perfect

----
Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
admit impediments. Love is not love
which alters when it alteration finds,
or bends with the remover to remove:
Oh, no! It is an ever-fixed mark.
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.

yab matlh muvchuqghach Sorgh vay' 'e' vIbotjaj.
nge'wI' rurQo' bangna'; SIHlu'be'chu'.
parmaq choH pagh teHqu', choH tu'DI' lajDaj.
ghobe'! qarbejbogh DoDvam qontaH 'u'
jevqu'taHvIS muD ral, bejlI' parmaq.
Qombe'! nISbe' jevwI', 'ej not ruS baq.

Let me prevent that anything sabotage the mutual joining of loyal minds.
A real lover refuses to be like a remover; (s)he is completely unbent.
Very true[ly] nothing changes love when its acceptance finds change.
No! The universe records these coordinates which are definitely accurate.
While the violent atmosphere storms, love still watches.
It does not tremble! The storm does not disrupt it, and it never terminates the bond. 
----

- Qov


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