Word: reflect

Category:

Description/Reason:

have something be bounced off a surface without absorption. "The mirror reflected the beam of light." "The bullet reflected off the armour."


Comment below with feedback and suggestions.

Responses

  1. Would this not be covered by {'et} "bounce, rebound, ricochet"?

    {neSlo'vo' 'et 'otlh tlhegh} – "The photon line bounces off the mirror"

    {SIryoDvo' 'et bach} – "The bullet ricochets off the armor"

    1. Good point that the bullet example is already covered. I agree that solid objects are covered by 'et, but I came up with this in the context of prisms and mirrors. A single photon might be said to bounce off a mirror, as it's a particle, but what about a beam? Are images also said to 'et off of reflective surfaces in Klingon? Maybe change the bullet example to "The moon reflected in the lake."

      I'm writing something about experiments with lasers and beam-splitters so I'm interested in the difference between expressing reflection and refraction, for instance. It might be the case that 'et is sufficient for this purpose (if I'm talking about individual photons).

      1. Isn't a "beam of light" just a stream of photons? I think {'et} would work with waves too though: {bIQ'a' reDvo' 'et  yu'eghmey} – "The waves bounced off the ocean wall"

        I think {'et} could be used to talk about the moon's reflected image: {ngengvo' 'etbogh maS mIllogh vIlegh} – "I see the image of the moon that bounces off the lake".

        1. On the "reflect(ion)" sense, it's also probably worth remembering neSlo' tonSaw' Qav "The Final Reflection", the title of the John Ford novel, in which "reflection" refers to a move conducted in a mirror and is rendered simply as a noun-noun construction with neSlo'. I tend to agree with qurgh, especially for De'vID's work where the physics of the photons themselves is probably most important; the changed path of the beam is probably well described by 'et, and for the reflected image one sees, one could also follow the "Final Reflection" path (which I did in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner: SIla' maSHey "the shadow [poetic = "reflection"] of the moon").

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