tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 28 14:55:56 1994
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Re: DAYS OF THE WEEK, MONTHS,...
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: DAYS OF THE WEEK, MONTHS,...
- Date: Fri, 29 Apr 94 02:50:36 EDT
>DAYS OF WEEK, MONTHS & SEASONS IN KLINGON
>by G.F. Proechel
>One of the frustrations in speaking and writing Klingon is the absence
>of what for Earthlings are very elementary concepts. The days of the
>week, months and seasons fall in that category. Since these concepts
>of time are based on elementary facets of the reality of our solar
>system and the interaction of a number of heavenly bodies within our
>solar system, it is hardly surprising that beings who exist in a very
>different astronomical reality would not have words which correspond
>to these aspects of the solar system. We can talk about such things
>in Klingon, however, without having to resort to English.
yuQtejqoq yIDaQo'. The astronomical system associated with Earth is nothing
particularly unique. Seasons occur by the tilt of the Earth's axis. Without
the tilt, life would either not exist here, or else it would be something
quite different than what we've come to call 'life'. Klingons are genetically
similar to Terrans. They also live in an environment compatible with Terran
life. Otherwise Klingons would not be having personal contacts with Terrans
in an area or room with Terran life support systems, and vice versa.
(That's another annoying Terkism: that virtually all alien species shall have
proportions amazingly close to Earthers, breathe oxygen, have exactly 20
phalanges, be bipedal, speak perfect English, etc., etc., etc...)
Klingons' must have evolved in a biological environment very close to that of
humans. It would not surprise me at all to find out that Kronos has an axial
inclination approximating Earth's (somewhere near 23.5 degrees). Thus seasons
probably do occur on Kronos and Klingons no doubt have words to describe
them. TKD is by no means an exhaustive list. Klingon words number at the very
least into the tens of thousands. Somewhere there are words for the seasons.
The best we can do while waiting for them to be discovered is use neologistic
nominals to describe them.
>The concept of the week and its seven days was invented in a time when
>astrologers were not really aware of the three outermost planets:
>Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. (Even now some people believe that we
>have not discovered all the planets.) Thus, the Earth shared the
>solar system with seven other heavenly bodies: the Sun, the Moon and
>five other planets. It was from these seven heavenly bodies that the
>concept of the week was developed and from which we derived the names
>for the days of the week. Many Terran cultures seem satisfied to
>refer to the days of the week by first day, second day, etc. This can
[...]
I may be wrong, but I thought only Saturday thru Tuesday were days that had
planetary origins. Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon are obvious. Tuesday is
named for Tiw, the northern god of war. Tiw was what the Anglo-Saxons called
Mars (cf. French {mardi}, "Tuesday"). The next three week days are named
after the gods Woden, Thor (Scandinavian god of thunder), and Frig (wife to
Woden). Did the Saxons have planets for these gods? I'm not sure, but I
suppose Proechel is right about the seven days corresponding to the seven
known heavenly bodies. Oh well.
>be easily accomplished in Klingon. That would give us:
>Sun: jaj wa'DIch (It must be remembered that ordinals come AFTER the
>thing they modify, so the equivalents of first, second, third, etc.
>will always come AFTER jaj.)
<-DIch> yIpoDmoH - 'utbe' - 'e' DaHarbe'chugh vaj [TKD 5.2] yIlaD
jaj wa' = Sunday, jaj cha' = Monday, etc.
>In the months as well we have no alternative but to number them from
>one to twelve. Here's the result:
[...]
>This is perhaps a not very attractive solution, but it is a practical
one.
This is how the Japanese do it, isn't it?
>It should be noted that the word for year is DIS. This seems to be a
>play on words: jar for month and dish for year.
toH - 'e' vItlhojpu'be' - jIHaghqu'
>The seasons too, present a problem, as we have no idea of the cycle of
>nature which occurs in the Klingon home world. It would be possible
[...]
See above.
>I hope this little essay makes it easier for people who want to talk
>about time and seasons on planet Earth in Klingon. This is the best
>we can do without creating neologisms at the moment.
Actually, these *are* kind of like Proechel's own little neologisms. Nick has
his own. I prefer Nick's to Proechel's, Nick's being more grammatical. {bov
tuj} = summer, {bov bIr} = winter. How about spring and fall? How did these
come out?
I might use {bIrchoHmeH bov} for fall, and {tujchoHmeH bov} for spring. These
aren't all that illuminant. I'd accept alternatives, so long as they're
grammatical.
The article is undoubtedly characteristic to Proechel. It's slightly less
radical than his article on extended kinship terms (HolQeD 2:3). Other people
have been and will always be making stuff up when it's lacking in TKD, until
Okrand gives us the terms. For now, I'll stick to my own method for
describing time:
DIS wa'SanID Hutvatlh HutmaH loS, jar loS, jaj cha'maH Hut, rep cha', tup
wa'maH loS, lup vaghmaH chorgh
2:14:58 (am), 29 April 1994
Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos