tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 15 01:19:34 1994

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re:ri' nobmey nobwI' lu

***KLBC***

Holtejvo',



> lojmit DaHaD Da'elpa';  nuqDaq jaghpu' So' net Sovbe'.  **(spelling and
typos corrected)**
>        
> "Scrutinize an enterance before passing through; one knows not where 
> foes may be seated."

H>Your original sentence, "Scrutinize..." uses an imperative.  It's like 
H>saying "You there! Scrutinize!"  You need to use an imperative prefix 
H>on {HaD} if you want to retain this meaning in the Klingon: {yIHaD}.

I thought about this a bit, and am still not sure if the imperative fits the
mod.  It emphasises the importance of  "Scrutinize", but I'm pretty sure the
Norse was something like "study well", which would not carry the immediacy of
an order.  Part of the problem may be the translation f the Havamal  I"m
using; it was borrowed from a friend & I don't care for some of its
translations.

> Hegh HaDIBaHmey, Hegh qorDu', yIHegh'egh je;
> 'ach batlh ghogh Heghbe' pongQaQ Suqlu'ta' netvad.  **(spelling and typos
corrected)**
>        
> "Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself must die;                       
> but the voice of honor never dies for him who has earned a good 
> name."


H>The English "cattle," I believe, is an inherent plural.  Some Klingon 
H>words also have this trait, but not {Ha'DIbaH}.  It's not _absolutely_ 
H>necessary, but in this case, there's no disambiguating verb prefix, or 
H>other element, so I'd consider using {Ha'DIbaHmey}.  Otherwise, it's 
H>something like "the/an animal dies." [Which may also be fine; I guess 
H>it's a matter of style.]

You're right, of course.  Maybe it should be {Hegh toDBajmey}; {toDBaj} sound
like heard animals to me.

H>You've chosen an imperative prefix on {yIHegh'egh}, so it means: "Die 
H>yourself!"  Which, is rather jibberishish.  It should be (following 
H>the English you supplied) {bIHeghnIS}.  Note, I didn't use {-'egh}, 
H>because "you die yourself" doesn't really make sense.  I also added 
H>{-nIS}, to get the "need" in there.

Poetic mood again.  TKD 3.3.2 {thlonmey} is an example of grammer being
secondary to poetic mood.   You're right, it should be {bI-} instead of
{yI-}, but the {-'egh} is needed for the proper mood.  {bIHegh'eghnIS je}
"you yourself must die also"  has a more poetic ring to it.

H>I think a more appropriate word choice for "honor" 
H>here would be {quv}, from the addendum of TKD.  {batlh} means "with 
H>honor," and is used as an adverbial.  Your sentence means "But, does 
H>not die the voice." 

That was what I ment to say, but I like your translation better.  I had read
{batlh} and {quy} as having the same meaning.  I had not considered context,
and I agreewith your use of {quv}.

H>I'm not sure why you have {pongqoq}, "so-called name," when your 
H>translation gives "good name," which would be {pong QaQ}.

Bad spelling.

not ghaHvaD Hegh quv ghogh
"The voice of honor (honor's voice) never dies for him"

pong QaQ Suqta'chugh
"If he has earned ("deliberately get") a good name"

So let it be written, so let it be done.

B> HoSlIj Daghur jaj

H>"The day, you increase your strength"?

H>{jaj} is just floating out there, no verb to call its own.  Why?  
H>Because {Daghur} has the prefix {Da-}, which includes the subject 
H>"you."  The subject position is already taken, so {jaj} has no home.

It should have been {HoSlIj Daghurjaj} "May you increase your strength" or
"May you become stronger".  My typo.  It sounded like a good salutation.

tlhingon Hol handles, eh?  I'll go with {yIHmey SurghwI')  "tribble skinner".
Actually, My wife and I knew a woman who would have had "Tribble-Skinner" as
a last name if she had decided to hyphenate.....
Qapla'!

yIHmey SurghwI'.

Back to archive top level