tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 15 21:14:53 1994

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

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

Re:ri' nobmey nobwI' lu

According to Robert Baruch:
> 
> 
> > "Cattle die, kinsmen die, you yourself must die;                       
> > but the voice of honor never dies for him who has earned a good 
> > name."
> 
> | H>...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.
> 
> If I might be so bold...
> 
> I would first suggest using the {-'e'} noun suffix: {bIHeghnIS SoH'e'}.  IMHO,
> this adds an emphasis equivalent to 'you yourself'.
> 
> On the other hand, TKD 4.2.1 states on {-'egh}: "This suffix is used to 
> indicate that the action described by the verb affects the performer of 
> the action, the subject.  It is translated by the English /self/..."
> 
> The action 'die' certainly affects the performer of the action (since that's
> what an intransitive verb does).  Adding {-'egh} would seem to emphasize
> that effect.  It seems to me that adding {-'egh} to an English intransitive
> verb is not specifically prohibited by TKD 4.2.1.
> 
> --Rob

While it is true that this usage was not specifically banned in
4.2.1, it is equally true that to exhibit his point, Okrand
chose exclusively verbs that were quite clearly transitive.
While I might agree that the poetic nature of this passage
might allow the use of {-'egh} here, I would be quite cautious
against laying this down as a good example for new users of the
language to follow. I think it is another instance of a special
case in which one who is very sensitive to the specific meaning
of one sentence can get away with doing this, say, several
times a year. Meanwhile, it would be a gross error to consider
this kind of construction to be a normal part of everyday
Klingon speech.

I personally think this passage conveys the original thought
quite well as simply {bIHeghnIS je}. "You also die." The focus
here should be far less on the profound tragedy of the loss of
one life than on the higher priority of honor. That you die
means little more than that your cattle die, save for the
potential for you to sustain honor beyond the bounds of your
short and largely insignificant life.

Greatness does not live in one Klingon's life. It lives in the
honor that is born by the dedication that extends beyond the
boundaries of life and death. THAT is what the original text
says to ME.

charghwI'

Back to archive top level