tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 15 23:51:43 1994

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Re: SkyBox card SP3

According to Coz:
> 
> 
> This card bears a description printed in pIQaD, then in tlhingan Hol,
> then in English: tlhingan wIy	   Klingon Tactical Display
> 
> 'ejyo' luch rurbe'qu' tlhingan Duj luch.  HoS law'qu luch law'qu' je lo' Duj
> nuH pat je.  

I'm a little puzzled by this last {je}. One presumes that {nuH
pat} is a noun-noun possessive construction: "weapon's system"
and not just two nouns joined by a conjunction: "weapon and
system". I would have expected {nuH pat Hub pat je} here, with
the possible plural suffix on both instances of {pat}, though
that is certainly not a given.

> motlh ray' luSamlaHmeH De' Qatlh cha' tlhingan Duj jIH'a'.

nuq? Is he using {motlh} as an adverbial? That is what the
English translation suggests. Otherwise, we must assume that he
screwed up the word order and meant "usual targets", which even
for Okrand is a waaaaay loose translation of the English. In
fact, it is just plain different-to-the-point-of-being-wrong. I
think this is canon for the use of {motlh} as an adverbial
meaning "usually". The rest of the sentence is a little
strange, but not beyond the bounds of Okrand speaking Klingon.
Again, it is far better than ST5, so things are looking up.

> motlh pIm 'ejyo' Dujmey.

This makes even stronger this conclusion. Otherwise, there is
no justification for both {motlh} and {pIm} existing in the
same sentence without either bearing a suffix to make it a
dependent clause or without a conjunction. He is definitely
using {motlh} as an adverbial. Friends, mark your
dictionaries...

> The English translation is as follows:
> 
> Klingon starship design is vastly different from Starfleet technology.
> A huge amount of the ship's power and technology is devoted to its weapons
> grid and defensive systems.  Unlike most Starfleet vessels, the main viewer
> on a Klingon ship is usually overlaid with a complex target acquisition grid.
> 
> Comments?  Anyone?  Anyone?
> 
> KoSneH

charghwI'

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