tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 21 21:42:13 1994

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Re: qamuSHa'ta'




ghItlh charghwI':

> According to Terry Donnelly:
>>
>> The recent discussion of how to say 'love' reminded me of a poem I
>> wrote a while ago. Please critique this:
>>
>>
>>       qamuSHa'ta'
>>
>> qamuSHa'ta'; chaq qa'wIjDaq
>> wej Heghchu' bangwIj'e'.
>
> Hmm. Remember that {bang} refers to a person in Klingon, not an
> abstract emotion.

*My* copy ot TKD defines {bang} as "love, one who is loved".  I don't get 
any sense from this that {bang} refers only to persons.  On the contrary, 
my reading of that definition implies that the personalization is a 
function of the abstract meaning, in the same way that we might call 
someone "My love" in English.

[deletions]

>> chaq latlh bang rap Dalaj.
>
> This seems a little confusing. "Perhaps you accept
> another's same lover."?

The proper way to interpret it is to use {bang} as an abstract noun, 
modified by {rap}, in a noun-noun possessive with {latlh}: "similar love 
of another" (OBTW, {rap} doesn't mean "the same", it means "similar"; 
there is a difference.)

Actually, in the original, the last line is a devastating put-down: 
"maybe you'll be lucky enough to be loved in a similar way by another", 
but Klingon lacks an adverb meaning "with any luck" (unless {Do'} can be 
extended to this meaning), so I had to use the much less forceful {chaq}.

>>           ghItlh //A. Pushkin//
>>
>> (I realize that {-e'} and {-eH} don't really rhyme, but what the hey.)
>
> We don't know that Klingons care if their poems rhyme.

We don't know anything about Klingon poetry; that's why I don't try to 
write it.  This is a Human poem, translated so Klingons could read it.  Any 
Klingon reading this would know 
that it was alien; in fact, its alien sentiments and alien form would be 
part of its attraction.

Is charghwI' the only person allowed to respond to requests for 
critiques?  Note that I did *not* post this to the KLBC.  While I value 
charghwI''s comments, I'd like to hear from others, as well.

> -ter'eS

>> charghwI'

- ter'eS


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