tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 03 17:49:50 1995
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Re: KLBC - hello and questions
On Sat, 2 Dec 1995, Chester Braun wrote:
> jImuch'eghneS,
>
> QetaH jIH. tlhingan jIH.
> DaH jatlhbe'ghach jIH.
Hmm, I surmise you are trying to say, "I'm not speaking now."
If so, you would say {DaH jIjatlhbe'.}
{-ghach} is a tricky suffix and it's use hasn't been fully explained to us.
Generally, it creates nouns from verb stems, but it isn't normally used
with only a verb stem, other verb suffixes like Type 7 aspect suffixes
are used with it. E.g. {jatlhtaHghach} (the ongoing process of speaking;
"speech", "talking"), {jatlhta'ghach} (a single, deliberate act of
speaking, "an utterance")
> Well that's about it for an hours attempt at tlhinganHol. I've also tried to
> translate a few phrases and invent a phrase for an English word for which there
> is apparently no Klingon equivalent.
> I'd appreciate corrections and/or comments.
>
> Hung qorDu for 'Hung Family' where Hung is the family name. I also thought
> of translating 'House of Hung' but it seemed awkward.
This is fine, but watch your spelling, the {'} is important: {Hung qorDu'}.
> lurDech Suv for the equivalent of 'martial arts'
This means "he/she/it fights tradition". Note that {Suv} is a verb and
when it is preceded by a noun, that noun is the object of the verb.
There is a word, {tonSaw'} which means "Klingon fighting". You won't
find it in the dictionary, it appears in HolQeD Vol. 1.3.
The Klingon martial art form which Worf studies is called "Mok'bara". We
don't have an official tlhIngan Hol spelling for this word yet.
> ghormeH vaj is my attempt at an equivalent of an ax. Maybe there is a word
> for ax that has been added since the dictionary? I wanted to
> use the verb 'to split' but all I could find was 'to break'. Is
> it appropriate to combine the two words as in; ghormeHvaj ?
This says, "the warrior, in order to break..." Note that {-meH} is a
verb suffix, which means "in order to" and it is only used to create
clauses with a sentence.
E.g. lojmIt vIghormeH DaSwIj vIlo'ta'. (In order to break the door, I used
my boot; I used my boot to break the door.)
It's important to realize that if we don't have a word for something,
the best thing to do is describe the object fully or just leave it
untranslated. After all, English does not have a word for "bat'telh".
I can't really think of a good way to say, "axe". Perhaps you can get by
with {Sur pe'bogh jan ruQ'e'} (manual device which cuts trees) for a
timber axe (unfortunately, this could just as easily describe a saw).
If you want to describe a weapon, such as a battle-axe, you might get by with
vaguely worded {pe'bogh nuH tIn} (large cutting weapon).
Of course these are only coursory discriptions, if I wanted to describe
an axe fully, I would write a long paragraph to describe the item in detail.
> Also I was wondering if there was a compilation of all vocabulary added since
> the dictionary. I know additions have appeared in the newsletter but I can't
> afford to buy all of the old issues at this point. Which brings me to my last
> question; just how much are old issues?
There isn't a single source containing all new vocabulary words (except
for people who have made a list for their own personal use.) You should
contact Lawrence Schoen or David Barron about the price of back-issues of
HolQeD. If you are interested in new vocabulary, then I recommend at
least getting issues 1.3 and 2.4; they contain lots of new vocabulary.
> QetaH
yoDtargh