tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 08 11:11:49 1996
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Re: Verbs as Objects
On Mon, 8 Jan 1996, A T GREENE wrote:
> I would hypothesise that the phrase "It is a good day to die" would
> translate into Klingon as something like
>
> HeghmeH net QaQ jajvam
Unfortunately, this can't work for a couple of reasons.
1. /net/ indicates an indefinite subject, and you have an explicit
subject there too, /jajvam/. It's like /net Sov/, "one knows that ...",
and there's no place for another subject.
2. /QaQ/ is a stative verb, and as such shouldn't take an object. So,
simply saying */HeghmeH QaQ jajvam/ wouldn't work either.
The whole problem with trying such a literal translation of this
particular expression, is that people attempt to do so without really
understanding the meaning of the original. For instance, who is going to
die? In "Way of the Warrior", when Gowron says this, I have the
impression that he didn't believe he was about to die. But, if I were
preparing to engage in a hopeless battle, but I believed in the cause
enough to die for it, I might say "today is a good day to die", meaning
that I believe my death is at hand, albeit for a good cause.* Both
readings seem to be possible, based on the context. Just because this
ambiguity exists in the English doens't mean that it should in the Klingon.
Now, for a Klingon, what would it mean for a day to be good, particularly
one on which I may day? Probably that I'd die in battle, with honor.
Then we start getting sentences like /DaHjaj batlh jIHeghjaj/ and such.
> See if you agree or not.
See above. ;)
> Alexander T. Greene
--Holtej
* I am thinking of a particular movie, "I shall fight no more forever",
which chronicles the Cherokee's forced relocation to Oklahoma, referred
to as "The Trail of Tears". At the end, one group of Cherokee stopped
running, and turned around to fight, and before engaging the American
soldiers, the Indian who was leading them met with the American troops,
and at one point says "today is a good day to die", conveying that he
knew his fight was futile and hopeless, but he had to fight it anyway,
though he'd certainly die, which he did.