tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 23 12:35:31 1996
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new vocabulary in ST:K (CD-ROM)
- From: Mark Mandel <[email protected]>
- Subject: new vocabulary in ST:K (CD-ROM)
- Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 15:29:29 -0500
This is not the complete vocabulary of the Klingon Language Lab
from STAR TREK: KLINGON, just the items that are new or
linguistically interesting. I'm working from a copy of Robert
O'Reilly's script for the Language Lab, on which we based our
speech recognition, plus my recollection and notes of some details
of the disc. The gloss after the "=" sign is as it appears in the
script.
Some of you who have actually played the game (I
don't have the hardware) will probably have more insight into the
cultural value of these than I do. Don't jump on me if I
accidentally include something that's already known. I think I've
included everything that's not in TKD, but I've been working with
these for months (and forbidden to share them with you <jay'>!),
so I may have slipped on that side.
yItuv!
marqem, tlhIngan veQbeq la'Hom -- Heghbej ghIHmoHwI'pu'!
Subcommander Markemm,
Klingon Sanitation Corps -- Death to Litterbugs!
Mark A. Mandel : [email protected]
Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
320 Nevada St. : Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| KLINGON PAGE! http://www.dragonsys.com/klingon/klingon.html |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
++++++++++++++++++
yItlhutlhchu'! = Drink up!
The suffix <chu'> is not limited to the literal meanings of the
words it's glossed with ("clearly, perfectly"). In this case it
includes "completely".
qurgh = beans
Klingons are not pure carnivores.
vIno'va' qurgh = finova beans
Duran lung DIr = Durani lizard skins
As MO's audio clip tells you if you click on "more", <lung> is not
just what we would call a lizard, but also includes newt- and
salamander-like animals. In the first draft of the script, this
was to have been "Dura'ngan lung DIr".
tIqnagh lemDu' = Tagnak/TKnag hooves
(I don't remember how they wound up spelling it on the disc.)
Observe that the "body parts" category of plurals includes body
parts of animals as well as of speaking-persons.
naHlet = nuts
>From "hard fruit", but compounded to a single word and
lexicalized. This type of compound, N+V, is not described in TKD.
raHta' = racht
An undescribed kind of Klingon food. MO audio: "There's nothing
worse than half-dead racht." The Terran rendition, "racht", rhymes
with German "Nacht"; if you pronounce the Klingon non-word "raHt"
(but with an American "r") you'll have the way MO says it.
wornagh = Klingon ale
ghojmeH taj = boy's knife (knife for learning)
naQjej = spear
Literally "sharp staff", but compounded and lexicalized, like
<naHlet>.
Daqtagh = d'k tahg/warrior's knife
nuH bey' = Pride of Weapons
A ceremonial display of weapons. <bey'> is new.
chonnaQ = hunting spear
(Note that the <-jej> of <naQjej> is dropped or omitted.)
<chon> appears also in <chontay> 'ritual hunt'. Available evidence
favors considering it a noun. English "hunt" is basically a verb,
and the noun "hunt" is derived from it; but if <chon> is a verb,
<chonnaQ> and <chontay> are V+N compounds, a new type, for which
we have no independent evidence. If, on the other hand, we treat
<chon> as a noun, meaning something like "a hunt" or "the activity
of hunting", this is a standard N+N compound noun (TKD 3.2.1, p.
19). BUT until we see <chon> canonically as an independent word,
we cannot assume that it is one; cf. <nalqaD> below.
lIghon DuqwI' pogh = Ligonian spike gloves
Literally <DuqwI'> = 'stabber'.
HoHwI' = Romulan hunter-killer
Lit. 'killer'.
vItHay' = truthtest
Lit. 'truth duel'. Analogous to trial by combat.
nalqaD = mate-challenge
MO's audio tells us that <nal> is not used as a word on its own,
although it is also found in <be'nal> 'wife' and <loDnal>
'husband'. Technically, it is a bound morpheme, like English
"(o)logy".
cha'nob = ritual gifts
Although grammar tells us that the number is unspecified, to bring
only a single gift would be a horrendous insult (MO audio). Looks
like <cha' + nob> 'two-gifts', but that must remain a guess.
lopno' = party
Seems to contain <lop> 'celebrate': 'the ancestors celebrate'????
quv bey' = Honor display
Cf. <nuH bey'> above. Details, someone?
gha'tlhIq = GaTH'K, Ode of respect
bIreqtal = Brek'tal ritual (replacing of slain husband by
husband's killer)
qeylIS mInDu' = Eyes of Kahless (game)
Qa'Hom = titmouse
<Qa'> 'type of animal' + <-Hom>. As portrayed in the still visual
in the Language Lab, this beastie bears no resemblance whatever to
the Terrestrial bird called a titmouse. It looks more like a small
spiny rodent. I'd bet somebody thought a titmouse was a kind of
mouse and gave it that translation (or created the visual) on that
basis.
HuH = slime! (bile)
In the "Curses" section, which includes insults. I take the gloss
to mean that the literal meaning of <HuH> is 'bile' (in humans, a
bitter fluid secreted by the liver), and "slime!" is an English
invective of similar figurative and literal meaning.
tu'HomI'raH = T'oohimIrah (something useless)
As I've said on this list before, my guess is that this MEANS
'something useless', like English "piece of junk".
qul tuq = A House of Fire
Anyone tell us the cultural meaning?
no' DIr = ancestor hanging
Lit. 'ancestor's/ancestral skin'!
ghobchuq loDnI'pu' = "The Brothers Battle One Another"; Kahless
and Morath statue
This looks like a new verb, <?ghob> 'battle (v)', with the
reciprocal suffix <-chuq>. In what may be either an Okrandian joke
or just a funny coincidence, TKD has <ghob> only as 'ethics (n)'.
bIQ bal = water jug
<bal> is new.
betleH bey' = Bat'telh display
Cf. <nuH bey'>, <quv bey'>, above.
ghochwI' = The Tracker (name of constellation in Kahless myth)
TKD has <ghoch> as 'track, track down (v)' as well as 'destination
(n)'.
botjan yIchu' = Raise shields!
<botjan> is new. Literally, then, 'Activate shields!' MO audio
says that <botjan> refers to the shields of a ship, not a physical
shield such as a warrior might carry into combat.