tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 08 21:05:55 1996
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Re: KLBC: Thinking and compounding
- From: [email protected] (Denny Shortliffe)
- Subject: Re: KLBC: Thinking and compounding
- Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 00:05:51 -0400
[snip]
>If I remember my French correctly, the original expresion "I
>think, therefore I am" was REALLY "Je crois, <I've forgotten the word for
>"therefor"> j'exist." ("I think, therefore I exist").
My understanding is that the original expression was in Latin, "Cogito
ergo sum". This uses the Latin for "to be" which carries with it the
meaning of "to exist" but is not limited to that. So the conundrum
continues. (Don't we English-speakers love our alliteration!)
>This goes back, I think to several people's comments on "translations on
>translations", and why you should always go back to the original, before you
>try to translate something. This is also another example of how English
>uses "to be" WAY too much, and you really should re-cat it, before you
>attempt to translate it into tlhIngan Hol.
I'm not aware that English uses "to be" too much, not any more than French
or Portuguese, two other languages with which I happen to be familiar.
Perhaps tlhIngan Hol doesn't use it enough (perhaps MO planned it that way
just to give us something to do in our evenings!).
Qapla'
qrlIH veStaySortlhIH Sogh Lieutenant K'rlikh Vestai-Shor-Klikh
tlhIngan wo' Duj qIj leng rawI' Commanding Officer, IKV Black Odyssey
a.k.a.
--
Denny Shortliffe