tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 03 19:28:49 1997

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Analysis of new Skybox cards

This is may or may not be the first study of the text of the newest
Skybox cards (I haven't gotten my email yet today) but I had to do it
anyway.

The text of the cards is in the latest HolQeD - but there are some
obvious errors (and one not-so-obvious one that I wouldn't have caught
if I hadn't gotten the card already!).  I will take each card one
Klingon sentence at a time.  My translations are *not* the best ones -
I'm looking at getting all the components of the Klingon accounted for,
not getting the best English translation (arguably that's what's on the
cards to begin with!)

------

S31 {Hegh bey}  Death Howl

A new word already!  Yea!  And, as Lawrence points out in his column
"The Return of Maltz", Marc's warped sense of humor is all too evident. 
{bey} appears to be a noun, meaning "a howl".

{HeghDI' tlhIngan SuvwI' pagh tlhIngan SuvwI' HoHlu'DI' Heghtay lulop
latlh tlhInganpu'.}
"As soon as a Klingon warrior dies, or as soon as someone kills a
Klingon warrior, other Klingons celebrate the Death Ritual."

No new words in this sentence, but we finally see how Okrand uses
{latlh}.  It is apparently a "pseudo-number" similar to {Hoch},
{HochHom} and {'op}, and goes before the noun it modifies.

{Heghtay luloptaHvIS chaH chaq bey SeQ lujach.}
"While they celebrate the Death Ritual, perhaps they scream a cermonial
howl."

Another new word: {SeQ}.  Based on the English translation of the text,
this would be a stative verb meaning "be ceremonial".  And {bey} is
definitely a noun .

{Heghpu'bogh tlhIngan mInDu' lupoSmoHlu'.}
"Someone opens the eyes of the Klingon who has died."

Okrand seems to be remembering the {lu-} prefix on his {-lu'} verbs now!

{beyHom bey bey'a' jachtaH latlh tlhInganpu'.}
"The other Klingons cry out small howls, howls, great howls."

This is mega-weird.  If I didn't have the English text of the card I'd
be completely lost.  This is apparently how you express a series of
events through time...??????  I can see how he's thinking "crescendo"
here, but I'm not sure how I'd do this with other nouns.  There ought to
be a {je} on that list, oughtn't there?

{yay 'oS bey.  'IQ pagh.}
"The howl represents victory.  No one is sad."

{Heghpu'bogh latlhpu' ghuHmoH bey.}
"The howl alerts others who have died."

{ghoS tlhIngan SuvwI' maq.}
"It proclaims, 'A Klingon warriors comes.'"

Obviously, {maq} "proclaim" is a verb is saying, like {jatlh}, {ja'},
and {tlhob}.

-------

S32  {'oy'naQ}  Painstick

{nentay loptaHvIS tlhIngan potlh tlhIngan 'oy'naQ'e'.}
"While a Klingon celebrates the Rite of Ascension, the Klingon painstick
is important."

{SIQwI' lu'oy'moHmeH juppu'Daj 'oy'naQmey lo' chaH.}
"His friends cause pain to the enduree using painsticks."

{SuvwI' qa' patlh veb chavlaHmeH tlhIngan lo'chu' chaH.}
"They use them so that the Klingon can achieve higher rank of the spirit
of the warrior."

{veb} is new.  Looks like another stative verb meaning "be higher" or
"be more developed".  If it's "be higher" I'd guess that a clarification
like "(in rank)" might apply, since it's not physical height we're
talking about (that's {jen}).  If "be more developed" is closer, then
why not {'Itlh}?  Also, {patlh} must be any rank in a heirarchy, and not
just military rank.  Probably Klingons see all heirarchical systems as
military or paramilitary, so they'd have no problem thinking {patlh}
when confronted with "deacon, priest, monsiegnor, bishop, archbishop,
cardinal, Pope."

{toDujDaj toblu'.}
"Someone proves his courage."

{wej 'ujmey 'ab 'oy'naQ.}
"A painstick measures(?) three (somethings)."

A double whammy!  The English says "Painsticks are a little over one
meter long."  {'uj} is then obviously a unit of length *much* shorter
than a kellikam - probably about 14" (one meter is 39.4 inches).  My
best guess for {'ab}, obviously the verb of the sentence, is that it
means "is measured to be"; the subject is the thing being measured and
the object is the measurement.  It could also refer srtictly to length;
I wouldn't be surprised to see *three* verbs of measurement, one each
for length, width and height.

{chIch vay' 'oy'moHmeH 'oy'naQ 'ul law' tlhuD 'oH.}
"The painstick emits many (something), for the purpose of intentionally
causing someone pain."

NOTE:  In HolQeD, it says "... 'oy'naQ 'vI law' tlhuD 'oH} - the {'vI}
should be {'ul}!  I checked the card twice to be sure.

The English says it "emits a highly-charged shock".  {tlhuD} is
obviously "emit".  From the context, {'ul} looks to be a unit of
electricity, probably voltage (as anyone who's played with a Van de Graf
generator knows, it isn't the voltage that's harmful, but the amperage!)

------

S33  {So'wI'}  Cloaking Device

{Hoch tlhIngan DujDaq So'wI' jomlu'}.
"Someone installs a cloaking device on all Klingon ships."

{jom} apparently means "install".  I thought at first "equip" but you
equip the ship, not the cloaking device.

{puvlaHbogh Duj ngabmoHlaw' So'wI'}.
"The cloaking device apparently causes to vanish the ship which can
fly."

HolQeD has {puVlaHbogh DujngabmoHlaw' So'wI'} which is obviously a
typo.  On the other hand, the text doesn't make all that much sense.  I
think {puvlaHbogh} probably should be {puvlaHtaHvIS}, unless I missed
the meaning entirely.

{boq lucherDI' tlhIngan wo' romuluS Hov wo' je So'wI' cham Soqpu'
tlhIngan wo' chaq tampu'.}
"As soon as the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire set up an
alliance, the Klingon Empire gained cloaking device technology, perhaps
they exchanged it."

The first part is clear enough.  We see {cham} by itself for the first
time, meaning "technology" and obviously a noun.  (This still leaves
unclear what it means in {chamwI'} "technician".)  {Soq} is unknown but
looks to mean "gain"... unless this is another typo and the card reads
{Suq} "acquire".  (I don't have this card yet, so I can't check.) 
Finally, the {chaq tampu'} seems an odd fit; I don't know why it's
atcked on to this sentence and not separate.

{chaq romuluSnganpu'vaD pIvghor cham lunobpu' tlhInganpu'.}
"Perhaps the Klingons gave warp drive technology to the Romulans."

{HoS law'qu' natlhmo' So'wI' QaptaHvIS So'wI' QaplaHbe' nuHmey.}
"Because the cloaking device drains LOTS of power, weapons cannot
function while the cloaking device functions."

{natlh} is apparently a transitive verb meaning "drain", or perhaps
"consume (power)".

{ngongmeH wa' DujDaq nuHmey nISbe'bogh So'wI' jomlu'pu'.}
"Someone installed a cloaking device which did not disrupt the weapons
in one ship as for the purpose of an experiment."

{jom} again.  Also, English text for this line and the next were not
given in HolQeD.  Meanings are best guesses.

{HovpoH Hut vagh cha' wa' vI' jav Dujvam 'aghlu'pu' 'ach Qaw'lu'pu'.}
"Someone (?) this ship on Stardate 9521.6 but someone destroyed it."

Hooookay!  "Stardate" is {HovpoH}.  {vI'} means "point"?  Hmmm. 
{vatlhvI'} means "percent" and {vatlh} is "hundred", so perhaps {vI'}
means "decimal".  In any case, we now know how to do decimal numbers in
Klingon without working around the subject using percents.  Pi = {wej
vI' wa' loS wa' vagh Hut}.  (Whoa.  If Klingons are "never approximate",
how do they handle numbers like pi and e?)

{'agh} is *very* obscure.  Without an English translation I have no clue
as to what this may mean.  

-------

Anyway, those're my first impressions.  If this is any indication of the
amountof new vocabulary in Okrand's new book, Maltz must have been in a
*very* accomodating mood....


-- 
Qob la' (tlh.w.D. quttaj ra'wI')
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD qhojwI'

[email protected]
http://www.frontiernet.net/~qob/

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