tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jul 05 00:33:14 1997

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Re: Analysis of new Skybox cards



ja' charghwI':
>> {bey} appears to be a noun, meaning "a howl".
>Meanwhile, by this logic, the word also means "display" since it
>was used in a similar way on the Klingon CD as a separate word
>always paired with another noun: {betleH bey, nuH bey, quv bey}.

The word from the Star Trek: Klingon CD-ROM is {bey'}.

>I'm not so sure about the crescendo thing. That's not how it
>looks when they do it on the CD or TV show,

Look again at the first two times we see it, in the first-season
TNG episode "Heart of Glory".  If your TV sound isn't great, you
might not even hear the low growl that precedes the full-blown
howl, and you might not notice that it gets louder yet just before
it stops.  But the "home theatre" system I got around the time TNG
came out (I won't admit that there was any connection) clearly
reveals a crescendo.

>...and while verbs do
>seem to follow each other like that to indicate time sequences,
>we have not seen nouns do that,

Until this example, anyway.

>...and the English translation does
>not suggest that to me.

Watch out -- the English that Qob gave is his own back-translation
from the Klingon, not what is on the cards.

>> {nentay loptaHvIS tlhIngan potlh tlhIngan 'oy'naQ'e'.}
>
>Note use of {-'e'} for emphasis.

Or merely as a topic marker.  This sentence might prove unsettling
to Nick Nicholas in light of his article which happens to appear in
the same issue of HolQeD as the Skybox cards...

>> {puvlaHbogh Duj ngabmoHlaw' So'wI'}.
>
>Maybe he is just making a statement about the ship's ability to
>fly (as opposed to a sea ship, which can't).

Or there's a distinction between a less complex "invisibility screen"
that can't mask subspace field emissions, and a fancy "cloaking device"
with that ability.

>> {HoS law'qu' natlhmo' So'wI' QaptaHvIS So'wI' QaplaHbe' nuHmey.}
>
>Also, we have confirmation of {law'} meaning "much", since
>{law'qu'} is translated as "LOTS" while measuring something one
>does not count.

The Skybox English text refers to "the tremendous energy drain" here.
Maybe {HoS} *can* be counted...or maybe {law'} does work on collective
nouns like {bIQ} or {tlham}.

>I am both happy and tired. I just updated four dictionaries. I
>don't know how to list {vI'}. Noun? chuvmey? "Decimal point in
>spoken number"?

I received my copy of HolQeD with this new vocabulary (plus the other
two words previewed from the new Okrand book) less than four hours
after I had printed out my newly updated pocket dictionary.  While it
is nice to have fresh vocabulary, especially when it's as useful as
{'ab} seems to be, it looks like I'm fated always to have handwritten
entries in the paper copy. :-/

-- ghunchu'wI'




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