tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 17 13:50:04 1997

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Re: Hovjaj / Hov poH

ghItlh Lieven:

>I saw someone write Hovjaj for stardate.
>*Hovjaj* ghItlhtaH vay' 'e' vIleghpu'
>qatlh? Dochvam nuq?
>
>Hovjaj would mean star-day. Which one is correct?
>Hov poH would be the stars' time.

Well, it depends, I guess, on what it is you are trying to say. I don't 
personally know of any canonical use of the term in Klingon, so it is left to 
linguistic logic.

I will avoid making a compound here, since we aren't here to invent words, but 
perhaps a compound is acceptable, if it works within the limits of the 
grammar. But "stardate" is an odd construction anyway. The term refers to a 
universal, relativistically unaltered system of chronology. The word 'star' is 
just a cool-sounding marker to make it soud futuristic and space-like. It 
carries no meaning of the word 'star' in this construction. So, I would not 
use it thinking it was a grammatical function. Putting the noun Hov before 
another noun creates either possession (the star's radiation) or apposition 
(the star Wolf 359). Neither of these constructions will yield anything even 
approximating 'stardate'.

Now, how do we specify the time? From Conv. Klingon, we have vagh rep, 5 
o'clock. We don't know for sure how it's used grammatically (or at least I 
don't) and I don't think the time of day is really what 'stardate' is most 
useful for, so this is not a good choice.

Since there is no helpful canon of either terms for 'stardate' or words to 
express the basic concept of the date, we are left without a *legitamite* 
Okrandian word for 'stardate'. Which leaves us with one choice - fake it.

For linguistic discussion, the best way to do this is use the English in 
asterisks. Today's stardate is 97542 = DaHjaj Hut Soch vagh loS cha' 'oH 
*stardate*-'e'.

For more unofficial fan-oriented usage, I suppose *Hovjaj* (marked here to 
denote that it is non-canon) is my favorite. It sounds good, even though it is 
not correct Klingon. Not that my opinion is the only option, either.

Qermaq

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