tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun May 25 14:09:04 1997
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Re: mu'mey mISmoH
On Sun, 25 May 1997, Neal Schermerhorn wrote:
|Here are just four words I'd like anyone's input on.
|
|1) chagh - drop (v)
|
|vIchagh = I drop it. chalvo' chagh = It dropped from the sky.
|
|'Drop' is an English word with an intransitive and a transitive sense. Is
|'chagh' (A) just like English? (B) transitive (as in the first example) (C)
|intransitive (as in the second example) or (D) Gee, well, (scratch head) ...
chagh has never been used by Okrand in a canonical source so we don't yet
know which one it is. However, I suspect he meant it to be transitive, so
one could say dramatic cliches like: pu'HIch yIchagh ("Drop the phaser!").
This may also apply to another unattested word, pep "raise", which would
allow for: ghopDu' tIpep ("Raise your hands!).
|2) chegh - return (v)
|
|paq vIchegh = I return the book. juHwIjDaq jichegh = I return to my home.
|
|Same question.
Opposite answer. chegh is a verb of motion. MSN defines it as "Verb, to
come back to." But, we also have canon:
ghorgh pa'wIjDaq jIchegh?
When can I return to my room? (CK)
DaH machegh.
["We're returning now."] (ST6)
This is said by Gen. Chang when he pulls out his communicator in the
Enterprise's transporter room as Gorkon's party prepares to beam back
aboard Kronos One after the state dinner. BTW, this line (sans translation)
appears in the closed captions to the movie.
|3) chID - admit (v)
|
|Human jIH 'e' vIchID = I admit I'm a human.
|lupwI'Daq muchID lupwI' DeghwI' = The bus driver admits me onto the bus.
|
|Here, 'admit' has two common meanings in English. Both can't be correct in
|Klingon, I'm sure.
The first:
QaghmeylIj tIchID, yIyoH.
Have the courage to admit your mistakes. (TKW)
|4) Duv - advance (v)
|
|Duv jagh = The enemy advances.
|ragh Ho'Du' 'e' Duvbe' HaQchor = Saccharin does not advance tooth decay.
|
|Again, which 'advance' did Okrand or Maltz intend?
There is no canon, but surely it's the first which is more useful in its
military sense. Okrand was writing a language for warriors, not scientists
or historians. On that note, we also have two other ambiguous words: Ser
"progress" (n.) and tlhetlh "progress (v.)--neither used yet in canon.
|P.S. And why HaQchor - saccharin (n), but no word for 'sugar'?? I believe
|sugar is more fitting to a warrior's tastes, not to mention my obversations of
|Klingon teeth.
One of Okrand's jokes? After all, we have words for such "critical" items
like paper clip (mavjop), writer's cramp (ngav), pyjamas (nIvnav), and even
deodorant (noSvagh)!
-- Voragh