tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 27 16:40:09 1997

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RE: KLBC: jIQubDI' jImIS'eghmoH

[email protected] on behalf of Lisa Stapp wrote:
> vay' vImugh 'e' tlhob jupwI'.

{tlhob} is a verb of saying.  Although we're not sure, it seems that verbs of 
saying require direct quotations.  You'd need to say

vay' yImugh mutlhob jupwI'.
My friend asked me, "Translate something!"

Actually, though, this isn't really asking in the Klingon mindset, as shown by 
the imperative form used, so what might be better is

vay' yImugh mura' jupwI'
My friend commanded me, "Translate something!"

(This, of course, forces one to wonder if {ra'} is also a verb of saying.  It 
should also be emphasized that we aren't terribly sure how verbs of saying 
work.)

> chaq *Roy*vaD "In the Holy Name of Jesus* vImughqang, 'ach jumqu'.  *I've
> recasted til I made myself dizzy, and still don't make sense of it.*
> 
> 'oHbogh pong'e' pup *yeSuS*

This sentence I do not understand at all.  "yeSuS is exact, a name which is."

Translating "In the Holy Name of Jesus" is going to be kinda hard, for several 
reasons.  First, there's no word "holy" in Klingon that we know of.  It's 
unlikely that they use it often; ancient Klingon warriors killed all of the 
Klingon gods long ago.

Second, what exactly does "In the name of . . ." mean?  Is it a parallel to 
{-vaD}?  "I do it for his benefit"?  Does it mean that using his name gives 
you authority?  You need to decide exactly what this phrase means, and then 
think about two things: if you even *want* to translate it, and exactly what 
you want it to mean, and not just how it is said in Klingon.

Perhaps some of those who have done some religious translation can help out.  
What kind of solutions have you used?

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97404.4

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