tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Aug 28 08:49:55 1998

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RE: KLBC - paghvaD pab qab vInob

: tuv'el jang pagh:
: >> jagh vengDaq ghuS'a' cha?
: >> "Are the missiles ready to launch at the enemy's city?"
: >
: >This doesn't quite work for me. <ghuS'a' cha> means "are the missiles
: >ready (to launch)", but the "to launch" part is really just Okrand's
: >clarification - "to launch" as opposed to "to explode" or "to turn into
: >small fish". <ghuS> is similar to English words like "armed", "loaded",
: 
: {ghuS} means "make ready", not "be ready".  The clarifying "to launch"
: is further clarified as "to launch {torpedoes)".  The subject is the
: person doing the preparation, and the object is usually torpedoes.
:
: {ghuS'a' cha} asks if the torpedoes are ready to launch torpedoes, not
: if they themselves are ready to be launched.  What we need here is to
: ask if the torpedoes are ready to *be* launched.  Try {cha ghuSlu''a'?}
: 
: -- ghunchu'wI'

"There is, it should be noted, a verb {ghuS} which means 'to be prepared to
launch or project (something)'. This verb never takes the subject {-rup}. It
is used primarily in reference to torpedoes--so much so that if the object
is not specifically stated, and context does not dictate otherwise, it is
always assumed to be torpedoes. According, both of the following sentences
mean 'Be prepared to launch torpedoes!' or 'Stand by on torpedoes!': {cha
yIghuS, yIghuS}. The verb {ghuS} can also be used in reference to, among
other things, rockets, missiles,and various kinds of energy beams (which,
like torpedoes, go from one point to another). It is also used to describe
the action of pulling back the elastic band of a slingshot. In most other
instances of preparedness, however, {-rup} is required." (Okrand, TKD p.36f)

"The verb used for launch or fire a weapon of this type is {baH}, and there
is even a special word, {ghuS}, meaning 'prepare to launch'." (KGT p.56)

Attestations of {ghuS} in canon:

  cha yIghuS 
  [Tactical], stand by on torpedoes! ST:TMP

  cha yIghuS 
  Get the torpedoes ready to be fired! TKD

  cha yIghuS! So'Ha'! ST3 (untranslated)

  cha yIghuS! 
  Stand by on torpedoes! CK

  yISo'Ha'rup, yIghuS! 
  Stand by to de-cloak for firing. ST5 

Note that the 23rd/24th century usage is an extension of the older meaning
of {ghuS}: "to lower (spear) to horizontal to attack" (KGT).


-- 
Voragh                           "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons     lis est."         Horace (Ars Poetica)

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