tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 10 08:36:04 1998

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Mechanical Contraptions (was Re: Theo)



ghunchu'wI' wrote:
: ja' peHruS:
: >As for baS ghItlhwI', I have seen reference in canon (Voragh, please help me
: >find it) that this is the way tlhIngan Hol says "made of metal".  
: 
: The reference is in KGT, {Sor Hap yoD} "wooden shield" or something
: similar.  The use of {Hap} tempers my enthusiasm for {baS ghItlhwI'}, 
: though I'm not going to reject it out of hand.  

The full cite isn't in my notes yet, but I believe {Sor Hap} is mentioned in
the discussion of sculpture in the Visual Arts section of KGT.  I'll have to
check tonight.
 
: Qu'vatlh ghuy'cha' baQa', peHruS!  Are we to be forced to play a 
: guessing game in order to know what you mean?  Okay, based on your 
: misuse of <jonta'> to refer to any sort of mechanical contraption, 

{jan} "device" works well for "any sort of mechanical contraption".  Cf. the
Hallmark commercial, wherein one of the crewmen admires the ornament:

     Qapqu' wovmoHbogh janHommey
     It even has working lights! 

MO explained this line on the TNT Expert Forum (6/97): "That is, `little
devices that cause (something) to be light or bright' or `little devices
that brighten (something)' or `little devices that light (something) up' or
the like."  A more colloquial translation for {janHom} would probably be
"gadget" or "gizmo".  {jan} itself is used once in SkyBox S19 discussing the
cloaking device:

     janmey ngo' lulo'lu'DI' pIj jabbI'ID nISpu' woj 
     Older models were susceptible to radiation.

We learn from KGT that {jan} can be used to refer to any "musical
instrument" and the word also appears in {botjan} "shields (force field on
ship)":  "The force field on a ship is called {botjan}. To shield a ship,
one must activate the shields, or {botjan chu'}" (KGT p67).  {botjan yIchu'}
"Raise shields!" (KCD)  Since the {botjan} is activated {chu'} - a word used
with devices - I suspect it actually refers to the mechanism for forming a
{Surchem} "force field" around a ship.

Another option is {luch} "equipment, gear":

     'ejyo' luch rurbe'qu' tlhIngan Duj luch. 
     Klingon starship design is vastly different from Starfleet technology. SP3

     HoS law'qu' luch law'qu' je lo' Duj nuH pat Hub pat je 
     A huge amount of the ship's power and technology is devoted to its
weapons grid
     and defensive systems. SP3

Neither {jo'} or {mIqta'}, both glossed as "machinery", have ever been used
in canon.  

As to the differences (if any) between {QuQ} and {jonta'} "engine":

     tujqu'choH QuQ 
     The engine is overheating. TKD & CK

     baHwI', DoS yIbuS. QuQ neH. yaj'a'? 
     Gunner: Target engine only - Understood? ST3

     jonta' neH 
     only the engine TKD

     matHa', DoS jonta' neH 
     Gunner: target engine only. ST3

For the sake of thoroughness, {jonpIn} means "engineering officer" (KGT)
while {jonwI'} is an "engineer" (TKD).


Voragh 



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