tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 29 13:14:43 1998
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Re: SuvwI'bom
: I am Olaf. I'm learning klingon and I have a problem. The song of the
warrior.
: It's sung by the warriors before they start fighting. It's on the third CD of
: StarTrek Klingon the anthem1.wav. I 'd like to have the english
translation (and
: the text in klingon).
naDev 'oH, Olaf. batlh van bomvam Dawupjaj!
(Maybe we should add this to the FAQ, it seems to be requested a lot.)
WARRIOR'S ANTHEM
This song first appeared in the Klingon CD-ROM and was later sung twice
(with subtitles) in the DS9 episode "Soldiers of the Empire." Here are the
Closed Captions, screenful by screenful, exactly as they were broadcast
(this phonetic transcription is presumably the version the actors saw in the
script):
First, as they enter warp at the start of their mission:
[Worf begins by pounding fist rhythmically on console]
KOI KEH LESS POOK LOAD
[Dax joins in]
KOI POOK BEH POO
YOCH BOW MATH BOW JE SHUV WEE
SAY MOACH CHU MAY EW
MAH SHOOV MAH NONG EJ MA CHOCH CHEW
[crew joins in]
NEE BEH YIN MAHJ ACH WOV COO
BATH MA CHETH BEJJ EJ YO KEEJ
DAHK VAV POO MA DEE MUV
PA RECH MA SHOOV TACH KOO
MA MEV KO MA SHOOV TACH MA OV
KOI KEH LESS POOK LOAD
KOI POOK BEH POO...
[fade out]
Second, as the crew prepares to cross the Cardassian border:
[Tavana begins by pounding fist rhythmically on console]
KOI KEH LESS POOK LOAD
[All]
KOI POOK BEH POO
YOCH BOW MATH BOW JE SHUV WEEE
SAY MOACH CHU MAY EW...
[Martok orders, "Mahk-cha!" (Engage)]
MAH SHOOV MAH NONG EJ MA CHOCH CHEW
NEE BEH YIN MAHJ ACH WOV, COO!
BATH MA CHETH BEJJ EJ YO KEEJ DAHK
VAV POO MA DEE MUV PA RECH MA SHOOV TACH
KOO MA MEV KO MA SHOOV TACH MA OV
[laughter]
KOI KEH LESS POOK LOAD
KOI POOK BEH POO
YOCH BOW MATH BOW JE SHUV WEEE
SAY MOACH CHU MAY EW
MAH SHOOV MAH NONG
EJ MA CHOCH CHEW
NEE BEH YIN MAHJ ACH WOV, COO!
BATH MA CHETH BEJJ EJ YO KEEJ DAHK
VAV POO MA DEE MUV PA RECH MA SHOOV TACH
KOO MA MEV KO MA SHOOV TACH MA OV.
[fade out]
KCD executive producer Keith Halper explains how the song was written:
"The way that was that Hilary [Bader] wrote something in English, then she
faxed it out to Mark Okrand. Then Okrand translated it to Klingon and put
his literal translation below the Klingon verses. The literal translation is
always skewed a bit, so if you send him `Row, row, row your boat,' you'll
get back `Propel, propel, propel your craft.'" (STK: 212)
Oddly enough, the anthem does not appear in Klingon for the Galactic
Traveler but is featured (I'm told) somewhere in the four-book Day of Honor
series. I found this version of the "never-before-published lyrics" in
English and Klingon at Simon & Schuster's Day of Honor page back in
September or October of 1997:
http://www.simonsays.com/titles/honor
Another copy, plus a literal translation by Okrand, is at:
http://www.simonsays.com/titles/0671009958/excerpt2.html
To hear a "RealAudio" recording (labeled "wo' bom") of the anthem from
"Soldiers of the Empire," visit:
www2.rpa.net/~cheesbro
The sheet music can be found at:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/2249/anthem.html
Hilary Bader's lyrics, c1997:
Hear! Sons of Kahless.
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill.
Our lives burn short and bright,
Then we die with honor and join our fathers in the Black Fleet where
we battle forever, battling on through the Eternal fight.
Okrand's translation:
Qoy qeylIs puqloD.
Qoy puqbe'pu'.
yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI'
Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw.
maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu'.
nI'be' yInmaj 'ach wovqu'.
batlh maHeghbej 'ej yo' qIjDaq vavpu'ma' DImuv.
pa' reH maSuvtaHqu'.
mamevQo'. maSuvtaH. ma'ov.
Okrand's literal back translation:
Hear! sons of Kahless.
Hear! daughters.
The battle blood perfectly cleans the warrior who is brave and loyal.
We fight, we're passionate, and we kill perfectly.
Our lives are not long, but they're very bright.
We certainly die, and we join our fathers in the Black Fleet.
There we always really continue fighting.
We won't stop. We continue fighting. We compete.
_____________________________________________________________________
Steven Boozer University of Chicago Library [email protected]