tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 06 07:34:53 1999
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RE: KLBC. vaj bom
: jatlh QoreQ:
: > tev'a' 'oH batlh Hegh.
: > An honourable death is the ultimate prize.
:
: <batlh> can be either a noun or an adverbial, but I don't think either makes
: <batlh Hegh> flow into "an honourable death". <Hegh quv> would work, though.
: You're also missing the <-'e'>, but since this is clearly poetry and flows
: better without it, leaving it off is fine.
{Hegh quv} an "honored/honorable death" vs. {batlh Hegh} a "death of honor,
honor-death". (The latter strikes me as yet another possible type of
Klingon ritual suicide or glorious self-sacrifice.) I believe we have the
non-Okrandian *{batlh jaj} "the Day of Honor" in the recent series of Trek
novels and the Voyager episode of the same name.
: Also, <tev'a'> is "a great reward", but I don't think it's quite "the
: ultimate reward". You could consider <tev Qav> or <tev pup> for this.
Compare:
woQ "authority, political power"
woQ'a' "ultimate power"
I normally don't like relying too much on {-'a'} instead of the other tools
available such as {Dun} and {tIn}, which tend to get over-looked. But in
this instance I think *{tev'a'} is fine, though I would use {pop} "reward"
instead of {tev} "prize" - *{pop'a'}. Okrand explains the difference in
The Klingon Way (p.47):
pop 'oH ghob'e'
Virtue is the reward.
This proverb does not mean 'Virtue is honor.' The use of the word {pop}
suggests that virtue is the honor bestowed as a result of acting in a
manner respectful of society's values, not simply advocating them. ...
The Klingon word {pop} (reward) could refer to compensation or a prize
of some sort, but it also means honor in the sense of recognition for
a particular achievement or set of achievements.
: pagh
: Beginners' Grammarian
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons