tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 17 07:47:33 1999
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RE: KLBC: Sayings of the Sea
quljIb:
> This my attempt at translating the line found on the
> USS Defiant's dedication plaque.
>
> chIjmeH Hov Duj'a' neH vIneH.
pagh:
: If I remember correctly, it is something like "All I want is a tall ship and
: a star to steer her by". If that's the case, you came very close. You are
: missing a conjunction - you want the ship *AND* the star, so put <je> after
: the objects. I'd probably also reverse the the <chIjmeH Hov> and the
: <Duj'a'>, and I would certainly add a comma for clarity:
:
: Duj'a', chIjmeH Hov je neH vIneH.
A "tall ship" - a tall, masted sailing ship like the one used for Worf's
promotion scene on the holodeck in "Star Trek: Generations" - is not the
same as a {Duj'a'} "big ship" or a "supership (e.g. a supertanker).
Avoiding the overused augmentative is difficult as we don't know the
Klingon quality that translates as "be tall", or even whether the same word
would be used with things and people. OTOH, we do know how Klingons
measure height. On startrek.klingon (10/97) Okrand revealed {'ab}
"measure, have a length of" used for measuring "(potentially) longish,
skinnyish things (for example, spears) and also for heights" He gave two
relevant examples:
jav 'ujmey 'ab SuvwI'
the warrior has a length of six ujs
the warrior stands six ujs
the warrior is six ujs tall
vagh 'ujmey vI'ab
I have a length of five ujs
I'm five ujs tall.
The {'uj} is a unit of linear measure, about 35 cm. Some related vocabulary:
tIn "be big, be large"
jen "be high"
jen loD; Sor rur.
The man is as tall as a tree. KGT
[Is this phrase actually in KGT? I couldn't find it last I looked.]
*runHa' "be tall (in stature)", literally "unshort" from {run} "be
short (in stature)"
Of these, I think {Duj jen} works best here. Looking up from the deck, the
tall masts of a sailing ship seem to soar high up into the sky, which is
where the stars you steer her by are. To make this more Klingon, you might
even call them the "naked stars". <g>
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons