tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 16 08:41:07 1999
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Klingon WOTD: bagh (v)
>From: "d'Armond Speers" <[email protected]>
>Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 10:09:09 -0700
>
>
>> jatlh Holtej:
>> >This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Thursday, November 11, 1999.
>> >
>> >Klingon word: bagh
>> >Part of Speech: verb
>> >Definition: tie
>>
>> Does this mean "tie" as in:
>>
>> waqwIj vIbagh. I tie my shoe.
>>
>> or:
>>
>> QujDaq mabagh. We tied in the game.
>
>I don't think anyone else has answered this, so I'll jump in here. As far
>as I know, the word {bagh} has not been used in canon, so we don't know for
>sure. I've always assumed that it means the former, as in tying a knot,
>though I have no real justification for believing this.
>
>If it has been used in canon in such a way as to clarify its meaning, I hope
>someone else here will point it out. :)
I would agree with you, Holtej. The meaning "tie in a game" is very much a
secondary meaning in English, I think. Ask any English speaker you like;
odds are extraordinarily good that when you ask for a definition of "tie",
the FIRST answer you'll get is something like "secure with
knots/ropes/strings," and you very likely won't get "score the same in a
competition" at all. The latter meaning is probably an idiomatic extension
of the first one anyway. What does this mean in terms of Klingon?
Remember that Okrand's an English-speaker. Most English-speakers think of
knots and ropes and strings when they see "tie"; he'd know that. If he'd
meant "tie in a competition" he would have had to be more explicit in his
definition. I'd say the fact that he wasn't indicates that he meant the
first meaning.
~mark