tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 24 23:06:40 1999
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Re: cardinal directions
Notice that the conjunction-like leftover {je} does not appear here.
peHruS
TPO wrote:
> The following is from the ST Klingon News Group from Marc Okrand
>
> ********
>
> Re: Cardinal Directions (to Marc Okrand) ("Marc Okrand" , Sun 23:53)
>
> Kamala KordaS wrote in message
> <01be6bfa$95361c60$67b962cf@juniper>...
> >What are the cardinal directions in tlhIngan Hol?
> >east
> >west
> >south
> >north
> >As well as all the variants of directions such as
> northeast, southeast etc.
> >If Mr. Okrand could answer that would be great. I have
> been unable to
> >locate any reference to these directions in the
> Dictionaries or other books
> >by Mr. Okrand.
> >
>
> Traditionally, in dealing with orientation, bearings,
> headings, and so forth, Klingons have divided things up
> into three, not four, primary directions or compass points.
>
> There are three nouns for these principal points. The
> translations of these words using terminology familiar to
> the Federation are a little awkward, but they give an idea
> of the meanings:
>
> chan "area eastward" or "area towards the east"
>
> 'ev "area northwestward" or "area towards the
> northwest"
>
> tIng "area southwestward" or "area towards the
> southwest"
>
> While the four main compass points used in the Federation
> (north, east, south, west) are distributed evenly (that is,
> they are 90 degrees apart from each other: north is 90
> degrees away from east, east is 90 degrees away from south,
> and so on), this is not the case in the Klingon system.
> The three directions are not evenly spaced (that is, they
> are not 120 degrees apart from each other). Instead, the
> areas associated with <'ev> and <tIng> are closer to each
> other than either is to the area associated with <chan>.
> (The areas associated with <'ev> and <tIng> are something
> like 100 degrees apart from each other, and each is 130
> degrees away from the area associated with <chan>.)
>
> English words like "east" and "southwest" are, as noted,
> just convenient tags for what the Klingon words mean.
> Since <chan> actually refers to that part of the landscape
> in the direction of the sunrise, "east" is a reasonable
> English counterpart. The standard translations of <'ev>
> and <tIng> follow from the standard translation of <chan>.
> But Klingon <chan> does not work the same as English
> "east." From the Klingon point of view, it makes no sense
> to say that something is "in the east." One can go towards
> the east, something can be to the east of something else,
> but nothing can actually be "in" the east. No matter how
> far eastward you go, there's something still to your east.
> Thus the awkward translations "area eastward, area towards
> the east" and so forth. (And, of course, the same can be
> said for the other directions.)
>
> These Klingon direction nouns work in the same manner as
> other nouns of location (nouns used to express
> prepositional concepts) such as <Dung> "area above," <bIng>
> "area below," and <retlh> "area beside, area next to."
> Thus, just as <nagh Dung>, literally "rock area-above" or
> "rock's area-above" (<nagh> "rock") is used for "above the
> rock," <veng chan>, literally "city area-eastward" or
> "city's eastward area" (<veng> "city") is commonly
> translated "east of the city."
>
> Depending on the sentence in which the phrase is used, the
> second noun in this construction (in this case <chan> "area
> eastward") could take the locative suffix <-Daq>, as in:
>
> veng chanDaq jIwam "I hunt east of the city"
>
> (<veng> "city," <chan> "area eastward," <jIwam> "I hunt")
>
> The "city in the east" (actually, "city toward the east")
> or "eastern city" would be the "area-eastward city": <chan
> veng>.
>
> Again, if appropriate, the locative suffix <-Daq> follows
> the second noun:
>
> chan vengDaq jIwam "I hunt in the city in the east"
>
> The "city's east," meaning "the eastern part of the city,"
> would make use of <yoS> "area, district": <veng chan yoS>
> (literally "city area-eastward district" or "city's
> eastward-area's district").
>
> The directional nouns may also be used with possessive
> suffixes. For example (switching from the east, for the
> sake of variety):
>
> 'evwIj "northwest of me" (literally "my
> area-northwestward")
>
> 'evmaj "northwest of us" (literally "our
> area-northwestward")
>
> (<-wIj> "my," <-maj> "our")
>
> These words may also be translated "northwest of here."
> For example:
>
> 'evmajDaq jIwampu' "I have hunted northwest of here"
>
> (<'evmaj> "northwest of us," <-Daq> "locative suffix,"
> <jIwampu'> "I have hunted")
>
> This works only when the speaker is indeed "here" (that is,
> referring to the place in which he or she is currently
> speaking). If, however, "here" is a place on a map that
> the speaker is pointing to, "northwest of here" would be
> something along the lines of <Daqvam 'ev>, literally
> "this-location area-northwestward" or "this place's
> area-northwestward" (<Daq> "location, site," <-vam>
> "this").
>
> To express directions between the three cardinal points,
> the nouns are compounded. Thus, halfway between
> "southwest" and "east" (that is, halfway between <tIng>
> "area southwestward" and <chan> "area eastward)" is <tIng
> chan> (literally "area-southwestward area-eastward" or
> "area-southwestward's area-eastward" or, for short,
> "southwest's east"). Similarly, halfway between
> "northwest" and "east" is <'ev chan>. Logically, these
> words could come in the other order (that is, <chan tIng>
> or <chan 'ev>), but, for whatever reason, <chan> always
> comes second.
> The area halfway between "northwest" and "southwest" is
> expressed as either <'ev tIng> or <tIng 'ev>, with neither
> version significantly more common than the other.
>
> To get even more specific, it is possible to make a
> compound of three words (though two would always be the
> same): <'ev chan 'ev> would be a direction halfway between
> <'ev chan> and <'ev); <'ev chan chan> would be a direction
> halfway between <'ev chan> and <chan>.
>
> How this extends to even finer tuning is something pretty
> much lost except to those knowledgeable in the old ways of
> navigating. In more recent times, those needing to express
> directions with greater precision use (numerical)
> instrumental readouts.
>
> There is an idiomatic expression still heard with
> reasonable frequency which makes use of all three cardinal
> direction terms:
>
> tIngvo' 'evDaq chanDaq
>
> Literally, this means "from area-southwestward to
> area-northwestward to area eastward" (<-vo'> "from,"
> <-Daq>, the locative suffix, here indicating "to"), but the
> idiom means "all around, all over, all over the place." It
> is used in the same place in a sentence that the noun <Dat>
> "everywhere" might be used, but it is much more emphatic:
>
> tIngvo' 'evDaq chanDaq jIlengpu' "I've traveled all
> over the place"
>
> (<jIlengpu'> "I have traveled")
>
> A more archaic form of the idiom is <tIngvo' 'evDaq 'evvo'
> chanDaq> (literally, "from area-southwestward to
> area-northwestward, from area-northwestward to area
> eastward"), but the three-word version (without the
> repetition of <'ev>) has all but totally replaced it.
>
> Finally, it should be noted that none of this terminology
> ever was adapted for navigation in space. Klingons have
> made use of the system common throughout the galaxy by
> which courses, bearings, coordinates, and so forth are
> given numerically:
>
> He wej pagh Soch DoD cha' "course 3-0-7-mark-2"
>
> (<He> "course," <wej> "three," <pagh>, "zero," <Soch>
> "seven," <DoD> "mark," <cha'> "two")