tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 06 10:46:16 2000
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RE: muSHa'ghach / KLBC
pIl'o':
> jImIS. *canon mu' oHtaH'a' <parmaq>? wot DIp joq 'oHtaH'a'?
pagh:
: Voragh can provide details if you need them, but yes, <parmaq> is a canon
: word. It appeared in the DS9 episode "Looking for Par'Mach in all the Wrong
: Places", which was the second episode of the fifth season, if I remember
: correctly. It's a noun meaning "romantic love", although the Klingon version
: is a bit more agressive.
{parmaq} "love, romance" (KGT glossary); *par'Mach* (Paramount captions) (n.)
After the episode in question aired, Okrand was asked about it on
startrek.klingon. He responded:
"We do know that there is a Klingon word for love, meaning something
like what we mean by the word. It is {parmaq}. We heard this word for
the first time in a recent episode of Deep Space Nine where Dax says
that {parmaq} is 'the Klingon word for "love," but with more aggressive
overtones.' She accuses Worf of having a 'bad case' of {parmaq}, which
suggests it's a noun. (The episode is called 'Looking for par'Mach in All
the Wrong Places'; there may be a good historical reason for the Federation
choosing the spelling *par'Mach*, but, regardless, the pronunciation of the
word is {parmaq}.) Unfortunately, so far, that's about all we know about
the Klingon word for love. I'll have to do some additional research to find
out how the word is used correctly in a sentence. Since it's Klingon love
we're talking about here, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it doesn't
work in at all the same way as the Federation Standard word love. I'll get
back to you on this in the future... I realize this doesn't help much; it
raises more questions than it answers. But when it comes to matters of the
heart..." (st.k 12/96)
He later discussed it briefly in _Klingon for the Galactic Traveller_:
"... {parmaq}, conventionally translated love or romance (though the
Klingon concept is far more aggressive than the Federation Standard
translations imply)" (KGT p.199)
Note that someone involved in a {parmaq} relationship is called a {parmaqqay} -
par'Machkai* in Paramount's script and captions - translated as a "romantic
companion, romantic partner" in KGT:
"A similar pattern is observed for {parmaqqay}, which means 'someone
involved in a romantic relationship with a specific other person'
(romantic partner, perhaps). The word {parmaqqay} is formed from {parmaq},
conventionally translated love or romance (though the Klingon concept is
far more aggressive than the Federation Standard translations imply), plus
{qay}, an otherwise unknown element. One may refer to one's romantic
partner as {parmaqqaywI'} (my parmaqqay), but one rarely uses the word
in direct address (as in, say, {parmaqqay HIghoS} [parmaqqay, come here]).
Instead, couples (officially married and otherwise) tend to call each
other by pet names (sometimes called endearments or hypocorisms or, in
Klingon, {bang pongmey} [beloveds' names'])." (KGT p.199)
Also, the caption to the illustration on KGT p.200 reads:
"Jadzia is not the {parmaqqay} that Worf expects."
Just how a {parmaqqay} differs from a {bang} is, as yet, unclear.
To complement these nouns, we also have a verb {nong} "be passionate". Okrand
used it to translate "love" in Hilary Bader's anthem {Qoy qeylIS puqloD}, which
first appeared in KCD and was later sung in the DS9 episode "Soldiers of the
Empire":
maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu'
We fight, we love, and then we kill. (Anthem)
{nong} also appears in the Klingon cliche (or simile):
nong; vulqangan rur
passionate as a Vulcan (ironic!) KGT
How {nong} is different from *{muSHa'} is also unknown - except that like
{muS}, the latter probably takes an object, which {nong} apparently can't.
Note however that Okrand has never used *{muSHa'} himself.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons