tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 17 08:58:11 2000
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Re: [KLBC] [The Raven] Part 16
Tremal-Naik wrote:
>"Wretch", I cried, "thy God hath lent thee
>"QuchHa' SoH" 'e' vIjach "DungeH *God*lIj
>
> Any idea for "perfume" and "God"?
Andy from Germany:
: couldn't "God" be something like qa'vamwI'
: if qa'vam is used as a verb too.
"The Genesis-er". Nope, doesn't work. Nouns cannot be used as verbs, nor can
verbs be used as nouns. There are, however, ways to make derived nouns from
verbs with {-wI'} and {-ghach}, but you can't use them in their unaltered forms
one for the other as in English.
The good news is that Okrand has told us on startrek.klingon that the word for
"god, supernatural being" is {Qun}:
"There is a Klingon word that could be translated 'god' or
'supernatural being': {Qun}. In talking of times long ago
(pre-Kahless?), Klingons mention these beings, and there seem
to have been a good number of them (the plural of {Qun} is
{Qunpu'} since they are or were presumably capable of using
language, which is what the plural suffix {-pu'} implies).
Though too little is known of ancient Klingon theology, there
doesn't seem to have been a single Qun that stood out from the
rest. Indeed, the {Qunpu'} appear to have acted collectively.
{Qunpu'} are distinct from {qa'pu'} 'spirits' (such as the
spirits of the dishonored dead which reside at Gre'thor).
{Qun'a'} 'great god' ({Qun} plus {-'a'}, the augmentative
suffix) may or may not be an appropriate translation for a
single supernatural being in a monotheistic system, since the
{Qun'a'} would still be one among many." [st.k (7/19/99)]
So: {QunlI'} "thy god". Use {-lI'} for beings capable of using speech; {-lIj}
is for animals and objects.
>Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumes from an unseen censer
>*perfume*'e'mo' ghomHa'bogh puqpu' mIghHa', jeDchoHlaw' muD,
: for perfume i'd say He'watlhwI'
He' smell, emit odor (v.)
watlh be pure (v.)
Nice try, but you can't combine verbs this way. Some related vocabulary:
He'So' stink (v.)
largh smell, sense odors (v.)
pIw odor (n.)
{pIw(mey) watlh} "pure odor(s)" or {pIw(mey) wIbHa'} "sweet (un-sour) odor(s)"
might work.
The closest thing we have to perfume is {noSvagh} "deodorant". In fact, the
KLI's Klingon Bible Translation Project (KBTP) has used it in this meaning. (I
suppose this makes sense. Perfumes were used originally to cover up offensive
body odors in an era when people rarely, if ever, bathed - something we know
Klingons, or at least Worf, doesn't like to do.) As far as we know, Klingons
may not make the distinction bwtween the two, that is, if they even use them at
all!
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons