tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 22 10:25:09 2000

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: tlhIngan "Tao" ?




taghqIj:
> i do not like <ghob> as a translation because TKW specifically defines
> 'adhering [pab] to virtue [<ghob>]' as 'behav[ing] in a way Klingons
> consider morally righteous' and, although i am not a taoist, i do not
> believe that the tao would correspond very closely at all to klingon
> 'virtue', or what they consider righteous.

teHbej.  'ach Taoist chaHbe' Hoch China-nganpu''e'.  "Tao" mu' lo'
Legalists, Confucianists je.  

It depends on the context, but the word "Tao" is not strictly Taoist.
Its use in Chinese literature is much broadly than the Taoist meanings
you've listed.  For example, Sun Tzu uses "Tao" to refer to the moral
force behind a general's actions - certainly not a passive concept, 
and one that Klingons can relate to (as /ghob/).  The way "Tao" was
used by Legalists and Confucianists might correspond to what they
consider righteous: "Heaven's law", maybe /chut'a'/.

But you're right about /ghob/ being not appropriate for "Tao" in the
Taoist usages of the word.  A literal (and neutral) translation might
be /He/ or /He'a'/.  I actually think the closest word *in feeling*
would be /roj/, and Klingons would abhor such as concept as the
Taoist Tao.

On a similar note, how would one "translate" the (Buddhist) idea of
dhamma/dharma into Klingon?  (Actually the Chinese usually rendered 
"dharma" with "Tao".)



--
De'vID

--
tlhIngan-Hol FAQ and unsubscribe instructions:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to [email protected]



-------------------------------
Beam to http://www.StarTrek.com
The official site of the Star Trek universe


Back to archive top level