tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 27 19:22:15 2000
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KLBC love
Joseph wrote:
:> If you want to let someone know how you FEEL, be descriptive.
:> Klingons like love poetry.
:
: "poetry" "poem" joq mughlu''a'?
Not _per se_, though many of us use {bom} "song, chant". Okrand commented
on {bom}:
"And the noun 'chant' might likewise be somewhat closer to the mark as
a translation." (HQ 2.4)
Are Klingon poems recited, declaimed, or chanted? In many languages, the
same word is used for both song and poem -- even English on occasion (e.g.
the Bible's "Song of Songs" [*shir ha-shirim* in Hebrew], "Song of Myself"
or Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric"). We do know, of course, that
Klingon poems exist:
"The verb for 'write' in the sense of 'compose' is {qon}, literally
'record.' This is used for songs and also for literary works (poems,
plays, romance novels, and so on). As has been pointed out, it's as
if the song or story is somehow out there and the 'writer' comes
into contact with it, extracts it (to use Qov's nice phrase), and
records it. (Okrand on startrek.klingon)
Although we don't know the general word, we do know of one particular type
of poem, the {gha'tlhIq} *GaTH'k* or "ode of respect" from KCD, where young
Pok writes one of these lengthy, florid poems to honor an aging soldier.
And, finally, {lu qeng} "The Fall of Kang" is the title of a very famous
epic poem by G'trok (Sisko remembered learning it in Starfleet Academy).
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons