tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 12 15:04:42 2001
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: The Year of the Horse
SuStel:
>But it's not the Year of the Sark. Nor is it the Year of the Camel. It's
>the Year of the Horse. Since horses are not native to any Klingon planets,
>nor have we ever heard of Klingons using horses that I can recall, it's not
>surprising they have no known word for them. What's the English translation
>of "sark"? It's not "horse...." Use the word "horse" if you mean "horse."
Actually, the original poster should use the Japanese word or kanji for "horse"
- whatever that is - as he was putting together various translations of "This
is the year of the horse" for a Japanese company greeting card.
ghunchu'wI':
: I'd take a cue from "Tokvirian Skink" and "Ceti Eel" and "Tika Cat" and
: "Denebian Ox". To refer to the Terran animal known natively as a horse,
: I suggest the Klingon {tera' Sargh}. So what if a Sark is not a horse?
IIRC the original poster decided to go with:
Sargh DIS 'oH tera' DISvam'e'.
But, in order to satisfy any quibblers, we could shift the {tera'}:
tera' Sargh DIS 'oH DISvam'e'
or even
tera'Daq Sargh DIS 'oH DISvam'e'.
which still ties the thought to Earth. And, as the original poster pointed
out, everyone who receives this greeting card will know what year it is and
what the symbolism of the horse is WRT Asian year names. Of course, the
hyper-correct amongst us would translate each element fully and precisely,
eschewing even the slightest possibility of {yajHa'ghach} (ambiguity, vagueness
or misinterpretation):
tera'Daq tera' Sargh DIS 'oH tera' DISvam'e'.
but that's just overkill IMHO.
DIS chu' yItIv!
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons