tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 04 11:05:14 2001
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reH taHqu'taH leng'e' (was: reH taH leng 'ej taHtaH)
[vIghItlhqa' 'ej vIlabqa']
Jiri:
> > reH taH leng 'ej taHtaH (The road goes ever on and on)
Voragh:
> Poetic (scansion) reasons aside, this seems like overkill.
Okay :-)
> How about just {reH taHtaH leng'e'}, which also marks {leng} as the
> subject of the poem.
Good idea. Or {reH taHqu'taH leng'e'}, for 6 syllables.
> > lojmItvetlhvo' taghpa' (Down from the door where it began)
> > DaH HopchoHpu' lengvam (Now far ahead the road has gone)
> > 'ej vIghoSlaHchugh vIghoSnIS (And I must follow it, if I can)
> {leng vIghoS}? See {He ghoS} below.
> > qam Doy'mo' vIthla'taH (Pursuing it with weary[1] feet)
> > He tIn muvbe'taHvIS (Until it meets some larger way)
> > pa'Daq qIH leng puS Qu' puS je (Where many paths and errands meet)
> > ghIq nuqDaq juH? jIjanglaHbe' (And whither then? I cannot say)
> Instead of using {leng} "trip, voyage, trek" for a road, many people on
> the list have used {He} "course, route" even though neither are really
> adequate for a physical road, for which we lack a word.
In the poem, `road' is a metaphor for a journey or quest, perhaps even with
a touch of fate; in the book they certainly don't stick to one road, and
oftentimes find themselves travelling through forest, dale or tunnel. Even
{jey} would be far too literal.
> IIRC Okrand once told SuStel(?) at a qep'a' that {He} cannot be used in
> any metaphorical sense
Drats, I didn't want to use {He} for *all* of them... Perhaps I should use
Daq instead... (and tIn should definitely be potlh)
Daq potlh muvbe'taHvIS (Until it meets some larger way)
or
qep Daq muvbe'taHvIS (Until it meets some larger way)
Probably the latter...
> OTOH using {leng} does allow you to shift between the noun {leng} and the
> verb {leng}.
I don't do that, though...
> > [1] is there a word for 'eager'? Or would I have to use the suffix -qang?
> Not that I know of. In the right context, {-rup} "ready, prepared" would
> also work.
There are two versions of the poem, with the hint that one might be a
misremembered version of the other... thus the {Doy'} would have to
substitute directly for whatever word used to mean "eager".
Would {Quch} work?
Jiri
--
Jiri Baum <[email protected]>
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jirib
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