tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Feb 01 16:57:20 2002

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Re: question about names?



Thankyou, I must say that you gave myself & my
employer some amusing reading. Though you did answer
my question.
--- Steven Boozer <[email protected]> wrote:
> T'Anna Kirk asked:
> :                   Now I have a question on proper
> : Nouns.  Other than the names that are provided in
> : TKD,How would we translate them.  Do they continue
> to
> : be the name that it is in English.  Such as the
> name
> : for countries, cities, names, planets, etc...
> 
> 1) If by translate, you mean transliterate - i.e.
> writing them using TKD's
> system of Roman letters for tlhIngan Hol - Marc
> Okrand has provided a few
> examples of transliterated human names:
> 
> barbara' ma'rIch    Barbara March ("Lursa") (STCom)
> ghuwI'nItlh wa'lIS  Gwynyth Walsh ("B'Etor") (STCom)
> jan qalI'qoS        John Colicos ("Kor") (STCom)
> mayqel 'anSa'ra     Michael Ansara ("Kang") (STCom)
> mayqel Do'rIn       Michael Dorn ("Worf") (STCom)
> rabe'rIt 'o'raylIy  Robert O'Reilly ("Gowron")
> (STCom)
> raqSan bIQ-DawSon   Roxann Biggs-Dawson ("B'Ellana")
> (STCom)
> bIl jo'rIj          Bill George (KBoP)
> nIylo roDIS         Nilo Rodis (KBoP)
> Day joH             Lady Di (RT)
> janluq pIqarD       Jean-Luc Picard (S25)
> jemS tIy qIrq       James T. Kirk (MO's ST5 notes)
> 
> ... the names of two plays by Shakespeare:
> 
> HenrI' vagh                 Henry V (KGT)
> 'antonI' tlhI'yopatra' je   Anthony and Cleopatra
> (KGT)
> 
> ... a Terran ship name:
> 
> 'entepray'          Enterprise (S15, et al.)
> 
> ... a Russian word (not a proper name, though):
> 
> ghIlaSnoS           glasnost' (TKW 186)
> 
> ... and a whole slew of Trek planet names:
> 
> Doy'yuS             Troyius (TKD)
> lIghon              Ligon (KGT)
> nImbuS wej          Nimbus III (TKD)
> nural               Neural (TKD)
> qarDaS              Cardassia (KGT)
> QI'tomer            Khitomer (TKW)
> reghuluS            Regulus (TKD)
> rIymuS              Remus (TKD)
> romuluS             Romulus (TKD)
> rura' pente'        Rura Penthe (TKD)
> Qo'noS              Kronos (TKD)
> SermanyuQ           Sherman's Planet (TKD)
> Sorya'              Sauria (KGT)
> tera'               Earth, Terra (TKD)
> toqvIr              Tokviria (KGT)
> vulqan              Vulcan (TKD) 
> 'elaS               Elas (TKD)
> 
> N.B. some planet names exist in two forms in TKD:
> 
> DenIb               Deneb 
> DenIbya'            Denebia
> 
> 'orghen             Organia
> 'orghenya'          Organia
> 
> Somewhere in KGT Okrand says that the shorter forms
> are replacing the longer
> ones ending in {-ya'} in modern (i.e. TNG-era) 24th
> century Klingon.  The fact
> that KGT only provides one form for Cardassia
> {qarDas} supports this.  (An
> apparent exception in KGT is Saurian brandy {Sorya'
> HIq}, but I suspect the
> longer form {Sorya'} was retained because the
> shorter form *{Sor} is also the
> common Klingon word for "tree".)
> 
> Now as to whether you -should- transcribe alien
> proper names, my position has
> changed over the years.  Back when I began studying
> Klingon, I transliterated
> everything.  The problem was that many people didn't
> recognize my
> transliterations as foreign names, and tried to take
> them apart and analyze
> them as if they were tlhIngan Hol words: prefix +
> base + suffix(es).  As you
> can imagine, this doesn't work - though it did
> provide a few amusing
> translations.  Nowadays I find that it's easier, and
> far more efficient, just
> to leave them spelled as in English.  E.g.:
> 
>   *Steven Boozer* 'oH pongwIj'e'.
>   My name is Steven Boozer.
> 
> Many people bracket such names with asterisks, but I
> think that's ususlly
> unnecessary.
> 
> 2) Now, if by translate you mean to translate - i.e.
> to render the name's
> underlying meaning(s) into Klingon - don't do it! 
> As an example, consider how
> you would translate my own name: Steven Boozer. 
> Steven is derived from the
> Greek word *stephanos* "crown" and Boozer means,
> well, boozer.  Translating
> these into Klingon gives you {mIq'a' chechwI'} or
> "crown [literally, "big/great
> helmet" (cf. KGT p.58)] drunkard".  
> 
> You can see why I prefer to go by my own Klingon
> alias, Voragh, which doesn't
> mean anything in Klingon or any other language
> AFAIK.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Voragh                       
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons


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