"tao/dao"

["Agnieszka Solska" <agnpau1@hotmail.com>]

"Tao" (dao) "Te" (de) je qel "Tao Te Ching". ngeD mu' "te" mughmeH Qu'. ghob 
HoS joq 'oS mu'vam. 'ach chay' mu' "tao" mughlaH vay'?

"Tao Te Ching" lumughta' mughwI'pu' law'. pIj mu'vam "tao" lumughbe'. DIvI' 
Hol, latlh Hol je lo'taHvIS China Hol mu' lulo'. rut mu' "way" "Way" joq 
lulo'. 'ach tlhIngan Hol lo'chugh mughwI' Qapbe'law' to'vam.

motlh {He} 'oSlaH mu' "tao" 'ach "taoist" qechmey pat qelchugh vay' {'u' 
mIw} 'oSmeH mu'vam lo'.

    {qechmey pat} = philosophy
    {'u' mIw} = the way the universe functions

Qaplaw' {'u' mIw} 'ach vIlajQo': cha' mu' vIpar. wa' mu' vInej. mu'Hey {Daw} 
vIqel je 'a vIlajQo'. chaq mu'vam tu'lu'be' 'ach DIch vIghajbe'. chaq wa' 
jaj vay''e' 'oSbogh mu'vam ngu' matlh.

toH, pe'vIl jIQubta' DuHmey law' vIqeltaHvIS 'ej tagha' {mIw'a'} vIwuq.

----------

One of the first decisions I had to make when translating "Tao Te Ching" was 
how to render the key word of the book, the word "tao" (dao). Translators 
either leave it untranslated or render it differently, usually as "the way" 
or "the Way". I didn't like either option nor did I want to use 
transliteration. After all, one day we might discover that the word {Daw}, 
currently unknown, already has a meaning.

Though in its basic, everyday sense the word "tao/dao" simply means a "way, 
path, road" (suggesting {He} in Klingon), as a philosophical concept it 
refers to the underlying pattern of the universe, the way things are, the 
way the universe works. I first thought of {'u' mIw} except that {'u' mIw} 
is really two words and I wanted to find a single word. Besides, I thought I 
might need {'u' mIw} to translate "the way of heaven".

In the end I settled for {mIw'a'}. The word seems to indicate a way 
understood as a "procedure, process" (mIw), yet one that is "bigger, more 
important or powerful" than any other process we can think of (implied by 
the augmentative suffix -'a'). I do hope the neologism works.

'ISqu'

_________________________________________________________________
Choose an Internet access plan right for you -- try MSN! 
http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/default.asp