tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 08 18:13:02 2004

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: Hov = star ?

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

From: <[email protected]>
> In a message dated 2004-04-08 10:01:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [email protected] writes:
>
> > Regarding what Okrand says in KGT about {Hov} equalling "star," I'm not
> > convinced that this means that the word {Hov} is used in absolutely
exactly
> > the same way as "star."  Klingon popular music singers, for instance,
> > probably aren't called {Hov}!
>
> okrand said that "Hov" refers to the same celestial object as "star".
that
> pretty much rules out the singer interpretation.


Why?  It's an idiom in English.  It's not a similar-sounding word: a rock
"star" can have a "stellar" performance.

I don't believe Klingon has the same idiom, but the point is that the
English word "star" is not absolutely, completely straightforward.  What
Okrand says in KGT does not lead me to believe that he's saying that {Hov}
has exactly, absolutely, completely the same uses as English "star."  It
just has the obvious one.

Look:

----------------
MISMATCHED CONCEPTS
    When translating from one language to another, some concepts are easiliy
conveyed.  For example, the Klingon word {mIn} means the same thing as its
usual Federation Standard translation-"eye," {Hov} refers to the same
celestial object as "star," and either {cha'pujqutmey} or "dilithium
crystals" will work in a warp drive system.  On the other hand, some
concepts do not translate easily at all.  Thus, Federation Standard has no
word meaning the same as Klingon {tova'Daq}, a sort of mind sharing or
insight into one another's thoughts; Klingon has no word corresponding
exactly to the Federation Standard "hypochondria."  In order to avoid
unfortunate misunderstandings, it is essential that a traveler to a Klingon
planet be aware of instances in which Klingon and his or her native language
do not quite match up.  [KGT p. 204]
--------------

The point of this passage is not the definition of {Hov} or "star," and it's
not saying that {Hov} and "star" are completely exact translations of each
other.  It's saying that the translation between {Hov} and "star" are
*easy*.  The difference between "star" and "sun" is slight compared to
{tova'Daq} and the lack of a corresponding word in English.  If {Hov} meant
something like, "gas giant planet that undergoes gravitational collapse and
becomes a very bright object because of a bunch of mysterious black
rectangular objects in its atmosphere," that would be significant.  But it
doesn't; it means "star."  Pretty much.

Does that mean {Hov} must necessarily contain every nuance that "star" does?
No!  It just means it's an "easily conveyed" concept.  Does it mean that we
know whether {Hov} can mean the same thing as "sun" or not?  No.  It might,
or it might not.  We don't know.

SuStel
Stardate: 4271.1

Back to archive top level