tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 21 14:41:30 2004

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Tao Te Ching Chp. 1

Agnieszka Solska ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

The notes accompanying the translation of this chapter are rather lengthy 
but I feel the seminal chapter of _Tao Te Ching_ deserves some comment.


1K
mIw'a'na'[B] 'oHbe' mIw'a'Hey'e' DaQIjlaHbogh. [A]
pongna'[B] 'oHbe' pongHey'e' DaponglaHbogh. [C]
chal tera' je mung 'oH pong Hutlhbogh vay'e'.
wa'netlh Dol SoS 'oH pong ghajbogh vay'e'.
reH bIneHbe'chugh, potlhna'Daj[E] Dalegh.
reH bIneHchugh, veHDaj Dalegh.

rap cha'vam Hal 'ach jaS luponglu'.
luDellu'meH jatlhlu': [F]
pegh, peghHom pegh pegh'a', [G]
Hoch potlh [H] lojmItna'.

1E
The Tao you can explain is not the true Tao.
The names[D] you can name are not the true names.
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of the myriad things.
Always desireless you see its very essence.
Always desiring you see its outer edge.

The source of these two is the same yet they are differently named.
They are called the mystery,
Mystery upon mystery,
The gateway to the essence of all.

[A] This {bI'reS} is almost identical to the one ghunchu'wI' proposed some 
time ago. Obviously, he only recorded the words which had "somehow always 
existed and were waiting for him to transcribe them and present them to 
others".  :)

[B] Another way to translate the Chinese phrases "chang dao" and "chang 
ming" would be "the lasting Tao":

   taHbogh mIw'a' 'oHbe' mIw'a''e' DaQIjlaHbogh.
   taHbogh pong 'oHbe' pong'e' DaQIjlaHbogh.

   The Tao you can explain is not the lasting Tao.
   The names you can name are not the lasting names.

However, it seems wrong to ignore here the wonderful tools Klingon has to 
offer, i.e. the qualifying suffixes. In the opening line we learn that the 
reality that truly, unmistakably is "Tao", i.e. {mIw'a'na'}, cannot be 
described in words. What you talk about is merely {mIw'a'Hey}. In a sense, 
the use of {-na'} and {-Hey} helps resolve the seeming illogic of writing an 
entire book in order to describe the reality which apparently cannot be 
talked about.

[C] In each of the first two lines the key words "dao" (tao) and "ming" 
(name) appear three times

    DAO ke DAO fei chang DAO.
    MING ke MING fei chang MING.

which means:

    The TAO that can be " TAO-ed" is not
         the eternal/constant TAO.
    The NAMES that can be NAMED are not
         the eternal/lasting NAMES.

In the first line, the first and last "dao" functions as a noun meaning 
"way, path, road, Tao", whereas the second one functions as a verb meaning 
either "tread, step, walk" or "tell, speak of, talk about, describe, 
explain". When looking for the best way to translate the verb "dao" I was 
unable to use a Klingon verb homophonous with {mIw} since there is no such 
verb. The numerous Klingon verbs of movement seemed inappropriate here as 
did most of the verbs of speaking. For a while I was leaning towards using 
{ja'}, whose English gloss contains the word "report":

    ?mIw'a'na' 'oHbe' mIw'a'Hey'e' Daja'laHbogh.
    ?The Tao you can report is not the true Tao.

Yet, despite its gloss, {ja'} has never appeared in this sense in canon. 
Besides, the numerous discussions on this list have left me with a feeling 
that we still know too little about how this word is used. I certainly 
didn't want to use questionable grammar right in the first line. Unlike 
{ja'}, words such as {Del} and {QIj} seemed perfectly acceptable and 
uncontroversial. I decided to use {QIj}.

[D] Both the Chinese noun "ming" and its Klingon counterpart {pong} can mean 
either "name" or "names". Though most translators translate "ming" as 
"name-sg" I believe the plural form is perfectly justified: the line may be 
referring to the name "dao" but it can potentially be referring to any names 
or labels people invent. _Tao Te Ching_ often speaks of the tendency people 
have to give labels to what they perceive as different entities, 
e.g.:"Establish a system and categories appear" (Chp 32).

[E] It is unclear what {-Daj} or "its" refer to. But in Chinese too it is 
unclear what the word "qi" ("his/her/its/their") refers to. Most 
translations render it as "its" on the understanding that if refers back to 
"dao". Still, the word "dao" appears a few lines back and the lines in 
between contain quite a few possible antecedents:
- "ming ke ming": the name(s) that can be named
- "wu ming": the nameless
- "tian di zhi shi": the origin of heaven and earth
- "you ming": the named
- "wan wu zhi mu": the mother of the myriad things.

[F] {luDellu'meH jatlhlu'}. I could have used {bIHvaD pegh ponglu'} here 
but:
(a) the verb {pong} was used in the previous line
    and to repeat it would be clumsy.
(b) two different words are used in the Chinese text:
    "ming" in the previous line and "wei" in this line
(c) The phrase " ... is called" ("... wei") appears
    quite a few times in the book and I have always
    rendered it as {... Dellu'meH jatlhlu'}:

Chp 27:
    mIwvamvaD ponglu': peghbogh mIw bochqu'.
    This is called the covert practice that shines.

Chp 36:
    peghvam DelmeH jatlhlu': <Hurghbogh peghHom bochqu'>.
    This is called the little dark secret that shines.

Chp 69:
    to'vam DelmeH jatlhlu':/
           tlhetlhbe'lu'taHvIS tlhetlhlu'.
   This is called:/
         Moving forward without moving forward.

[G] Here I took inspiration from SkyBoxCard31 {Hegh bey} Death Howl:

   ... beyHom bey bey'a' jachtaH latlh tlhInganpu' ...
   ... others roar in great crescendo ...

[H] Since {potlh} is either a verb meaning "be important" or a noun meaning 
"something important", {Hoch potlh} is ambiguous and could mean:
- everything (that is) important,
- the important part (i.e. the essence) of everything
- or every important thing.

One way to disambiguate the phrase would be to put the suffix {–na'} on 
{potlh}: {Hoch potlhna'} but – rightly or wrongly - I thought it would be 
good to keep the ambiguity.

'ISqu'
http://www.geocities.com/taoteching_klingon

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