tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 23 11:02:35 2004

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

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

Re: QID

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

Quvar asks:
>Yes, and by the way, we do have a word for injure, so why is there a word
>"wound"? Huh? ;-)
>   [....]        And as we have a word for injure, I was confused with
>the verb wound. In english, some verbs can have two meanings, while in
>German we might get two different words, or even more.
>
>In this case, "wound" and "injure" are both translated "verletzen", so the
>user of my dictionary might be confused, and doesn't know which to use.
>[Many people would take rIQmoH, just because they know "injure" better than
>"wound", in english]

"Wounds" generally implies intent and a weapon, while "injury" can be 
accidental and can occur for many reasons.  E.g. "During the duel, I only 
wounded him with my pistol" vs. "During the earthquake, he was badly 
injured when a wall fell on him."  Simplistically:  People are wounded in 
combat but injured in accidents.  Of the two, "injure" is the more general 
term: all wounds are injuries, but not all injuries are wounds.

Wounding is mentioned in KGT (p. 123):

   This is the Klingon equivalent of "wound one's pride." The sash represents
   a Klingon's heritage. If the sash is removed, so is the Klingon's ancestral
   identity, and, along with it, his or her dignity and self-esteem.  It is
   generally used with a possessive pronominal suffix attached to {Ha'quj}
   ("sash")  [...]  Thus, the phrase {Ha'qujlIj nge'} (literally, "take away
   your sash") means "wound your pride."

Here the use of "wound" implies intent:  The insult is deliberate, not the 
accidental result of a misunderstanding.

There's no canon for {QID}, but we do have some for {rIQ}:

   rIQ qewwI'wIj
   my ring finger is injured (HQ 10.2)

   qewwI'wIj DarIQmoHpu'
   you injured my ring finger (HQ 10.2)


>And there are many cases like this, for instance how would I distinguish
>{vu'} and {loH} which both come out as "verwalten"?

Administer {loH} tends to be more official or government-related; manage 
{vu'} is more general and likely to be used in private business.  An 
administrator would be appointed by, say, a governor (e.g. district 
administrator) while a manager would be promoted by one's boss or the 
business owner (e.g. office manager, manager of a [sports] team).



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

Back to archive top level