tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 25 07:49:36 2005
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Re: time passes
juDmoS:
> >Exactly what canon information do we have as relates
> >to Klingon time...that is to say, rough Klingon
> >equivalents of a second, minute, hour, day
> >(daylight), night, day (24 hr period), week, month,
> > season, year, etc.?
QeS lagh:
>These ones are easily dealt with:
>
>second: lup
>minute: tup
>hour: rep
>day (daylight): pem
>night: ram
>day (24-hour period): jaj
>week: Hogh (but this is not equivalent to a Terran week; exactly how long a
> Klingon week is is anyone's guess)
>month: jar (see note on {Hogh})
>year: DIS
Similarly, the Klingon words {jaj}, {jar}, and {DIS} are normally
translated as "day", "month", and "year", respectively, but the
length of a Klingon day, month, or year is not the same as the
Terran counterpart. Calculating the length of a Klingon day,
month, or year is not at all a straightforward exercise, but
suffice it to say that a period of five months is not the same
amount of time as a period of {vagh jarmey}. [KGT (205f.)]
Adding {-vam} "this" to most words designating fixed periods
of time seems to be the only way to indicate current. Thus the
current year or "this year" is {DISvam} (referring, of course,
to a Klingon year, or {DIS}) ... There don't seem to be special
words for "the current year" and so forth comparable to {DaHjaj}
"the current day" or "today." [st.klingon 6/97]
With longer time periods, such as a century ({vatlh DIS poH}),
or a period of 10,000 years ("myriad", perhaps) ({netlh DIS poH}),
the words {ret} or {pIq} may be used in place of {poH}, e.g.
{cha' vatlh DIS poH} "two centuries", but {cha' vatlh DIS ret}
"two centuries ago". The phrase {cha' vatlh ben} would mean
"200 years ago". The choice of construction depends on what is
being emphasized: in this case, the total number of centuries
(two) or the total number of years (200). (HolQeD 8.3)
juDmoS:
> > What do we know about the names of the Klingon seasons (if any)?
QeS lagh:
>There's no canon as far as I know. When I began translating some of "A
>Midsummer Night's Dream", I translated "summer" as {tuj poH} "the time of
>heat", but that's just me, and I expect other people have their own idioms
>for the seasons.
FWIW the Klingon Bible Translation Project (KBTP) used *{bov tuj} "summer"
and *{bov bIr} "winter".
>One small fact that may or may not be relevant: There's no verb "to snow" in
>Klingon, which leads one to suspect that winter on Qo'noS would be a fairly
>mild affair.
lay'tel SIvten:
>>Oh? So what does {peD} 'snow (v)' mean to you?
QeS should have said that there's no *noun* for "snow". The verb {peD} is
known, like the other weather verbs {SIS} "rain" and {jev} "storm".
I've always thought that the First City at least experienced fairly severe
cold. In TNG "Sins of the Father" we saw Picard wandering around the
streets of the First City looking for Worf's old nanny Kahlest. He, along
with everyone else, was wearing a heavy hooded cloak, and there were open
fires burning in street braziers to warm passers by. If Kronos didn't have
winter, why does Klingon clothing consist primarily of leathers, firs and
cloaks?
We also have the noun {chuch} "ice" as well as the verbs {bIr} "be cold",
{tet} "melt" and {taD} "be frozen". This last is also used in the
idiomatic expression {yItaD'eghmoH!} "Freeze yourself!" (i.e. "Don't move"
[KGT 117]). Of course, these words could also apply to Rura Penthe, the
frozen asteroid used by Klingons as a penal colony.
juDmoS:
>With that in mind, I'd imagine the seasonal divisions are
>somewhat different for Klingons. In northern Australia, where I live, the
>division between the four seasons doesn't have a whole lot of relevance,
>because winter's not very cold at all - for all practical purposes, we have
>two seasons: wet and dry. Maybe Klingon does something similar.
All of which may still be true.
juDmoS:
> >... names of the Klingon months, if any?
QeS lagh:
>Neither of these has been explained in canon AFAIK.
Nothing systematic, but we do have two bits of information regarding
Klingon months:
1) {QI'lop}, the holiday honoring the Klingon military, occurs in the tenth
Klingon month (PK). Okrand didn't give us the name.
2) Alexander was born on the 43rd day of Maktag (TNG "New Ground").
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons