tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 08 07:11:59 2005

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Re: Mr. Charles, revisited

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



juDmoS:
> > p.s. with no word so far for "tear" except "water from the eye" to use in
> > the phrase "Take these tears from my eyes and let me see..." (water 
> from my
> > eye from my eyes?), the second verse will be a real challenge...

lay'tel SIvten:
>"Water from the eye" won't work by itself.  "From the eye" has to modify the
>verb or sentence, not another noun.  Tears can also be called 'eye water' 
>{mIn
>bIQ}, although it's not canonical.

... and not Klingon.  Okrand/Maltz has told us explicitly there's no word 
for "tear":

   For Klingons, even though there is a word for "cry" ({SaQ}), there
   is no word for "tear" or "tears", undoubtedly because Klingons have
   no tear ducts. The only thing Maltz could think of that eyes do
   from time to time is "redden" (DoqchoH}, literally "become red" or
   "change to red").  (HQ 12.4:9)

Try translating the idea with a verb instead of a noun:  "make me stop 
crying", "make my eyes red no longer", etc.  Or even go back to the reason 
for the tears:  "make me sad no more", "cheer me up", etc.



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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