tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 22 10:38:36 2005

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Re: Klingon WOTD: nargh (verb)

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



At 06:00 AM Monday 11/21/2005, you wrote:
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Monday, November 21, 2005.
>
>Klingon word:   nargh
>Part of Speech: verb
>Definition:     escape

   jInargh
   I escape. KLS

   narghta'
   [They have] Escaped. ST6

   taj DopmeyDaq nargh cha' tajHom
   Two small, secondary blades eject from the knife's sides SP2

   narghbe'chugh SuvwI' qa' taH may'
   If the warrior's spirit has not escaped, the battle is still going on. TKW

   HeghDI' SuvwI' nargh SuvwI' qa'
   When a warrior dies, his spirit escapes. TKW

   'avwI' nejDI' narghta'bogh qama' reH 'avwI' Sambej
   When an escaped prisoner looks for a guard, he always finds one. TKW

   ghe'torvo' narghDI' qa'pu'
   when spirits escape from Gre'thor

   According to mythology, when a dishonored Klingon dies, his or her
   spirit goes to a place called Gre'thor, there to remain. To speak of
   spirits escaping from Gre'thor is to speak of an impossibility. The
   phrase usually follows the statement of what it is that supposedly
   cannot happen:

      jIjegh ghe'torvo' narghDI' qa'pu'
      "I will surrender when spirits escape from Gre'thor". (KGT 117)

   In Klingon, opportunities are captured [{jon}], not taken; a missed
   opportunity is said to have escaped [{nargh}]. (TKW 51)

   I'd probably take an idiomatic approach incorporating the phrase
   {nargh 'eb} "the opportunity escapes" ...  This goes along with other
   expressions such as {'eb jon} "he/she captures the opportunity" or,
   more colloquially "he/she seizes the opportunity." (st.klingon 1/98):

     jIpaSqu'mo' narghpu' qaSuchmeH 'eb
     I was too late to visit you.
     "Because I'm very late, the opportunity to visit you has escaped."

     qaSuch vIneH 'ach narghpu' 'eb.  jIpaSqu'.
     I was too late to visit you.
     "I want to visit you, but the opportunity has escaped. I am very late."

     qaSuchlaHbe'.  jIpaSqu' vaj narghpu' 'eb.
     I was too late to visit you.
     "I cannot visit you. I am very late, thus the opportunity has escaped."

Cf. also {Haw'} "flee, get out"; {mej} "leave, depart"; {qeD} "vacate} and 
{tlheD} "depart".

>Homonyms:
>     nargh (verb) - appear

     HeghDI' SuvwI' nargh SuvwI' qa'
     When a warrior dies, his spirit escapes.  TKW

   The verb {nargh} ... means "escape", but the same word, or a phonetically
   identical one, means "appear". Thus, perhaps the Klingons are saying that
   when a warrior dies, his spirit appears, whereas prior to death it was
   hidden or disguised by the body. Another interpretation is that the
   spirit was held prisoner by the body. Worf told Jeremy, whose mother had
   been killed, "In my tradition, we do not grieve the loss of the body. We
   celebrate the releasing of the spirt."  [TKW 145]



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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