tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 07 07:59:24 2007
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Re: wIqIpeDIya'
At 08:34 PM Tuesday 3/6/2007, alpha Omicron wrote:
>wIqIpeDIya'Daq tlhIngan Hol De' nav ghItlhtaH jIH latlhpu' puS je.
prefix: {nav wIghItlhtaH jIH latlhpu' puS je}
"I and a few others (i.e. we) are writing the web page"
Vocabulary: Since you're talking about an encyclopedia entry, consider
{gher} "formulate, compile, put together" or possibly {qon} "record,
compose" instead of {ghItlh}. Okrand discussed them on startrek.klingon:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Marc Okrand <...>
Newsgroups: startrek.klingon
Date: Thursday, July 09, 1998
Subject: Re: maHeghlaw'lI'
Qov (and others) bring up an interesting point about writing in Klingon.
The verb for "write" in the sense of "compose" is /qon/, literally
"record." This is used for songs and also for literary works (poems,
plays, romance novels, and so on). As has been pointed out, it's as if
the song or story is somehow out there and the "writer" comes into contact
with it, extracts it (to use Qov's nice phrase), and records it.
The verb usually translated "write," /ghItlh/, refers to the physical
activity of writing (moving the pencil around, chiseling, etc.)
The question is, if you can /ghItlh/ it, must you also /qon/ it? That is,
is everything that is written down the result of composition (in the sense
described above)?
The answer is "not necessarily." There's another verb, /gher/, which
doesn't have a straightforward equivalent in English, but which has
sometimes been translated (not entirely satisfactorily) as "formulate" or
"compile" or "pull together." The idea seems to be that of bringing
thoughts together into some kind of reasonably coherent form so that they
can be conveyed to someone else.
Thus, one would usually say /naD tetlh gher/ "he/she compiles the
Commendation List" or "he/she writes the Commendation List" (/naD/
"commendation," /tetlh/ "roll, scroll, list," /gher/ "he/she compiles
it").
(Maltz laughed at, but accepted, /Soj tetlh gher/ for "he/she writes the
grocery list" [/Soj/ "food"].)
One would probably /gher/, rather than /qon/, a suggested list of
readings, a gazetteer, a simple menu, or the instructions for assembling a
toy (assuming the latter is not really an exercise in creative writing).
One might also say /QIn gher/ "he/she formulates a message" or, more
colloquially, "he/she writes a message" (/QIn/ "message," /gher/ "he/she
formulates it"). But now it begins to get tricky. Using /gher/ here
implies that the writer of the message was passing along some information
he or she got elsewhere, such as scribbling down a telephone message.
Saying /QIn qon/ "he/she composes a message" or "he/she writes a message"
(literally "he/she records a message") suggests that the writer is
presenting some new information as opposed to merely passing something
along. It may also imply that the written message has some sort of
literary merit, and thus be a compliment.
But not always. /HIDjolev qon/ "he/she composes the menu" (/HIDjolev/
"menu," /qon/ "he/she composes it") suggests that the speaker thinks the
list of available fare is written with a certain literary flair. This is
not likely to be said of menus in Klingon restaurants (whose menus, if
posted at all, tend to be rather pithy), and thus could easily be taken as
an insult.
Similarly, something like /bom gher/ "he/she formulates the song" (/bom/
"song") would be taken as a disparaging comment about the song or its
composer (and is, in fact, sometimes heard when the song in question is of
non-Klingon origin).
This should help somewhat, but it will no doubt raise additional questions
about usage. Maltz seems to be willing to try to tackle them as they come
along.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>vIghItlhchugh neH vaj Dubbe' De' navvetlh.
"If only I write it (If I'm the only one writing it), then that web page's
data will not improve."
I would repeat {jIH} for emphasis, especially with {neH}:
vIghItlhchugh jIH neH vaj Dubbe' De' navvetlh.
Without the pronoun, {vIghItlhchugh neH} can also mean "if I merely write
it" (as opposed to editing it, proof-reading it, mounting it on the Web,
maintain it, etc.). Admittedly, a slight difference.
You might even add {-bej}, {-ba'} or {-law'} to {Dub} depending on how
strongly you feel about it.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons