tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 07 15:08:29 2007

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

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

Re: wIqIpeDIya'

Alpha Omicron ([email protected]) 

Steven Boozer wrote:
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
Thanks for the vocab/style help. Though it seems I miscommunicated 
myself (not hard when learning a language!); I meant that I and a ferw 
others were the writers of the page "Klingon language" at the English 
Wikipedia, and that it could use the input of some of the KLI members.

Back to archive top level