tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 25 10:49:49 2007
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Re: chainsaw?
mI'qey:
>I encountered the other day a need (if you can call it
>that) to translate the word "chainsaw" into Klingon.
>After juggling various possibilities, I settled on
>{pe'meH mIr}. Does this seem reasonable to you?
Voragh:
> > That's not bad. Modeled on {pe'meH taj} "cutting
> > knife" no doubt:
mI'qey:
>I only wish I knew canon that well. Actually, I
>constructed it out of whole cloth, based on dictionary
>lookups and my understanding of the way verbs with
>{-meH} can be used to modify nouns. No doubt, since
>I've read KGT, the example of {pe'meH taj} contributed
>to that understanding, but I didn't specifically
>recall it or model {pe'meH mIr} on it.
>
>It's nice to learn, though, that my invention has a
>canonical parallel.
It has another: {ghojmeH taj} "knife for learning". A young Klingon has
one of these before he earn's his own d'k tahg in the Second Rite of
Ascension, or {nentay}. In the KCD novelization, Gowron says:
But a Klingon is not born a warrior. Being a warrior is something
that must be earned. Before I earned this knife, I owned a {ghojmeH
taj}, a boy's knife... This story is about Pok, son of Torghn, my
friend and ally. A mere boy with a {ghojmeH taj}. [p. 12]
Qov:
>>The first time you mention it, you might want to mention that it has
>>an engine, so people aren't envisioning a handsaw. I have a coiled
>>chain-like handsaw in my survival kit.
You can add {jan} "device" to the mix: {pe'meH mIr jan} or maybe just
*{mIrjan} for short. Examples of {jan} in compound nouns include {baHjan}
"launcher", {botjan} "shields (force field on ship)" and {Saqjan} "landing
gear"; cf. also {begh botjan} "deflector shield(s)", {peng baHjan} "torpedo
launcher", {qa'vam jan} "the Genesis Device" and {QoQ jan} "musical
instrument".
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons