tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 30 13:30:12 2007
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Re: Pun discovered for {taj}?
At 02:35 PM Tuesday 10/23/2007, Voragh wrote:
>While reading the Spanish press last week, I stumbled upon what may be the
>origin of {taj} "knife, dagger".
>
>In Spanish, the verb *tajar* "to cut, slice" has a whole series of
>derivative nouns: *tajo* "cut, gash; cutting edge; *tajada* "portion,
>share, slice (something cut off)"; *tajadera* "chopping knife, cold
>chisel"; *tajadero* "chopping block or board"; *tajador* "cutter, chopper";
>*tajadura* "cutting, chopping (action); cut, slice (portion)"; *tajante*
>"butcher", etc. This would be a spelling pun, as Spanish *tajar* is
>pronounced {taHar} using the tlhIngan Hol transcription.
>
>Note that there's an entirely unrelated Klingon verb for "slit, slash (with
>a blade)" - {SIj}.
>
>We know that Okrand reads Spanish - his Ph.D. dissertation on Mutsun was
>largely based on source material in Spanish - and that there are a few
>other Spanish-derived puns in the vocabulary of Klingon. I
Nobody responded - can it be that everyone agrees with me? - so I decided
to collect the Spanish puns I'm aware of:
{cha'par} "a bird noted for its song" (HQ 10.4) [PUN: Spanish *parpar*
"quack" (the sound made by a duck)]
{lam} "dirt" [PUN: Spanish *lama* "mud, slime"]
{na'ran} "type of fruit" ["The closest equivalent to sweet is probably
{na'ran rur} ('resembles a naran,' a fruit whose juice is sometimes added
to sauces as a contrast to the other flavors.) Interestingly, many human
visitors seem to really enjoy the juice of the naran all by itself,
particularly in the morning, though Klingons find this practice most
peculiar." (KGT 85) PUN: Spanish *naranja* "orange"]
{pa' reD} "interior face of exterior wall" (n) [PUN: Spanish *pared* "wall"]
{tuS} "cough" (v.) [PUN: Spanish *toser* (cf. also French *tousser*, Latin
*tussire*, Italian *tossire*)]
Another possible Spanish influence *might* be the reflexive usage of
{taDmoH} "freeze" and {tujmoH} "heat":
Generally, when a verb describing a state of being (for example,
{tuj} ["be hot"]) is used in the imperative form, the suffixes
{-'egh} (reflexive suffix) and {-moH} (cause) are used as well:
{yItuj'eghmoH} ("Heat yourself!"-that is, "Cause yourself to be
hot!"), {yItaD'eghmoH!} ("Freeze yourself!"--that is, "Cause
yourself to be frozen!"). [KGT 117]
Compare Spanish *congelarse* "to freeze", *enfriarse* "to get cold, cool
down", etc. These types of reflexive forms are quite common in Spanish and
it may have (unconsciously?) influenced Okrand.
Anyone know of any others?
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons