tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 09 13:17:00 2008
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Re: qep'a' [mu'mey chu'?]
Jonathan Webley wrote:
>wa'SaD mu'mey chu' nunob MO 'e' vInaj. SughomchuqtaHvIS, chaq mu'mey chu'
>nunob. wItlhoblaH'a'? mu'meyvam vIneH:
Since we're unlikely to get any of these, and the List has been pretty
quiet today, I'll make a few comments...
>* bikini
Maybe for sunbathing, but certainly not for swimming:
KGT 91: The verb {HaH} [...] is now often used in the more general sense
of "soak, drench". It is frequently heard in the reflexive form ({HaH'egh}
"soak oneself") in reference to such activities as drinking a great deal,
which has positive connotations, and bathing, an occasional undertaking
with negative connotations.
TKW 35: The negative associations with water might also be seen when Worf
remarked to Counselor Deanna Troi, "Swimming is too much like bathing."
>* button
I once saw *{rarwI'} - from {rar} "connect, attach" - used for this which
would also work for zipper, Velcro fastener, etc.
>* colour
The noun "colo(u)r" has been explicitly rejected by Okrand:
KGT 81-82: Compared to Federation Standard, Klingon terminology associated
with colors is rather limited. First of all, there is no noun meaning
"color." There is, however, a verb, {nguv}, which means something like "be
dyed, stained, tinted," though it is seldom used except in the phrase
{chay' nguv} ("How is [it] tinted?") or when suffixed with {-moH} ("cause")
in the form {nguvmoH} ("dye, tint, stain"; that is, "cause to be dyed,"
etc.)--for example, {ret'aq nguvmoH} ("He/she stains the knife handle").
>* computer bug
Some people on the List have used *{De'wI' ghew(Hom)}.
>* crane
The machine, not the bird I assume? {tep jolpat} "cargo transporter" (i.e.
a type of crane according to the drawing) and {tepqengwI'} "cargo lift"
(i.e. another type of crane) are shown on the Klingon BOP poster.
>* ladder
Well it's not exactly a ladder, but we do have:
KGT 29: the word for "stairs" or "stairway" in most of the Empire is
{letlh}. One type of {letlh} is a {choghvat}, the stairway leading to and
from the doorway of a ship. In a couple of dialects in the Mekro'vak
({meqro'vaq}) region, however, {letlh} refers only to the stairway
connected to a ship, while {ngep'oS} is any other kind of stairway but not
one used to enter or exit a ship.
If you don't like these, *{toSmeH jan} "climbing device" or *{SalmeH jan}
"ascending device" might work.
FYI in the (U.S.) Navy would call {choghvat} a "brow", whether or not it
had stairs. Also narrow, steep stairways aboard ship were routinely called
"ladders" which were also found in places leading from one deck to another.
>* molecule
A better choice might be "atom"; a molecule could then be {ATOMghom}.
>* mouse
{Qa'Hom} "type of animal similar to a {Qa'}, but smaller}
KCD: The translation "titmouse" is really only an approximation of what
this word means. A {Qa'Hom} is a small animal considered rather
insignificant. The word literally means "little {Qa'}." A {Qa'} is a
larger, more dangerous animal. A {Qa'Hom} is not a young {Qa'}, but it does
bear a vague resemblance to its namesake.
N.B. As portrayed in the image in the KCD Language Lab, this bears no
resemblance whatever to the small Terran bird called a titmouse but looks
like a small, four-footed rodent with a lot of hair, like a hedgehog.
>* page
Many people use {nav} "paper" for this.
>* sexy
{parmaq} *par'Mach* may already cover this:
KGT 199: {parmaq}, conventionally translated "love" or "romance" (though
the Klingon concept is far more aggressive than the Federation Standard
translations imply)
KGT 207: there are some words that simply do not translate. One must
resort to descriptions rather than simple one- or two-word translations,
and one must be a quite facile in the language and knowledgeable of the
culture to understand the concepts. [...] So is {parmaq}, the Klingon term
for an aggressive sort of romantic feeling.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons