tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 30 12:10:28 2009
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Re: "Authentic" Klingon materials
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Christopher Doty <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm wondering, though, if anyone has tried their hand at producing
> more "authentic," original compositions in Klingon that aren't
> translations of extant (human) literature?
/study/jatmey.html describes many such attempts (all
successful). There is also the short story {jubHa'}, which appears in
the third volume of the _Strange New Worlds_ anthology series.
> Has anyone ever, say, made up a meter for Klingon and tried
> to write poetry in that meter about uber-Klingon themes?
Mark Mandel invented a poetic form he called {puSlogh vagh}, though I
don't recall his using it for specifically Klingon ideas.
> Also, question about <paqbatlh>: Memory Alpha gives it as meaning "the
> honor of the book," but wouldn't a more accurate English translation
> be "the honorable book"?
No, for two reasons. First, {batlh} isn't a verb that can be used
adjectivally the way {quv} can. Second, we don't know any way to
reasonably form noun-verb compounds, so even if it were {paqquv}
instead, we can't be sure of pulling it apart accurately. The only
straightforward translation has to be as the compound noun
"book-honor", with the option of making it flow a little more smoothly
in English as "book's honor" or "honor of the book".
(For what it's worth, the word {paqbatlh} was obviously a botched
attempt by Voyager's scriptwriters to say "book of honor" in Klingon.)
-- ghunchu'wI'