[2664] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: SaQumqa'
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Jan 20 10:53:59 1994
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
From: Will Martin <whm2m@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 10:39:08 EST
On Jan 19, 2:29pm, dls9@aol.com wrote:
> Subject: Re: SaQumqa'
...
> So, my revised quote turns out:
>
> {nIjeytaHjaj jaghlI' puj'e' je} "May your weak enemies (topic) also defeat
> you."
...
> Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos
>
OOOooooooooooooooooh! *I* get it. I was confused by the conjunction. It
made me expect two nouns. I thought you were trying to say, "May your enemies
and your weakness defeat you." TKD does list {je} as "also", though it is
more commonly used as "and" joining two nouns. Placing a noun suffix on an
adjectival verb in this position poses an interesting confusion, even when it
is legal, especially when the root word can be either noun or verb. There is
a tendency to try to replace the missing noun with the adjectival verb,
exaserbated by the noun suffix on that verb.
Hmmm. How could this be clearer? Perhaps the "also" costs more in
clarity than it adds. I suspect your point would come across even more
clearly without it.
I'm tempted to try, "May your WEAK enemies defeat you as easily as
this," but I am not secure that I have the skill to pull it off clearly.
Thinking myself in that same situation, I might take an entirely
different insult:
bIHoSDI' 'ej bIQIpbe'DI' choSuvqa'
DaH bIDogh 'ej bIDal
-- charghwI'
-- charghwI'
