[84009] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: KCD 1
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Fri Jan 18 15:44:41 2008
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 14:42:15 -0600
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
In-Reply-To: <4790F51B.3030700@trimboli.name>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
qa'vaj:
> > I was playing around with KCD, and hit a spot where one of the Klingons
> said
> > something like "our houses have always stood door-to-door". I couldn't
> help
> > wondering, how would a Klingon say that? It seems quite idiomatic.
SuStel:
>How about
>
> reH Sumchuq juHmeymaj
>
>In context, the sentence was meant to mean that their physical dwellings
>were next to each other, though there was an intentional and
>disingenuous undertone of their Houses (note the capital letter) being
>closely allied (which they were most certainly not).
{Sum} "be near" isn't transitive, so you can't use {-chuq} "[do something]
to each other/one another".
Will Martin asked about {-chuq} with {Sum} in his interview on deixis in
HolQeD (Dec. 1998, pp. 9-10). Okrand shot him down:
MO: Question: {Sum'a' raS?} "Is the table near (me)?" ("Am I near the table?)
Answer: {HIja'. Sum raS.} "Yes. The table is near (you)."
Answer: {ghobe'. jIHDaq Sum raS.} "No. The table is near me."
WM: And could I say {maSumchuq}?
MO: No. You'd just say {bISum} or {SuSum}. If you haven't, in the course
of the conversation, set things up otherwise, it's assumed that the event
being talked about is taking place where the speaker is. In fact, {jISum}
alone probably would make no everyday sense to a Klingon. "I am near me."
But it does have an idiomatic philosophical sense, something like "I'm in
touch with my inner self" (but in a Klingon sort of way, of course).
> > ngoDvammo' nughmaj So'bogh peghtaHgach'e' vIbIv 'e' vIwuq jIH, ghawron,
> > tlhIngan yejquv DevwI'. 'ej SoHvaD, DIvI' yoq, tlhIngan tIqna' vI'agh.
>
>DIvI' yoq? I could never figure out what he said there...
{DIvI' yoq} "Federation humanoid" ??
{DIvI' yuQ} "Federation planet" ??
The only thing even remotely similar I could think of is {yuQjIjDIvI'}
"United Federation of Planets" -- you of the UFP?
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
