[87298] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: "Authentic" Klingon materials
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (ghunchu'wI' 'utlh)
Mon Nov 30 15:11:00 2009
In-Reply-To: <a1173fff0911301101j4f3f2393we3c0db667d91e9e3@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:08:51 -0500
From: "ghunchu'wI' 'utlh" <qunchuy@alcaco.net>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Christopher Doty <suomichris@gmail.com> 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?
http://www.kli.org/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'
