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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Dante qul'a'

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Thu Apr 25 09:46:19 2013

From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
To: "tlhingan-hol@kli.org" <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:45:50 +0000
In-Reply-To: <CAG84SOv3iJ3PoMVQsdeurJUd6LBrJpCr8sEBAWnrLT9FjMCcNQ@mail.gmail.com>
Errors-To: tlhingan-hol-bounces@stodi.digitalkingdom.org

nIqolay:
> A few months ago I tried translating the message above the gate to Hell
> from Dante's "Inferno", Canto III, keeping the terza rima aba-bcb-cdc
> rhyme scheme and the eleven-syllable lines. (I didn't preserve the stress
> patterns, though. chaq jImaw' 'ach jImaw'qu'be'.)
> =

> tuvengDI' bechtaHghachna' vegh boghoSbej.
> tuvengDI' reH taHchu'bogh bepDaq boDuv.
> tuvengDI' chIlchoHbogh rIntaH chaH botlhej.
> =

> muchenmoHchu'ta'bogh wa''a' tungHa' ruv.
> jItaHchoHmeH nItebHa' vang Qun woQ'a'
> Qorghchu'ghach wa'DIch je. vang je Sov'a' quv.
> =

> taHchu'wI' neH luchenmoHlu' jIchenpa'.
> not vItaghlu'. not jIDor. reH jItaHchu'.
> naDev bo'elDI' pejegh 'ej petulHa'.
 =

Since my Dante is rusty I had to look it up:

  "Per me si va ne la citt=E0 dolente,
  per me si va ne l'etterno dolore,
  per me si va tra la perduta gente.

  Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore;
  fecemi la divina podestate,
  la somma sap=EFenza e 'l primo amore.

  Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
  se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
  Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate." =

 =


  "Through me the way is to the city dolent;
  Through me the way is to eternal dole;
  Through me the way among the people lost.

  Justice incited my sublime Creator;
  Created me divine Omnipotence,
  The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.

  Before me there were no created things,
  Only eterne, and I eternal last.
  All hope abandon, ye who enter in!" =


http://italian.about.com/library/anthology/dante/blinferno003.htm (I don't =
know how old this translation is.)

> Some notes on word choice:
> Line 4: I'm not 100% sure if wa''a' is strictly acceptable, but its
> meaning is clear enough that perhaps it could be excused as poetic
> license.

Although I'm not sure what you're trying to get across, but Okrand's commen=
ts on the common tendency of some people to use *{Qun'a'} for God may be us=
eful here:

  {Qun'a'} "great god" ({Qun} plus {-'a'}, the augmentative
  suffix) may or may not be an appropriate translation for
  a single supernatural being in a monotheistic system,
  since the {Qun'a'} would still be one among many.
  [startrek.klingon (7/19/1999)]

Using {-na'} "definite, definitely, true, no doubt, real" might work better:

  the noun suffix {-na'} (definite), which is used when the
  speaker wants to indicate that he or she is absolutely sure
  about what is being said (compare {maghwI'} "traitor", and
  {maghwI'na'} "definite traitor", without a doubt a traitor).
  [KGT 157]
 =

Some examples:  {jupna'} real friend, good friend;  {DevwI'na'} a true lead=
er (a definitely unquestioned leader);  {jachwI'na'} "true screamer" (Maste=
r of the Scream, i.e. the traditional narrator role in Klingon opera [PB p.=
 xvii]).


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



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