[tlhIngan Hol] magic and magicians

[Lieven]

At the qepHom 2016, we were happy to learn the word for magic, {'IDnar}.

As a coincidence, one of the attendees is a famous professional 
magician, so the immediate and obvious first question was: What do you 
call a magician? Few days ago, it was the magician's 40th birthday, and 
Marc... ehm, sorry, Maltz made this information his birthday present:

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I talked with Maltz about magic a little bit, and here's what he had to say:

A true wizard or sorcerer – like in Harry Potter – is a ’IDnar pIn’a’.

To conjure or to cast a spell, which is what wizards do, is reS.  So a 
wizard or sorcerer can also be called a reSwI’.

A spell, in this sense, is tlheH.   One can say either tlheH reS or just 
reS alone for "he/she casts a spell."  Maltz wasn’t sure if there is 
anything besides tlheH that can be the object of reS, since Maltz isn’t 
a ’IDnar pIn’a’, but maybe there is.

The most common way to refer to a magician, like Kalibo, is mIn yuqwI’ 
(yuq is “outwit, outsmart”).

(A mIn tojwI’ is an “optical illusion.”)

Another expression for “magician” is ’IDnar lIlwI’.

lIl is a verb meaning something like “simulate, impersonate.” The idea 
is one of doing something such that the subject of the verb looks or 
behaves like something (or someone) else or represents something (or 
someone) else. The word has no connotation of fraud or anything 
underhanded (in this respect, it’s like ghet).  The object is the thing 
being simulated or the person being impersonated.  lIlwI’ (“simulator,” 
for lack of a better term) is different from lIw (“substitute”) since 
lIw implies replacement (the notion of  “instead of”) while a lIlwI’ 
doesn’t replace anyone or anything.

So “perform magic” (as Kalibo does) is mIn yuq or ’IDnar lIl.  (’IDnar 
pIn’a’ lIl would be “he/she impersonates a wizard [non-fraudulently].”

Another word Maltz thought of as we were talking about all of this is 
yut “distract, create a diversion.”  The object of this verb, when there 
is an object, is the person or group of people (usually) being distracted.

[...personal messages removed]

Happy Birthday to Kalibo.

  - Marc

PS - My favorite sentence at the moment is “They are (continuously and 
with some sort of goal in mind) impersonating you (plural).”
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-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
http://www.klingonwiki.net