[tlhIngan Hol] describing baby animals

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Wed Oct 14 13:28:41 PDT 2020


I'm sure this was discussed last year, but for the benefit of those new to the list...

(KGT 77f.):  Among the songs sung exclusively to or by children is the {najmoHwI'} (literally, "one that causes one to dream)", or lullaby

One of these {nachmoHwI'mey} is known:  *Qoung vaj macht* "Sleep Little Warrior" (VOY "Human Error") -- sic for {Qong vaj mach}.  Two more examples are:

  qIvo'rIt may'Duj mach 
  smaller version of a K'vort class cruiser  (KBoP)

  mach SuvwI'pu' 
  Warriors are small. (KGT)

Aside from {vaj} - no doubt one of the VOYAGER writers just looked it up in TKD - this last example could easily be a line from the lullaby.  BTW,  there is a word for teddy bear: {mIl'oD ngeb} "fake/counterfeit (sabre) bear".  So Little Wolf could be called a {ngavyaw' ngeb}.  I rather like the sound of that.

Alliteration works well with children.  I wonder... Has anyone tried to translate something from Dr. Seuss?

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

----------------------------------------Original Message-----------------------------------
From: Lieven L. Litaer
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2020 9:56 AM

Am 13.10.2020 um 16:03 schrieb [Voragh]:
> FYI in 2019 Lieven translated "Sleep Tight, Little Wolf" (a children’s book by Ulrich Renz) as {Qongchu’ ngavyaw’ mach}.  Was this a wolf cub (i.e. a puppy) or just a small wolf (i.e. the runt of the litter)?

I chose that translation because it was really referring to size only.  Age was not considered in the story. This "little wolf" they speak about is a puppet, i.e. a teddy bear like toy. In addition, I wanted to keep in line with other translations which all used the term "small x".


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