[tlhIngan Hol] lightning lightning bolt and {pe'bIl}

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Tue May 25 07:59:02 PDT 2021


On 5/25/2021 10:50 AM, SuStel wrote:
> On 5/25/2021 10:32 AM, Will Martin wrote:
>> Of course, we feel different about our word “weather” than we feel 
>> about the term “atmosphere status”, but since Klingon doesn’t have a 
>> word for “weather”, maybe they feel exactly the same about the phrase 
>> {muD Dotlh} as we feel about our word “weather”.
>
> If they do, then it's an idiom we can't recreate through pure 
> analysis. We use the noun /weather/ in a couple of different senses: 
> the collection of wind, water, visibility, and temperature in the 
> atmosphere ("The bad weather wrecked the boat"); the current state of 
> the atmosphere due to all those factors ("The weather isn't looking 
> good for flying today"); and the reporting on this state ("And now on 
> to the weather"). Taken literally, the Klingon *muD Dotlh* is only the 
> second of these: the state of the atmosphere due to the effects of 
> wind, water, etc.
>
> Now, one could say that Zeus is the god of the state of the 
> atmosphere, and that wouldn't be inaccurate, but when one says Zeus is 
> a god of the weather, I think one is really referring to the first of 
> the senses I mentioned: he commands the wind, water, visibility, 
> temperature, and so on in the sky. Those things aren't the *muD 
> Dotlh,* though together they can change the *muD Dotlh.*
>
> In other words, if my boat is being tossed about on the waves, it's 
> not because the /status/ of the atmosphere is tossing it about; it's 
> because the physical phenomena of wind and water in the sky are 
> tossing it about. In English, we use the word /weather/ for both of 
> these things; in Klingon, it appears to me that *muD Dotlh* is 
> specifically the former, the status of the atmosphere, and we don't 
> seem to have a single term to refer specifically to the collection of 
> physical phenomena.
>
Or to put it another, another way, if you ordered me to *QuQ Dotlh 
ja'*/Report engine status!/ I might reply, *tujqu' QuQ*/The engine is 
overheating./ I would NOT say *tujqu' QuQ Dotlh*/The engine status is 
overheating./ If you ordered me to *muD Dotlh ja'*/Report atmosphere 
status!/ I might reply *SuS 'ej SIS*/It's windy and rainy./ I would not 
reply *SuS muD Dotlh 'ej SIS*/The atmosphere status is blowing and raining./

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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