January 2023 - tlhIngan-Hol

New words from Hamletmachine
by Lieven L. Litaer 28 Dec '23

28 Dec '23

For the creation of the play {mu' mu' mu'} by the Dutch theatre company URLAND that premiered on 4th of March 2020, I was asked to translate a German play into Klingon, which was partially used in their play. The play "Die Hamletmaschine" by German author Heiner Müller was written in 1977, is internationally known and has been translated into several languages. During translation work, I got help from Marc Okrand who could discuss some useful information with Maltz. Due to some copyright situations, I cannot publish the translation right now, but I do not want to keep those words hidden until publication until then, so here we go. For a clearer and more "colorful" overview, see the page at the Klingon Language wiki: http://klingon.wiki/En/Hamletmachine Body parts: == Okrand quote == {nev'ob} refers to both the "thigh" and the "upper arm" (above the elbow). Similarly, {reStav} refers to both the "shin" and the "forearm." If it's necessary to make a distinction, precede these words with {'uS} or {DeS}. {cha'neH}, when used alone, means "forearm." But when preceded by {'uS}, it means "lower part of the leg." You could also say {DeS cha'neH} for "forearm," but this would probably be used only in a context where you were talking about both the forearm and the lower leg and wanted to clarify which was which. {reStav} is "shin," meaning the front of the lower leg. (I assume "Schienbein" is "shin bone." {reStav} is more than just the bone. The only way Maltz was aware of for referring to the bone is {reStav Hom}.) {Do'ghI'} is "calf," meaning the back of the lower leg ("Wade," presumably). == Okrand quote end == Clarifying "hang": == Okrand quote == {HuS} takes an object. If your shoes are hanging on a wall it's because somebody hung them there. {HuS} is not used to mean "lynch" or "execute by hanging." That's a different word: {jIb}. (Maltz thought maybe an early form of torture or execution was hanging people by their hair, but he wasn't totally sure about this and may have just been reacting to the homophony.) And there's another word: {tlhep} "be suspended, be dangling." Use {HuS} if, for example, you hang your coat on a hook on the wall or hang sheets on a clothesline to dry. But if, say, you see a spider dangling at the bottom of one of those silk threads that spiders extrude, use {tlhep}. Or if you see a pair of shoes tied together by the laces and, for whatever reason, they're hanging by the tied-together laces from an overhead power wire, use {tlhep}. == Okrand quote end == Okrand agreed that {jIb'egh} is "suicide by hanging". Next, there was a question about a "concubine": == Okrand quote == Maltz thought the best word for this might be {lIwnal}, though maybe not: the cultural connotations are a bit different since, in Klingon culture, everything associated with a {lIwnal} lacks honor, and this is not necessarily the case for a (Terran) king's concubines or courtesans. Note that only married people could have a partner who could be considered a {lIwnal}. Also, {lIwnal} could be male or female, so if it's necessary to distinguish, say {loD lIwnal} or {be' lIwnal}. == Okrand quote end == More words: {ghenlan} - Greenland (country) {qaw'} - flip over {qaw'moH} - flip over (i.e. "make something flip over") {rIv} - split {vIrgh} - rip (up), slash, tear (up), gash {'o'nI'} - foam, froth Not new words, but combined translations: {DeSwar bIr} - refrigerator {jorchan velqa'} - stage decoration {much jech} - costume {much yaH} - stage {qab jech} - mask Transliterations: {qo'qa' qo'la'} - Coca Cola {lIyenIn} - Lenin {maw} - Mao The question for a "stage" was answered with a general statement: == Okrand quote == Any place specifically designated for the performance of a specific task (or tasks) is a {yaH}. A stage is the {yaH} for the performance of plays or, perhaps, music. A football field is the {yaH} for a football game. A laboratory is a scientist's {yaH}. And, of course, on a ship, a {yaH} is a duty station. If context isn't enough to clarify what sort of {yaH} it is, you can say things like {much yaH}, {QoQ yaH}, {tamlerQeD yaH}, etc. == Okrand quote end == There's an idiom for "kill time": {'ebmey jonHa'} Talking about a "virgin", Okrand suggested saying it literally what a virgin is: {pagh ngaghpu'bogh be'} or {not vay' ngaghpu'bogh be'} Doing so, he answered the question if {ngagh} can be used with people. And in case anyone wondered, {jach} is a good verb to describe what a {jajlo' Qa'} does. -- Lieven L. Litaer aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany" http://www.klingonisch.de http://klingon.wiki/En/Hamletmachine

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Maus-words: News from Okrand
by Lieven L. Litaer 13 Mar '23

13 Mar '23

TL;DR: one new word {valqe'} "bat (animal)" Hello my friends, today is the 50-anniversary of a German children sho named "Die Sendung mit der Maus" (i.e. "the show with the mouse"). The topic of this episode was a view into the future, so it was obvious to make a Klingon introduction, of which I am very proud to provide it to them. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRgryUjxWes --------------------------------------------- Not only the TV show, also the podcast version of the entire week needed Klingon introductions, and those caused some problems which were answered by Maltz as follows: Quoted lines are my questions, lines starting with >>> are Okrand's words. --------------------------------------------- > leap year > - A year in which February has 29 days. 2020 was a "leap year". >>> Make use of the phrase {bur DIS}, as in, for example {qatlh bur 'op DISmey?} > bat > - small animal that can fly but is not a bird, looks quite creepy and > can see in the dark due to his sonar voice; sleeps hanging upside down, usually found in caves. >>> The closest Qo'noS equivalent is a flying beast called a {valqe'}. You can decide whether you want to say {tera' valqe'} for purposes of the TV show. > hibernate, overwinter > - what many animals do during the winter; a bear can hibernate. Also > the bats we talk above. They hide in caves and sleep there for a very > long time. [Added information: with bats, and where they overwinter, > (so the word is more about "winter" than "sleep")] >>> Maltz didn't know of any special way to say "overwinter." He said to just say something like {qaStaHvIS qImroq bIrqu', nuqDaq Qong valqe'mey?} if that covers what they're driving at. > material > - There is the word {Hap} "matter" that appears in many materials > (e.g. {Sor Hap} "wood"), but can it be used as "material"? Can I say > {Hapmey} for "several materials"? >>> {Hap} (without {-mey}) should work. > the future > - When I say a phrase like "In the future, nobody will be poor", may I > add {-Daq} to {tuch}? {tuchDaq mamIp}?? Or must it be something like > {qaSDI' tuch}? >>> {qaSDI' tuch} should work. > Can I say {to'waQ wIyIv} for "chewing gum"? >>> There is an idiomatic expression {to'waQ yIv} that means to take some time to consider a matter, but its meaning comes from the fact that {to'waQ} takes a relatively long time to chew (before swallowing), compared to other things you might be chewing, like muscle. It does not follow from this that Klingons chew {to'waQ} for pleasure, just because the flavor lingers longer or because it works off nervous energy. Maybe {req} would be better than {to'waQ} since, if you were to chew {req}, you'd probably be doing it just for the purpose of chewing (and whatever pleasure or benefit that may bring in and of itself), unlike {to'waQ}, which you'd be chewing for the purpose of grinding it up so you could finally swallow it. ------------------------------------- This will be archived at https://qephom.de/e/message_from_maltz.html -- Lieven L. Litaer aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany" http://www.tlhInganHol.com http://klingon.wiki/En/DieSendungMitDerMaus

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Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Bullets in Klingon
by James Landau 02 Feb '23

02 Feb '23

>Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:04:06 +0100 >From: André M?ller <esperantist(a)gmail.com> >Subject: Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Bullets in Klingon >On a side note, note that there's a prefix missing in the title. "Boys like>you" should be {SoH nIrurbogh loDpu'}. So pjrases with *rurbogh* (or any kind of -bogh) need an agreement prefix if it's not just a third-person subject with a third-person direct object? I never thought about that, perhaps because I thought of it more as an adjective (albeit a prepositive adjective rather than the usual postpositive stative verb) rather than as a verb. Good catch!

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Klingon Word of the Day: bertlham taymey
by Klingon Word of the Day 31 Jan '23

31 Jan '23

Klingon Word of the Day for Tuesday, January 31, 2023 Klingon word: bertlham taymey Part of speech: noun Definition: epilogue Source: qepHom 2020 This Klingon Word of the Day is brought to you by qurgh (qurgh(a)kli.org)

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Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Bullets in Klingon
by James Landau 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

>Date: Sat, 28 Jan 2023 10:29:49 +0100 >From: "De'vID" <de.vid.jonpin(a)gmail.com> >Subject: Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Bullets in Klingon >On Fri, Jan 27, 2023 at 3:04 PM Andr? M?ller via tlhIngan-Hol < >tlhingan-hol(a)lists.kli.org> wrote: > >> On a side note, note that there's a prefix missing in the title. "Boys >> like you" should be {SoH nIrurbogh loDpu'}. >> > >It should be {SoH nIrurbog loDHompu'}, qar'a'? Although I'm not sure that >"boys" in this context means the same thing as {loDHom}. In English, >infantilisation is sometimes used as a form of affection, but Klingon >culture would probably view it as insulting. (There's a story here about an >unfortunate Terran who tried to flirt with a Klingon by calling her "baby", >i.e., {ghu}.) You can watch the official (animated) video for "Boys like You" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnaG3OaU5bw . Given the ages of the people in the video, the title clearly means "Young men like you" rather than "Male children like you". In qepHom 2021, Marc Okrand wrote: "In Klingon, a *be'* is a female of any age and a *loD* is a male of any age. To specifically refer to a younger one of these, add -Hom. You probably wouldn't use -Hom for anyone past the Age of Ascension, but whatever other usage patterns there may be are subtle and murky. In general, if you're not talking about children (however defined), stick with *be'* and *loD*." How about using the words *be'oy* and *loDoy* for when singers are addressing their girlfriends or boyfriends as "girl" or "boy", as in the line from the above video: "I'm so excited, boy, you're making me blush", or Colbie Caillat's "Boy, we go together like peanuts and payday" or the Kinks' "Girl, you've really got me going" or the Naked Eyes' "How could I forget you, girl?"? And I'm amused that you mention the *ghu* story -- I ran into something about that on the wiki just the other day.

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Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Bullets in Klingon
by James Landau 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

>Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2023 22:04:05 -0500 >From: Alan Anderson <qunchuy(a)alcaco.net> >Subject: Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Bullets in Klingon >Maybe not. French calls it "bombe". Spanish is "bomba". Hebrew looks like >it calls it either a bomb or a cannon. We don't know what Klingons would >call the act of jumping into a pool in order to make a big splash. Interesting! Checking out https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cannonball#Translations, in Finnish and Macedonian it's called a bomb, in Dutch it's called a little bomb, in Portuguese it can either be a bomb or a cannonball, and in German it's a Sa'Hut-bomb. >Worf seems averse to swimming in the first place, so Klingons might not>even have pool-related jargon. Didn't know that! >>> Am I missing something? > > >You're missing the noun {nIch} "ammunition". Ah! Didn't think to go searching for that. Thanks! >However, you're also missing the noun {bobDar} "splash". I think >{bobDar'a'} would be a perfectly appropriate word to describe a "cannonball >jump" -- or at least the relevant result of one. You're right that we could probably just use *bobDar*. I do know this word, since I remember the discussion of "Splish Splash" that went on when it was revealed. Or we could use some imagery like *jorwI' bobDar*.

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Klingon Word of the Day: wu'DIy
by Klingon Word of the Day 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

Klingon Word of the Day for Monday, January 30, 2023 Klingon word: wu'DIy Part of speech: noun Definition: beaver-like creature Source: qepHom 2022 This Klingon Word of the Day is brought to you by qurgh (qurgh(a)kli.org)

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Klingon Word of the Day: mItlh
by Klingon Word of the Day 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

Klingon Word of the Day for Saturday, January 28, 2023 Klingon word: mItlh Part of speech: verb Definition: forge (metal) Source: qepHom 2016 This Klingon Word of the Day is brought to you by qurgh (qurgh(a)kli.org)

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Klingon Word of the Day: vo'nung
by Klingon Word of the Day 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

Klingon Word of the Day for Sunday, January 29, 2023 Klingon word: vo'nung Part of speech: noun Definition: phase (of a wave) Source: qep'a' 28 This Klingon Word of the Day is brought to you by qurgh (qurgh(a)kli.org)

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Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: jungwoq
by James Landau 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

If you're going to do *vIyetnam* (Vietnam) too, don't forget *mangtay* (Thailand) and *mIyama* (Myanmar)! >Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2023 15:38:09 +0000>From: Steven Boozer <sboozer(a)uchicago.edu> >>Klingon word: jungwoq>Part of speech: noun >Definition: China >Source: TalkNow - Learn Klingon!, revealed 30 September 2011 >>SEE ALSO:>'aSya' Asia >choSan [North] Korea >Hanghuq [South] Korea >vIyetnam Vietnam >nIpon Japan

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