On 5/2/2021 7:17 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
Ca'Non sentence:
roD 'oHvaD juHqo' ponglu' neH [Qo'noS] is usually referred to as simply "the homeworld"
I can't understand how this Ca'Non klingon sentence produces the english one; if I hadn't read the translation, I'd understand it as "it is merely called homeworld". Which in turn wouldn't make sense not even in english.
Marc's translation is fine. Your problem stems from your non-native understanding of English and your focus on a single way to translate from Klingon.
What does "merely called" actually mean? Does it mean that something is "merely called" as opposed to something additional being happening to it? If I say "the officer merely hit the prisoner", then this means that he hit the prisoner without doing anything else to him; it means "he just hit the prisoner; he didn't for example execute him too".
So, what the jay' does "something is merely called" actually mean? Does it mean "we just call it something, without let's say having sex with it too"?
If something is /merely called/ something else, it means it is called that something else, but that something else is somehow simpler or less important than its other name. /Referred to as simply/ means exactly the same thing as /merely called./ /His name was Benjamin Buford Blue, but Forrest merely called him Bubba./ This tells you that /Bubba/ is a nickname with less stature than the full name. So when we have /It is usually referred to as "the homeworld," /it's saying that most people don't bother to say the correct name /Kronos/ very much and instead use this informal name.
This Ca'Non sentence seems like 'oqranD wanted to use the adverb "simply", which of course is non-existent in the so-called warrior language,
I doubt that Okrand wrote the English text. He just translated it.
and for lack of a better alternative, shoved up a {neH} after the {ponglu'}, while at the same time giving a different english translation than klingon sentence actually implies.
No, the *neH* translates the /simply/ correctly.
I could understand it if he wrote:
roD 'oHvaD juHqo' neH ponglu' [Qo'noS] is usually referred to as only "the homeworld"
Meaning "Kronos is usually called only by the name of homeworld"; i.e. usually no other name is being used for Kronos, except "the homeworld".
That's not what they're trying to express. They're saying that Klingons usually use a less formal name than the planet's actual name. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name