He’s really using up those monosyllables now!

--
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

From: Lieven
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2016 4:16 AM
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Subject: [tlhIngan Hol] magic and magicians

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:

--- begin quote ---

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).”

--- end quote ---

--

Lieven L. Litaer

aka Quvar valer 'utlh

Grammarian of the KLI

http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher

http://www.klingonwiki.net

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