[Tlhingan-hol] Huj, rIH, chu'

[De'vID jonpIn]

(Splitting this off from the KWOTD thread about {yov}.)

De'vID:
> > That is, one charges up ({Huj}) the
> > transporter's battery packs (or whatever Treknology is used to store
> > energy), perhaps at a space dock, so that it can be ready for use;

Voragh:
> Another example:
>
>  "Do you think I would be foolish enough to give you a charged
>   phaser?"  (Garth to Kirk, TOS "Whom Gods Destroy")

I think a charged phaser (= loaded gun) serves as a good example.  Another
example I thought of last night is a cell phone (= {ghogh HablI'
qenglu'bogh}?).  Indeed, there are many devices where {Huj}, {rIH}, and
{chu'} form a natural sequence in their use cycle.

{pu'HIchwIj vIHuj} "I charge my phaser" (analogous to "I load my pistol")
{jIQongpa' ghogh HablI' qenglu'bogh vIHujchoH} "Before I sleep, I begin to
charge the cell phone" (i.e., I plug my phone into the wall charger)

De'vID:
> > when one wants to use it, one then energizes ({rIH}) the transporter
> > beam.

Voragh:
> Aha, IOW "power up" or "initialize".  Then you would activate {chu'} the
transporter, qar'a'?   "Energize" was used in Trek quite a bit; e.g.:

wa' DoS wIqIp.

{Qu' vItaghDI' [pu']HIchwIj vIrIH} "When I begin the mission, I energize my
phaser" (analogous to "I cock my pistol")
{juHwIj vImejDI' ghogh HablI' vIrIH} "When I leave my house, I turn on
(boot up) my phone"

{jaghDaq tIH vIbachmeH pu'HIchwIj vIchu'} "To shoot a beam at the enemy, I
activate my phaser" (analogous to "I pull the trigger on my pistol" -- note
that {chu'wI'} is "trigger")
{yawI' vIrI'meH ghogh HablI' vIchu'} "To call (hail) my tactical officer, I
activate my phone"

Voragh:
>  The Enterprise's warp engines were "re-calibrated and
>  re-energized"  (TOS "Tomorrow is Yesterday")
>
>  Lazarus's ship took ten minutes to "re-energize" two of the
>  Enterprise's drained dilithium crystals he stole.
>   (TOS "The Alternative Factor")

When one energy storage medium is used to charge ({Huj}) another, the
receiving medium can be said to be energized ({rIH}).  So in the case of
batteries and the like, {Huj} and {rIH} are somewhat interchangeable.

De'vID:
> > Kirk (about to transport off his ship): "We are energizing ({rIH})
> > transporter beam... now."

Voragh:
> The famous "Energize!" as a command to activate the transporter.  This
usage seems to be just a synonym for {chu'} "activate".  Here's another
line from ST3:
>
>  matlh, jol yIchu'!
>  Maltz--activate beam!
>
> which appears in TKD as
>
>  jol yIchu'
>  Activate the transport beam!

In everyday speech, people aren't as precise as, say, engineers in a
technical context would be, when they talk about what they're doing with
their devices.  For example, people say they "turn on" their cell phones to
mean either that they boot them up (i.e., take them from an electrically
"off" state to an "on" state) or wake them up (i.e., take them from an
electrically "on" but low-power "standby" mode, to a fully active one).
They don't usually make the distinction, unless the situation forces them
to (for example, at a tech repair shop).

People in the Star Trek universe seem to be the same way (or, I guess, the
writers are).  The line seems somewhat blurred between energize/{rIH} and
activate/{chu'}.  Nevertheless, there does still seem to be a difference.
We usually see the transporter being energized before it's activated,
though these steps seem to always occur immediately one after the other.
In that sense, perhaps it's like someone using a walkie-talkie to speak to
someone (putting the walkie-talkie into "talk" mode is always followed by
speaking, even though one could, technically, put a walkie-talkie into talk
mode and then not speak), or firing a double-action pistol (one could,
technically, cock the pistol independently of shooting it, but these steps
almost always occur together as part of one continuous action).  I don't
think I've ever seen anyone "energize" a transporter beam unless they are
actually activating the transporter or are expecting one to be activated
very soon.

In the case of the line above that I quoted from Kirk, he was telling Kruge
that he (Kirk) was ready to have his (Kruge's) boarding party beamed aboard
the Enterprise.  (Of course, Kirk et al. would beam down to the Genesis
Planet just seconds earlier.)

Voragh:
> BTW there's yet another verb {laQ} "energize, fire (e.g. thrusters)":
>
>  chuyDaH yIlaQ
>  Fire the thrusters! TKD
>
>  muDDaq 'eDSeHcha lulaQlu'bogh: jav
>  Atmospheric Take-Off/Landing Thrusters - 6. KBoP

The three step "fuel-ready-activate" usage cycle is common to many devices
and mechanisms, and the words {Huj}-{rIH}-{chu'} seem to map to these
concepts for many things in Klingon.

However, as in English, the actual vocabulary for each of these three steps
is specialised to the device.  In Klingon, the third step seems the most
prone to use specialised vocabulary.  Thus, one uses {chu'} for general
devices, but {laQ} for thrusters, {rI'} for communications devices, {bach}
for phasers and disruptors, {baH} for torpedoes, rockets, missiles, and the
like, and so on.  (This is analogous to "activate", "fire", "hail", etc.,
in English, though in English we use "fire" for both guns and missiles.)

In the case of torpedoes and other large projectile missiles, {ghuS} takes
the place of {rIH}.  One does not energize a torpedo, but instead readies
or lowers the torpedo into a tube, apparently in the same manner one
readies a spear to be launched.  There is presumably a Klingon term for
loading torpedoes into the torpedo bay (from space dock or a supply ship),
which may or may not be {Huj}.

Voragh:
> Thanks De'vID, this was very helpful.  Another ambiguity finally solved I
think.

lI'chugh De'wIj vaj jIbel.

--
De'vID
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