[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Dol

[Felix Malmenbeck]

> My opinion based on the example is "no".  I think the example
> clarifies the meaning of {Dol}:
> 
>   wa' Dol nIvDaq matay'DI' maQap
>   We succeed together in a greater whole. (TKW p.209)

That example is from TKW, though, which was published in 1996, years after the second edition of TKD (updated edition from 1992, but I think Dol was already in the old edition from 1985), where <Dol> was translated simply as "entity".

What Lieven seems to be suggesting is that Marc intended it to mean "entity" as in "the crystalline entity" or "some super-powerful alien entity", but that when writing TKW he looked up "entirety", mistook "entity" for "entirety" and then published it.

Personally, I'm not really leaning either way on this one. The look-up mistake theory is plausible enough, but I think it's equally plausible that he meant "whole" all along; it's a sensible interpretation of "entity".

________________________________________
From: De'vID [de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 23:17
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Dol

Voragh:
>>> Klingon word:   Dol
>>> Part of speech: noun
>>> Definition:     entity[, whole]
>
> Lieven:
>> Wasn't there a mistranslation here by MO, when looking up the noun?
>> I think the original meaning had to be "entity", as in "living entity",
>> while the "whole"-meaning referred to "entirety".
>> Anyone confirming?

My opinion based on the example is "no".  I think the example
clarifies the meaning of {Dol}:

  wa' Dol nIvDaq matay'DI' maQap
  We succeed together in a greater whole. (TKW p.209)

One can also gloss this as "We succeed together as one superior
entity", "We succeed when we act single-mindedly as one unit", etc.
That is, {Dol} means "entity" not in the sense of a "creature" or
"being", but in the sense of "unit", "whole", and so on.

Voragh:
> Possibly.  Although we do have other nouns which could translate "(living) entity" -- although none are so glossed.  E.g. {Dep} "being", {yagh} "organism".

I think {Dol} was chosen to translate "whole" to distinguish this
meaning of "entity" from the sort of entity that might be referred to
as {Dep}.

--
De'vID

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