[Tlhingan-hol] "I have kept my word of honor"

[Felix Malmenbeck]

Some more instances of {pab}, {'Ip} and {lay'}:

tugh 'Ipvetlh Dapab DaneH'a'?
"Would you like to keep that promise very soon?"
[paq'batlh, paq'yav, Canto 3, Stanza 3; p.60-61]

nablIj yIpab
"You may go on as planned"
[paq'batlh, paq'raD, Canto 16 (lay' qotar), Stanza 4; p.144-145]

bIlay'DI' qaHarbe'
[...]
jIlay'DI' reH batlh jIpabchugh
Qapla'meywIj Hoch vIta'ta' 'e' DaHar'a'
"Your word means nothing to me,
[...]
Did you think that my word of honor
Would have carried me this far?"
[paq'batlh, paq'raD, Canto 19, Stanza 5; p.156-157]

bIleghlaH jIlay'ta' 'ej batlh jIpabta'
"As you see, I have kept my word"
[paq'batlh, paq'QIH, Canto 5, Stanza 2; p.192-193]

>>    not lay'Ha' tlhIngan
>>    No Klingon ever breaks his word. TKW
> This is interesting. It's "undo a promise," not "go against a promise"
> or "fail to fulfill a promise." It says the promise exists and then is
> undone, not that something is done that is contrary to the promise,
> which is usually what is meant by the English "break his word."

It can also mean something like "A Klingon never mis-promises". Assuming it's not an error (or retconning if if it is), could it be that it means that a Klingon never makes a promise they won't keep; "A Klingon never makes a promise he/she won't keep."
The English translation, then, is just an approximation of that, shifting focus from the act of making a promise (which is destined to be broken) to the act of breaking it?

________________________________________
From: Steven Boozer [sboozer at uchicago.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 16:23
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Subject: [Tlhingan-hol] "I have kept my word of honor"

I've just noticed a new idiom used in the {paq'batlh}:  {lay' 'ej batlh pab} "keep one's word of honor":

  jIlay'ta' 'ej batlh jIpabta' vaj choDanIS
  I have kept my word of honor, And so should you, (PB 150-151, 186-187)

  qotarvaD lay'ta' 'ej batlh pab qeylIS
  Kahless kept his word of honor to Kotar (PB 184-85)

Cf. also the verbs {'Ip} "vow, swear", {lay'} "promise" & {lay'Ha'} "break one's word".


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



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