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

[Steven Boozer]

Voragh:
>> I'm guessing that in {pab} "follow (rules)" the parenthesis
>> is an example, i.e. "follow (rules, traditions, customary
>> practice, etc.}.  Examples:
>>
>>  qorDu' lurDechmeyna' pab tlhInganpu' 
>>  With strong [Klingon] family traditions... S13
>>
>>  batlh ghob yIpab 
>>   Adhere to virtue honorably. 
>>  ["The Klingon verb in the expression, {pab}, is here translated "adhere",
>>    but it is also used to mean "follow", in the sense of following rules,
>>    suggesting perhaps that, though not officially laws, virtues should be
>>   followed as if they were." (TKW 47)]
>>
>> Interestingly, someone mentioned in passing that {'Ip pab}
>> is translated "keep a promise" in the {paq'batlh} (p.59-60).
>> (Could someone supply the entire verse so we can see the
>> context?)  There is also the antonym {bIv} "break (rules)"
>> but I have no examples of this verb recorded.  

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

Thanks, Felix.  

> tugh 'Ipvetlh Dapab DaneH'a'?
> "Would you like to keep that promise very soon?"
>  [paq'batlh, ... p.60-61]
>
> nablIj yIpab
> "You may go on as planned"
>  [paq'batlh, ... p.144-145]

> jIlay'DI' reH batlh jIpabchugh
> Qapla'meywIj Hoch vIta'ta' 'e' DaHar'a'
> "Did you think that my word of honor
> Would have carried me this far?"
>  [paq'batlh, ... p.156-157]
>
> bIleghlaH jIlay'ta' 'ej batlh jIpabta'
> "As you see, I have kept my word"
>  [paq'batlh, ... p.192-193]


So we've seen that {pab} can take various objects: {lurDech} "tradition", {ghob} "ethics, virtue", {'Ip} "oath", and {nab} "plan".  It can also be used without an expressed object, as in the idiom/phrase {lay' 'ej batlh pab} "keep one's word of honor".


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons