[Tlhingan-hol] A request for assistance

[Steven Boozer]

Some of you may remember this request from a couple of years ago.  Would someone please contact Kate OFF LIST and help her choose a suitable {pIqaD} font for her tattoo.  Her e-mail address is ktroseoscarson at gmail.com<mailto:ktroseoscarson at gmail.com>.

Thanks,

--
Voragh


Kate,

I'm afraid I don't really know much about the available fonts for "pIqaD" (as the "native" Klingon writing system is called), but I'll be happy to forward your post to the Klingon Language Institute's mailing list and ask for someone to contact you.  Let me know if you haven't heard anything in a few days.


From: Kate Oscarson [mailto:ktroseoscarson at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2012 11:28 PM
Hello Mr. Boozer,

I certainly took your advice, and did not rush into anything.  It is now two years later, and I am ready to move forward with this project.  After reflecting, I think I would like to use the word "roS," regardless of the other context for this word.  The flower itself is important, since it is literally my name and a family name.  I think that the family connection is important, even if my family name does mean "lick" or "toe."

May I make another request of you, in that case?  I would like to make sure I translate this correctly into the appropriate characters.  Would you be able to assist me in this request?

Thank you,

Kate
On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 3:39 PM, Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu<mailto:sboozer at uchicago.edu>> wrote:
I'd be happy to assist, but as I tell everyone who wants a Klingon tattoo:  Don't rush it before you're completely happy with it.  Once you've been inked it's too late to change a bad translation!  (Don't laugh; it's happened.)
As for vocabulary, there're a couple of options for "thorn".  You could say {DuQwI'Hom} "(small) spike, spikelet":
  A "spike" is a {DuQwI'} and the small spikes on the d'k tahg [pommel]
  are usually called {DuQwI'Hommey} ("little spikes").  [KGT p.61]

or *{por jej} "sharp leaf".  In fact Okrand described the {naHjej} as:

  a thistle (a flower with dangerously sharp leaves) is a {naHjej}
  (literally, "sharp fruit")"  [KGT p.88]

Because "rose" is an Earth flower, you wouldn't expect there to be a Klingon word for it.  As we often say on the KLI mailing list in such cases:  "What's Klingon for 'pizza'?"  (As it happens, there's also no known word for "flower" - someone once came up with  *{tI 'IH}, literally "beautiful vegetation".)  Generally we simply transcribe such words using Okrand's Klingon orthography - e.g. *{roS} - but I wouldn't do that in this case since {roS} is phonetically identical to 1) the verb "lick"; 2) the verb "use the third toe"; and the {roS} found in {roSHa'moH} "paralyze (meaning unclear).

On the other hand we do know the names of a few specific Klingon flowers if you'd like to choose one:

{chal}  - a type of flower (SAREK [pro-novel]):

  "When you are my wife, your beauty will blossom like *chal* flowers in spring."
   (Karg in the pro-novel SAREK by Michael Jan Friedman, p.58)

*{tlhoghnI'}  - throgni

Night-blooming Throgni is a fragrant Klingon flower. "Worf found the smell of a Quazulu VIII virus similar to the Throgni." ("Star Trek Encyclopedia", p.219; cf. TNG "Angel One"])  Worf didn't say that Throgni had romantic overtones (like the Earth rose), but I thought he had a wistful expression on his face during the scene.  Note that it seems to contain the morphemes {tlhogh} "marriage" and {nI'} "be long/lengthy in duration".

{tlheng'IQ}  -  thranx

It's a Klingon plant that flowers once every eight years (described in the pro-novel KAHLESS also by Michael Jan Friedman, p.60).  This is a brand-new official spelling Okrand coined for the opera {'u'}, which debuted in the Netherlands just last month.


As for the phrase, we have a few options.  Using {naHjej} for example we could translate it as a sentence:

   DuQwI'Hom ghajbe' naHjej
   a thistle doesn't have a thorn (or, thorns)

   DuQwI'Hom Hutlh naHjej
   a thistle lacks a thorn (or, thorns)

or as a phrase:

   DuQwI'Hom ghajbe'bogh naHjej'e'
   thistle that does not have a thorn (or, thorns)
   thistle not having a thorn (or, thorns)

   DuQwI'Hom Hutlhbogh naHjej'e'
   thistle that lacks a thorn (or, thorns)
   thistle lacking a thorn (or, thorns)

I said "a thorn (or, thorns)" because the plural suffix {-mey} is never required in Klingon as you probably know.

Well that's enough to start with.  I'm not entirely sure what "without thorn the rose" is supposed to imply, so I may have misunderstood Milton here.  Not to mention what the phrase means to you.  I'm sure you have questions so don't hesitate to ask.  We can tweek the translation until you're completely happy with it.

Qapla'!

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons


From: Kate Oscarson [mailto:ktroseoscarson at gmail.com<mailto:ktroseoscarson at gmail.com>]
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 1:53 PM
I am writing to you today in hopes of assistance in a Klingon translation project.  I retrieved your email address off of the Klingon Language Institute Discussion Board, and am hopeful that you might be able to help me, or at least point me in the right direction.  I have already had emails bounce back as "undeliverable" for all administrator addresses at the KLI website.  I am hoping to translate "Without Thorn the Rose" (Milton, Paradise Lost).  I have done the research and checked many resources, however I am unable to find the words "rose" and "thorn" defined either at the KLI or at other Klingon translation websites.  Would you be able to assist?

To add a personal note, in the hopes that it may help my cause, I am in the process of having a large rose-vine tattooed across my back as a way of paying respect to my family's honor (I am the 13th rose in a family of strong, proud, honorable women.)  I would like to add this phrase to my tattoo.  I think that the Klingon Gods would have approved, had they not all been slain by their creations.

Thank you for your time,

Katherine Rose Oscarson



--
~Kate Oscarson
ktroseoscarson at gmail.com<mailto:ktroseoscarson at gmail.com>
www.wilocavore.blogspot.com<http://www.wilocavore.blogspot.com>
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