[Tlhingan-hol] Story: ghuv = The Recruit - 2

[Robyn Stewart]

No one whined for me not to do this, so I will continue the task of turning
my short story into a Klingon parsing exercise/lesson. If you don't need the
exercise but want to read the story all at once, ask I and I will send it.

vengDaq QI' muvmeH qachHom 'el. pa' loQ torgh yu' yaS 'ach vaqbe'. nuDlaHmeH
Qel, waqmey, Sutmey je teq torgh 'ej pa' bIrDaq loS. vagh ben torgh 'IvtIH,
chor je SIjchu' yobmeH mIqta' .

veng = city
-Daq = N5 locative
QI' = military
muv = join
-meH = V9 - in order to
qach = building
-Hom = N1 - diminutive
'el = enter

<vengDaq> meant "to the city" in a previous sentence and it could mean that
here, but I can't make it make sense that way. The suffix -Daq denotes
position or movement In/on/at/to ... which makes the most sense? 
QI' muvmeH = in order to join the military
qachHom = like a building but more minor, maybe a hut? kiosk? portable?
tent? I envisioned a military recruiting station that isn't a permanent
structure, or isn't an independent building. A mall storefront, even.
'el = he enters

The <QI' muvmeH qachHom> part is a little ambiguous. A verb with -meH can
modify a following noun as in <ghojmeH taj> "knife for learning" or it can
form a clause <ghojmeH Daj> "he experiments in order to learn. <ghojmeH taj
lo'> could mean "he uses a knife in order to learn" or "he uses a training
knife." There's not a big difference, and if the author wants to make it
clear that the guy is using a big boys' knife, and not a ghojmeH taj, he
will. My sentence could read "In order to join the military, he enters a hut
in the city," or "In the city, he enters the military recruitment hut." (the
"military in-order-to-join hut.") I was thinking the latter as I wrote, but
I have to make sure that the former meaning is acceptable and works for the
story, because I can't control which way people parse it. Or rather I could,
by breaking it into more sentences, and being more explicit, but that's as
much emphasis as this part of the story needs, and either reading will
advance the reader's understanding to where I need it to be.

Next: pa' loQ torgh yu' yaS 'ach vaqbe'.

pa' = "room" or "there", but as it precedes the adverb loQ it's not the
object of the verb, and it's not a time stamp, so its role in the sentence
has to be setting. If it meant "room" it would have to be pa'Daq - "in the
room" to serve that purpose, but pa' - "there" does not take the suffix
-Daq, so therefore it means there.
loQ = slightly, a little bit
torgh = our protagonist. Now he is the object of the verb, since he precedes
it.
yu' = question, interrogate
yaS = officer - the subject of the verb
'ach = but
vaq = mock
be' = negation - you should remember this one

"There an officer questions Torg somewhat, but he does not mock him."

In Klingon as English I assume that the object and subject carry through
from the  first part of the sentence so that it is the officer who does not
mock Torg. I also hope Torg doesn't mock the officer, or his military career
may be short indeed.

nuDlaHmeH Qel, waqmey, Sutmey je teq torgh 'ej pa' bIrDaq loS.

nuD = examine
-laH = V5 be able to
-meH = V9 in order to
Qel = doctor
waqmey = shoes (remember?)
Sutmey = clothes
je = and, joining nouns - notice how it goes AFTER both nouns: <waqmey,
Sutmey je> = shoes and clothes
teq = takes off, removes

nuDlaHmeH could possibly be modifying Qel in the manner of <ghojmeH taj> but
in order for that to work, young Torg would have to be removing "the doctor
for the purpose of examining him, shoes and clothing." It only makes sense
to interpret this as "Torg removes shoes and clothes in order that a doctor
be able to examine him."

'ej = and, joining sentences
pa' = room 
bIr = be cold
-Daq = N5 in/at/to
loS = waits

And now here's pa' again, at the beginning of a clause with no -Daq, so does
it mean "there"? No, it doesn't, because it's followed by a be-verb, a
stative verb, which modifies a noun, and thus the -Daq that would otherwise
be on pa' is on bIr. See TKD 3.4 for the explanation of this. pa' bIrDaq =
"To/at/in a cold room" So which is it? To or In? What does he do to or in
that room? He waits. So "And he waits in a cold room." If the verb were
<qet> it would be "And he runs to a cold room."

 Last sentence: vagh ben torgh 'IvtIH, chor je SIjchu' yobmeH mIqta' .

vagh = five
ben = years ago
'IvtIH = hip
chor = belly
SIj = slit
-chu' = V7 perfectly, completely
yob = harvest
-meH = v9 - purpose
mIqta' = machinery

vagh ben = five years ago - If I translate this in the present, it's "Five
years ago" but Klingon doesn't have a separate way of saying "Five years
earlier" but if I translate it as past tense, that's how I'd do it. Five
years ago at the moment he's here in the cold room waiting for the doctor. 

torgh 'IvtIH = Torg's hip - I think I can say <torgh 'IvtIH, chor je> for
"Torg's hip and belly" but there may be someone who prefers <torgh 'IvtIH,
torgh chor je>. I don't know whose belly they would be confused with
otherwise.

SIjchu' = slit 'perfectly' - Perfection doesn't imply there is anything good
about it. Is there a perfect way to be injured by agricultural machinery?
I'd translate this as "slit wide open", "slit through" or "slit all the way
across".

yobmeH mIqta' = harvesting machinery, machinery for the purpose of
harvesting. There's no doubt that this use of -meH is modifying the noun,
because it comes at the end of the sentence and a -meH clause has to precede
the clause whose purpose it defines.  I dunno what Klingon agricultural
machinery looks like, but I'll bet it is glistening with sharp blades and
has very little in the way of safety precautions. Torg is probably lucky to
be alive.

-	Qov

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