[Tlhingan-hol] romyo' julyet je: bI'reS

[Rohan Fenwick]

Still working on {mIl'oD veDDIr SuvwI'}, which is proceeding slowly but surely, but I've also been trying my hand elsewhere. In particular I've decided to put more work towards making a good fist of Romeo and Juliet. Part of the reason is that I'm beginning each chapter of {mIl'oD veDDIr SuvwI'} with a quote, and I've been going to Shakespearean plays for some of these quotes (mostly the published ones, Hamlet and paghmo' tIn mIS, but also ones that don't yet have an "original Klingon" restoration as such, e.g. {cheDuQchugh, mareghbe''a'} "prick us, do we not bleed?", veneSya' Suy III:1). There are a lot of quotable lines from Romeo and Juliet, and having the original Klingon restorations to draw upon for my chapter titles is handy too. ;)

To that end, so far I've translated the prologue sonnet and the entirety of Act II, Scene 2 (the balcony scene). More down the track, but I thought I'd share the completed sections, starting with the prologue. As always, critique, commentary and cabbages are most welcome.

romyo' julyet je: bI'reS

nur rap lughajbogh cha' tuqmey tu'lu',
vero'na' 'IHDaq qaS ghe'naQmaj Dun;
muStaHghachDaj tIQvo' chenchoH Seng chu',
ghopDu' mIl HoQmoH quv ghajbogh 'Iw chun.
HeghmoHbogh cha' gholpu'vam tuqmeyvaD
yInnIS[1] bang chang'eng 'e' maq QI'tu' San.
vangHa'pu' chaH: tIvup! cha' tuqchaj qaD,
'ej Heghchajmo' cha' tuq yol ngo' luvan.
taHqu'taHbogh parmaqqayvetlh chuD QeH,
parmaqchaj'e' bejbogh Hegh je wImuch;
yol Qaw' puq yIn lughanglu'pu'bogh neH,
DaH vaSmajDaq cha' rep lutvam wIruch.[2]
rIn bI'reS, 'ach vay' Qoybe'lu'pu'chugh,
tuvchugh teSDu', yajmoHjaj muchmaj Dugh.

[1] The English here is "a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life",
 in which "take their life" could carry meanings of both birth and 
suicide. I couldn't work out a decent wordplay as written, but {yInnIS} 
"they need to live" could alternately be read as {yIn nIS} "they disrupt lives".
[2] Though strictly we don't have canon for it, I like using {ruch} in this way. From the glosses "proceed", "go ahead", "do it", and the sense of the canon examples we do have, I don't think a transitive sense of "get on with" (as ?{Qu'lIj yIruch} "get on with your mission!") is a long stretch.

In English:

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
>From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
>From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

QeS
 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol/attachments/20140202/4e7bc31d/attachment.html>