[Tlhingan-hol] *ghabtar* mupwI'...

[Steven Boozer]

De'vID:
> Hegh bey vIjach. vIjachDI', jIjatlh: *ghabtar* mupwI', *worvan* julmey,
> SoHvaD jInoDbej!

Nice use of {noD} "retaliate, seek revenge".  E.g.

  batlh Heghlu'chugh noDnISbe' vay' 
  An honorable death requires no vengeance. TKW

  cheQIHchugh manoDbe''a' 
  Wrong us, shall we not seek revenge? TKW

  nurraj nIHlu'ta'mo' manoD 
  We will avenge your stolen pride (PB draft?)

  le'yo'raj nIHlu'ta'mo' penoD jatlh qeylIS 
  And Kahless spoke to them ... about avenging their stolen pride PB 

{noD} doesn't appear transitive, but note the use of {-mo'} in the last two examples.

> In the phrase "By the Grabthar's Hammer... you shall be avenged" how would
> you translate "By"? It's not {-vaD} (I'm not doing something for the
> hammer's benefit). It's not {-mo'} (I'm not doing something because of the
> hammer). It's not {-'e'} (the hammer is not the topic).
> It's really more like I'm calling on the hammer (or its name) to witness
> my oath.

The only other thing I can think of is the vocative particle {'o}:

  'o 'oghlu'meH qul... 
  "O for a Muse of fire..." (KCD, prologue to Henry V)

  'o meQ qul!  'o meQ chal! 
   (KCD, opening of the opera {qul tuq})

  'o qeylIS, qeylIS... 
  O Kahless, Kahless...  ('u'-OPERA)

(ghunchu'wI', 8/21/11):  {'o} appears before a name used as direct address. As we saw it used, it acted a little like a vocative prefix: {'o qeylIS, qeylIS, qeylIS...} It seems to be an honorific exclamation, or maybe it's just used for direct address in general and doesn't actually have the implication of deference or reverence that I inferred. If it hadn't been consistently present when the opera "speaks to" Kahless, and consistently absent when it "speaks to" Molor, I might have ignored it as an unimportant background sound.

{'o} doesn't seem to be restricted to proper names, as it's also used with {qul} "fire" (although this may be a personification).

So altogether something like:

  ?'o *ghabtar* mupwI'!  SoHmo' jInoD.
    By the Grabthar's Hammer... you shall be avenged.

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons