[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: QuQ

[SuStel]

On 3/21/2016 1:33 PM, mayql qunenoS wrote:
> 'utchugh 'oH vaj QuQ yItujqu'choHmoH ! jISaHbe' ! romuluSngan wIjuSnIS !
> if it is necessary then overheat the engine ! I don't care ! we need
> to pass the romulans !

What is the {'oH} referring to here? I suspect it's "overheating the 
engine." That would make this a sentence-as-subject, which is not 
allowed. Try this instead:

QuQ Datujqu'nISmoHchugh yItujqu'moH
if you need to overheat the engine, overheat it!

With plural Romulans, you need the prefix {DI-} on {juS}.

> maSutlhta'DI', toQDujDaq QuQ chu''e' wIjomta'bogh wIHevlaH.
> when we finished negotiating, we were able to receive the new engine
> which we installed at our bird of prey.

If you are able to receive the engine, then you haven't received it yet, 
and the {-ta'} on {jom} is incorrect. English handles this in the past 
tense, but Klingon doesn't have tense. The sentence describes the 
ability to receive an engine which you *would* install, not which you 
*had* installed.

The {-'e'} on the head noun of the relative clause is perfectly legal 
here, but there's nothing that needs disambiguating about the clause. 
Your English translation doesn't show that "new engine" is in any way 
emphasizes or topicalized, which is what {-'e'} is doing. If you don't 
mean for that emphasis to exist, then remove the {-'e'}.

> QuQchaj boQaw'DI' neH, bochungHa'moHlaH.
> only when you destroy their engine, will you be able to make them decelerate.

{neH} after a verb means "merely," not "only." It doesn't make the verb 
exclusive in any way.

You could reverse the presentation of this sentence to get this across:

bochungHa'moHmeH QuQchaj boQaw'nIS
to make them decelerate you need to destroy their engine

> QuQ novDaq Hujbogh Degh law' lutu'lu'. pagh bIH So'Ha'laH.
> at that alien engine there are many strange symbols. no one is able to
> decrypt them.

Do you mean {QuQ novDaq} "on the engine that is alien" or {nov QuQDaq} 
"on the alien's engine"?

I don't understand the second sentence at all. I would have said this as 
{[bIH] So'Ha'laH pagh} "no one can decrypt them." The {bIH} is pretty 
optional here, as it's obvious what I'm talking about.

> ghobvIpbogh nuch SoHchugh vaj DuQaHbogh QuQ tu'lu'be'.
> if you are a coward who is afraid to fight, then no engine is able to help you.

Good sentence, although note that your English includes "able" and the 
Klingon does not have {-laH}. Both ways work for this.

> tlhIngan Hol luSo'Ha'meH boQwI' QuQ luchenmoHta' tera'ngan.
> in order to decrypt the klingon language, terans built the boQwI' engine.

I wonder if Klingons use the "engine" metaphor for their software?

Consider also the verb {ghun} "program (a computer)."

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name