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Hello, and welcome. You’re listening to DaHjaj Hol, your daily dose of Klingon language. I’m your host, Lawrence Schoen.
Today I’d like to introduce you to perhaps the most misunderstood verb in Klingon, Qap. Capital Q, A, P. Qap means work, or function, or succeed, or win. Don’t confuse this verb with the noun Qapla’, meaning success. These examples should help:
jIQapmeH qaHoHnIS
in order for me to succeed, I need to kill you
bIHeghchoH jIQap
if you die, I win
Qapbe’mo’ nuHwIj wInarghlaHbe’
because my weapon didn’t function, we couldn’t escape
One could succeed at learning Klingon by using these daily podcasts, because the same motivation that keeps you coming back day after day, is all that is required for language to be able to open worlds. And here you are. Now we just need to wait, day by day, for those worlds to open. qo’mey poSmoH Hol.
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| Today’s podcast is brought to you by the 18th annual summer conference of the Klingon Language Institute (aka the qep’a’ wa’maH chorghDIch) which runs from Sunday morning on August 14th through late evening Tuesday, August 16th. The following day, Wednesday, August 17th, is the official beginning of the 69th annual World Science Fiction Convention, conveniently taking place right there in Reno, Nevada!
Back to the qep’a’: This year, we’ll be splitting the conference into two parts: Part One will be the usual blend of fellowship, curse warfare, singing, story-telling, and assorted language challenges as we’ve enjoyed for the past seventeen years, and will run from Sunday through Monday. We’ll begin in a meeting room at the Hyatt Place Reno-Tahoe Airport Hotel for Sunday and Monday, and on Tuesday morning we’ll move to larger function space over at Reno’s convention center (courtesy of Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention). Part Two will begin at noon on Tuesday, and consist of various introductory lessons and explanations intended for newbies, beginners, and visitors dressed in Federation pajamas (or other noncombatants). Klingon grammarians will be on hand to help newcomers (not to be confused with linguistic “fresh meat!”) learn the basics of Klingon and use it to chat, sing, play games, and insult one another. Full details can be found at http://www.speakklingon.info/ |
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Tags: Klingon
An interesting aspect of this word is that it can be used transitively to mean something like the English word “win”:
noH QapmeH wo’ Qaw’lu’chugh yay chavbe’lu’ ‘ej wo’ choqmeH may’ DoHlu’chugh lujbe’lu’.
If one destroys an empire in order to win a war one does not achieve victory and if one backs away from a battle in order to save an empire one does not lose.
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Also, regarding bIHeghchoH, I think the -choH may be redundant (although not wrong), since Hegh already means “to die”, rather than “to be dead” (in other words, it’s the opposite of bogh rather than the opposite of yIn).
06.13.11 at 7:08 am
Actually, in the example you cite, I would contend that Qap is not being used transitively, at least not as we normally think of that term as it applies to the main verb in a sentence. Rather it is part of a -meH clause, which is something different. The main verb in that sentence (which is transitive) is Qaw’.
06.13.11 at 10:08 am
Ah, okay. I’m not sure I understand the disctinction, but I think what I meant to say is that Qap can take an object, which is not obvious from the definition alone.
06.13.11 at 11:28 am