What is this Klingon Santa saying?

Question

I just received this by e-mail:

Klingon Santa and his bird OF sleigh

Can anyone fluent in Klingon translate what this Klingon Santa is saying?

Ah, that's the original Santa Clause, not the human rip-off. Good stuff! — bitmask, Dec 18 '12 at 18:32
Is that an elf hanging off the back of the "sleigh" or a Vulcan? — Kyle Jones, Dec 19 '12 at 01:47

loghaD · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-25T11:42:56.233

"May y'all enjoy Christmas and may y'all enjoy the new year."

QISmaS = Not a canonical tlhIngan Hol word, but a phonetic approximation of "Christmas".

bo- = Pronomial prefix; indicates that the subject of the verb is second-person plural and the object is third-person. "Y'all do something to him/her/it/them"
tIv = enjoy (verb)
-jaj = Verb suffix; indicates a wish on the speaker's part (similar to the jussive mood). "May it be so."

'ej = and (joining sentences)

DIS = year

chu' = be new

Edit: Also, the pIqaD text on his sleigh appears to say Sannta. That consonant cluster in the middle isn't really allowed in traditional tlhIngan Hol, but I think the Empire will forgive the artist; after all, it is QISmaS ;)

Indeed, big kudos to the artist for doing their research; most people take a lot of shortcuts when writing "Klingon", and that's quite understandable, but whenever somebody does get it right, it's a real treat for those of us in the Klingon-speaking community :)

maj! Daqvam vItu'pu'mo' jIbel! – loghaD Dec 25 '12 at 11:38 — loghaD, Dec 25 '12 at 11:38
Wait... a Klingon Santa from the deep south? – Mar 08 '16 at 19:58 — , Mar 08 '16 at 19:58

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 18 '12 at 17:57

19

According to omniglot.com it means:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

answered Dec 18 '12 at 17:57

Kyle Jones

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botlvjaj appear 2 times in the bubble, should end it be "Merry Christmas and Merry New Year." or "Happy Christmas and Happy New Year." ? – DavRob60 Dec 18 '12 at 18:00
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Well, that's how a rather literal-minded machine would translate it. A good translator would take the surrounding culture of the target language into account, hence the different and culturally expected wording. – Kyle Jones Dec 18 '12 at 18:03
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And in this case it is even more difficult to translate, because I doubt that Klingons have a word for "merry". – Till B Dec 18 '12 at 18:42
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Indeed, Klingons are not known to be merry men – ghoppe Dec 19 '12 at 01:38

What is this Klingon Santa saying?

2 Answers2