From: Marc Okrand <mokrand@erols.com>
Newsgroups: startrek.klingon
Date: Saturday, February 21, 1998 12:26 AM
Subject: Re: color (for Okrand)


TPO wrote in message <34E52705.78CB@rpa.net>...
>Ok, for colors we have:
>
>chIS
>SuD 'ej wov
>SuD
>SuDqu'
>Doq
>Doqqu'
>qIj
>
>...the basic colors, except brown; which (being military) I have needed
>many times.
>
>
>DloraH


What we call "brown" would be described in Klingon by using
the verb {Doq} "be red, orange."  If the context is clear
(such as contrasting a brown thing with a thing that cannot
be described as {Doq}, such as something that's {SuD}
"blue, green, yellow"), {Doq} alone is good enough.  Thus,
if there are two drinking cups, one brown and one blue, one
might say:

    HIvje' Doq qaneH    "I want the {Doq} cup"    [[sic! for {vIneH}]]

({HIvje'} "cup, glass, drinking vessel," {qaneH} "I want
it")

Only the brown cup could be described as {Doq}; the blue
cup is definitely not {Doq} since it is {SuD}.

On the other hand, to be more precise when talking about
the color (when, for example, there's a brown cup and a red
cup), Klingons would typically use the phrase:

    Doq 'ej wovbe'  "be orange/red and not be bright"

({'ej} "and," {wov} "be light, bright," {-be'} "not")

To get even more specific (to be able to refer to different
kinds of browns) would involve comparisons.  For example:

    Doq 'ej Qaj wuS rur "be orange/red and resemble kradge
lips"

({'ej} "and," {Qaj} "kradge [a kind of animal]," {wuS}
"lip, lips," {rur} "resemble")

The lips of the kradge are presumably a particular shade of
brown.

[[eof]]