Is Responsibility translated as 'to be responsible'/'responsible'

[madcat]

I am new to this forum and  am looking for the translation of the word 'responsibility' in Klingon. I have researched in The Klingon Dictionary (TKD), Klingon for the Galactic Traveler (KFTGT), The Klingon Way, and Conversational Klingon.

In TKD, "responsible" and "to be responsible" are translated as ngoy'.  In the addendum it is noted that in many cases the noun and verb form of words are identical: i.e. ta' -accomplishment and accomplish (page 176) or yoD- a shield and to shield (KFTGT p67).  While that is the case with responsible and to be responsible, I am not sure if it would extend to the concept of responsibility.  Since duty and responsibility are such important Klingon concepts, I would think this might have been explicit in these texts if it were the same word.  I wasn't sure if there might be a different word and/or if this is an exception, like veS (war, warfare) and Qoj (to wage war) (KFTGT p 47). 

I suspect this has been resolved in some of the major literary translations, but I haven't been able to find it yet and now turn to the experts for your help in resolving this question for me. Dujeychugh jagh nIv yItuHQo'. (This quote is from The Klingon Way and translates as 'There is nothing shameful in falling before a superior enemy.')

[SoplaHtaHwI']

I suspect this has been resolved in some of the major literary translations, but I haven't been able to find it yet and now turn to the experts for your help in resolving this question for me. Dujeychugh jagh nIv yItuHQo'. (This quote is from The Klingon Way and translates as 'There is nothing shameful in falling before a superior enemy.')

The real "Experts" reside at the Klingon Language Institute and the tlhIngan Hol mailing list (tlhIngan-Hol@kli.org).
I think "responsibility" would translate to something like "that which makes responsible" or ngoy'moHwI'.
That's just a quick and dirty guess... Maybe ghunchuy or te'reS have a better option...

[ter'eS]

All the canon examples of adjectives plus -wI' refer to either persons (eg. pujwI' 'weakling' {puj 'weak'}) or objects (eg. joqwI' 'flag' {joq 'to wave'}), which leads me to think it only forms concrete nouns, while 'responsibility' is an abstract noun. I would suggest ngoy'taHghach (-taH 'on-going action'; -ghach nominalizer), 'the noun for the on-going state of being responsible.'.

BTW, the "responsible, to be responsible' wording in the definition is to let you know that this word is an adjective verb, that can be used as an adjective loD ngoy' 'responsible man', and as a verb ngoy'bej loD 'the man is definitely responsible.' (loD 'man; -bej 'definitely').

[Jon]

Duty, of course, can be transated by Qu' or ghIgh.

[madcat]

Thanks so much for the feedback.  SoplaHtaHwI' and ter'eS, I appreciate the considerations on the extension of ngoy'.  It does sound like ngoy'taHghach may be the closest translation (although I had hoped for a short term that would be brief and elegant in pIqaD:).  And ter'eS, thanks also for the clarification on the parts of speech in the definition.

Jon, thanks for the reminder on ghIgh, I had forgotten this variation on Qu', and while slang, this will be a good one for me to remember.

Thanks again to all of you for the feedback (and SoplaHtaHwI' thanks for the reminder on the KLI, I had gone there, but not seen any discussions or update so wasn't sure how active it still was for becoming a member.  I will explore their site further as well, but have enjoyed reading through the threads here so far).

I did have one variation question.  Would ngoy'wI' translate as 'one who is responsible'?

[ter'eS]

I did have one variation question.  Would ngoy'wI' translate as 'one who is responsible'?

Yes, bIqarbej (bI- 'you'; qar 'to be accurate';-bej 'definitely') 

[Split topic "Translating words with multiple meanings" off.  -Klythe ]

[madcat]

Please note, for clarity in following this thread, that discussion went in two directions.  One was specific to the question of responsibility in tlhIngan Hol, while others went to the challenges of translation of terms with multiple meanings in general.  If you are interested in following the latter thread (with focus on need for clarity of context and evaluations of tools available, see the part that was split into the 'Translating words with Multiple meanings' thread in the General Language Discussion in English section.  My post below was a response and clarification to some of the questions raised that are now in that thread...

I appreciate the dialogue over challenges that can arise in one to one translations and specifically the issues raised with the concept of responsibility I asked about.  I agree with Klythe that words that have multiple meanings may create complexity when learning any language.  I just pulled two Terran language dictionaries off the shelf and would say that the same difficulty would arise if you tried to use these as your only source for learning any language (although the cultural differences are obviously potentially greater when moving away from those who share Terran ancestry). Dictionaries, including TKD, are invaluable but only one piece of language mastery. Understanding the nuances in context, literature, conversation, and experience will help clarify which concepts apply.  I know of at least one quote that uses ngoy'.

vangDI' tlhIngan SuvwI' ngoy' qorDu'Daj;
vanDI' qorDu'Daj ngoy' tlhIngan SuvwI'.
[The family of a Klingon warrior is responsible for his actions, and he is responsible for theirs- quoted in The Klingon Way]

This provides some additional context and ties to the idea of liability raised by Klythe.  The variation on this framing that I use is accountability, which blends the ideas of being answerable and having obligations regarding a matter.  I would say from this, that at the least, ngoy' ties into accountability and obligation, but as Ter'eS notes, it could go further and map to all of the different aspects given the common threads.  Only continued interaction, discussion, and experience will make clear whether or not some aspects of responsibility have different translations in Klingon.  If others know of other sayings, quotes, etc. that use ngoy' this could help further clarify the matter.

To Qunchuy's point, since I've only provided clear evidence for an accountability/obligation translation, whether this meets my needs or not was not clear from my original request.  I had alluded to responsibility and duty together in my first post but was not explicit, and I do believe this sense of obligation/duty is what I was seeking.  For words with multiple or variant meanings, such context and clarity is key to be able to provide assistance and I appreciate the thoughtful challenges provided.