tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 30 14:13:26 1996
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Re: pIqaD taj, [i.e. Klingon writing tool]
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: pIqaD taj, [i.e. Klingon writing tool]
- Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 17:12:52 -0400
In a message dated 96-05-30 15:17:30 EDT, Scott McCool wrote:
>ON the subject of pictographs, where would the numbers 4 to 9 have come
from.
>Someone in recent history had to have decided upon them, since it was
>reletivly recently that these numbers were implemented.
That's a very good point for this thread, although one mustn't forget that we
don't really *know* how to use the pIqaD . . . or even exactly what sort of
transcribing system it is. The system used by the KLI is just an unofficial
system to use because it looks good. Therefore, the KLI versions of the
numbers four through nine are *not* bound by centuries/millenia of
development. They are completely artificial, even if you pretend that
Klingon itself isn't.
I would suggest that numbers greater than three (however they're shown) would
be much more modern developments, if the pIqaD pre-dates Klingon space
travel. Who knows how they were expressed? Perhaps when one reached the
number after 3 x 3 + 3, there was a new symbol used? Maybe this symbol
became what is now {wa'maH}. There's no way to tell. Maybe someday Okrand
will enlighten us.
SuStel
Hovjaj 96413.0