tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 25 10:22:48 1998
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Re: 'ul
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: 'ul
- Date: Wed, 25 Feb 1998 13:22:40 -0500 (EST)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> from "Steven Boozer" at Feb 25, 98 10:01:40 am
According to Steven Boozer:
>
> : (Hmm, lugh nuq: ['ar 'ul] ['ul 'ar] joq
> : qoj [Hoch] rur'a'
> :
> : DloraH
>
> {'ar} always follows a singular noun; thus, it would be {'ul 'ar}. Cf. also
> SkyBox S32:
>
> chIch vay' 'oy'moHmeH 'oy'naQ 'ul law' tlhuD 'oH
> Painstiks... emit a highly-charged shock for the express purpose of
> inflicting pain.
>
> {'ul law'} - "many 'uls" or "a lot of 'ul"? This brings up another point
> I've wondered about: is {'ul} a quantifiable mass noun referring to
> electricity or electrical force in general (like {tlham} "gravity" or {HoS}
> "power"), or a countable electric "shock" or "jolt", or both? AFAIK, the
> only other mention of {'ul} by Okrand is KGT p.65:
>
> "the painstik, 'oy'naQ, a long staff that emits a powerful (and painful)
> jolt of electricity ('ul)"
Well, the OTHER mention of it is in the KGT dictionary, where
it is listed as "electricity". I also think Okrand casually
said something to this effect at qep'a' loSDIch, though that is
a foggy memory and I would not count on it. I'm nearly certain
that it means "electricity" the way "HoS" means "power".
> However, see SkyBox S33 for an example of {law'} with an apparent mass noun:
>
> HoS law'qu' natlhmo' So'wI'
> Due to the tremendous energy drain of a cloaking device...
Yes, I think {law'} works as "much" as well as it does as
"many", just as {'ar} works as "how much" as well as "how
many". To put it simply, if {law'} and {'ar} DON'T work this
way, then Klingon has no words to express the idea of "much".
> Voragh
>
>
> _____________________________________________________________________________
> Steven Boozer The University of Chicago Library [email protected]
>
>
charghwI'