tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jul 14 11:17:22 1998

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Re: betleH mu'

: ---Terrence Donnelly  wrote:
:>I'm trying to label the parts of a betleH. The handles would probably be
:>{ret'aqmey}, the blade is of course {'etlh}, the four points of the blade
:>I'm calling {Ho'} (by analogy with the {Ho' 'etlh} of a serrated blade). 
:>Would the word {pach} be understood as the part between the two points at 
:>each end of the blade?
: 
: Me, I'd understand pach or  Ho' as the end spikes. Maybe pach joj or
: Ho' joj?  Or simply joj in context?  This is fiction, right?  You
: can't guess what the proper terms would be any more than you'd guess
: 
: Qov - Beginners' Grammarian 

I think {pach} would be better for the entire C-shaped extremity rather than
just the cavity between the two points.  This way the bat'leth would have a
{pach nIH} "right claw" and a {pach poS} "left claw".  I like {Ho'} for the
four tips or points, and wonder if the plural might be *{Ho'Du'}
colloquially instead of the expected *{Ho'mey}.  See by analogy KGT p.97:

   The smaller {nevDagh} is characterized by its V-shaped handles, termed
   {DeSqIvDu'} ("elbows"; note the {-Du'}, the plural suffix for body parts
   is used here even though the handles are not literally body parts)."

HetaQ (Chet Braun) faced this same nomemclature problem in his bat'leth
manual, "Secret Fighting Arts of the Warrior Race: vol.1 betleH yIqel" (173
p.; Boulder Creek, California: Pacific Warrior, Inc., c.1996; ISBN
1-890065-00-5).  Chet wrote before "Klingon for the Galactic Traveller" was
published in late 1997 and refers to the following parts in English (I've
suggested the Klingon): the "spine" (pIp) of the sword where the three
"grips" (re'taq) are located; the back, forward and center cutting "edges"
(HeH); the four "tips" - two inside, two outside; and the "hook" - the
C-shaped curved part between the tips at each end of the blade.  You know,
"elbow" (DeSqIv} might work here as well for this curved cutting edge
between the points.


 


Voragh                          "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons    lis est."        - Horace, Ars Poetica

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