tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jun 28 15:37:33 1998
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Re: Measurement Terms
On Sun, 28 Jun 1998 [email protected] wrote:
>What are the terms for measurement (verbs and nouns)? Units?
juv measure (an object)
juch have a width of
Saw' have a depth of
'ab have a length of (long, narrow objects: spears, people)
'aD have a length of (other objects: tables)
muq have a volume of
ngI' have a weight of, weigh
run be short (in stature)
'eS be low
jen be high (tall?)
tIq be long (in length for an object)
tIqHa' be short (in length for an object)
'uj unit of length (app. 35 cm.)
qelI'qam unit of distance (app. 2 km.)
cheb unit of weight (app. 5 lbs. or 2.25 kg.)
tlho'ren unit of volume (app. 1 qt. or 1 liter)
I am appending one of Okrand's posts to the old MSN Espert Forum on this very
topic, explaining how many of these words are used.
Voragh
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From: Marc Okrand <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: msn.onstage.startrek.expert.okrand
Date: October 22, 1997
Subj: Re: Weights and Measures
Qermaq wrote:
>In KGT you give us some great words - Saw' (have a depth of), 'aD (have
>a length of), muq (have a volume of), and ngI' (have a weight of).
>So can I say *vagh 'uj vI'aD* to mean 'I am five *'uj*s tall?
>I can certainly say *jav 'uj 'aD QongDaqwIj* and *cha' qelI'qam Saw'
>ngengvam*. But what words do we use to indicate the volume or weight of
>something? How about area?
We don't know a whole lot about Klingon weights and measures, but here's a
little more information that may be helpful.
(1) The word for "have a width of" is <juch>.
(2) There are two words used for length: <'aD> and <'ab>. Both of these
can be translated "have a length of," but they are used somewhat
differently. <'aD> is used in contrast with <juch> "have a width of" in
measuring, say, a tabletop. <'ab>, on the other hand, is used for
(potentially) longish, skinnyish things (for example, spears) and also for
heights. Thus, one might say:
jav 'ujmey 'ab SuvwI'
"the warrior has a length of six ujs" (about 6'10")
This might sound a little more natural as "the warrior stands six ujs" or
"the warrior is six ujs tall." [Or should it be "ujes" in the translation?]
One could also say:
vagh 'ujmey vI'ab
"I have a length of five ujs" (about 5'8") or "I'm five ujs tall"
And it is, of course, acceptable to leave out the plural suffix <-mey> when
a number precedes the measure word, in this case <'uj>":
wej 'uj 'ab naQjej
"the spear has a length of three uj" (about 3'5") or "the spear
measures three uj" or "the spear is three uj long"
(3) The verb <juv> "measure" refers to the action of somebody who is taking
a measurement:
naQjej vIjuv
"I measure the spear"
(4) The only unit of volume I'm aware of is <tlho'ren>. I'm not exactly
sure how much one <tlho'ren> is, but it seems to be in the quart/liter
range.
(5) A common unit of weight is <cheb>, which is around five pounds (2.25 kg
or so).
I'll have to do some more digging to find out about area.
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