tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Sep 07 10:24:08 1998
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Re: KLBC - 'egh v -chuq
>lab qe'San:
>> On re-reading TKD I noticed that {-'egh} applies to singular
>> subject and {-chuq} to plural subject but what if I have a
>> plural but each was acting singularly.
>>
>> For example how do I differentiate between 'They hit themselves'
>> (as in they they were only hitting themselves and not others in
>> their location) and 'They hit each other' (as in they were hitting
>> others around them but not themselves)?
>
>There's no reason you can't use <-'egh> with a plural subject. In that case,
>each member of the group does something to himself, or maybe the group as a
>whole does something to itself.
We have canon for <-'egh> with plural subjects:
peja''egh
Tell yourselves! (TKD:35)
qIp'egh nachDu'chaj tlhIngan SuvwI'pu'
Klingon warriors are butting heads. (CK)
qep'a' wejDIchDaq jatlhtaH tlhIngan Hol HaDwI'pu'. ghoHtaH je.
tIv'eghtaH je. (Okrand on the MSN Expert Forum, 11/96)
><-chuq> can only be used with a plural subject, and it means that the
>members of the group do something to each other.
>
>pagh
Imagine two Klingons - Maltz and Torg - in a bar fight with some Romulans:
qIp'egh matlh torgh je.
Maltz and Torg hit themselves.
(i.e. Maltz hits himself, Torg hits himself)
qIpchuq matlh torgh je.
Maltz and Torg hit each other.
(i.e. Maltz hits Torg, Torg hits Maltz)
latlhpu' qIp matlh torgh je.
Maltz and Torg hit the others.
(i.e. Maltz and Torg hit the the Romulans)
This last is how I would translate "they were hitting others around them but
not themselves". qe'San's English ("They hit each other") is confusing.
--
Voragh "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons lis est." Horace (Ars Poetica)