tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 04 14:22:02 2003
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Re: be'Hom loDHom je
naHQun:
>>>But it would also make sense that since we have a <be'> and a <be'Hom>
>>>to have a <be''a'>
Not necessarily. Not all combinations of verb or noun stem plus suffix
exist or make sense, even though they are theoretically possible in terms
of the rules of Klingon grammar.
Tad Stauffer:
>>The existance of {be'Hom} doesn't necessarily imply that {be''a'} is
>>equally as common a word; we have the word {'uj} (a distance of about 35
>>centimeters) and {'uj'a'} (a distance of 9 {'uj}), but not {'ujHom}.
Indeed, when charghwI' asked Okrand if an *{'ujHom} could be one ninth of
an {'uj}, Okrand explicitly said that no such measurement existed.
>>Before you read below what I think {be''a'} might be, consider what *you*
>>think of when you hear {be''a'}. I'm sure the grammarians that were on
>>the panel from the qep'a' will have more to add :-)
SuStel:
>I was on the panel! Personally, the panel convinced me, more than ever,
>that the interpretation of non-lexical appearances of /-Hom/ and /-'a'/
>depends very much on the context. Unless we're told what Klingons think
>of the word, if they have any standard interpretation at all, we can only
>decide its meaning based on the context of its use.
>
>(My first thought, by the way, was of a head woman, maybe of a harem or
>the wife of the leader of a Klingon house or, in rare instances, the
>leader herself).
Parallel to {Qun'a'}, of which Okrand said on st.klingon (7/19/99):
Though too little is known of ancient Klingon theology, there doesn't
seem to have been a single {Qun} that stood out from the rest. Indeed,
the {Qunpu'} appear to have acted collectively. ... {Qun'a'} "great
god" ({Qun} plus {-'a'}, the augmentative suffix) may or may not be an
appropriate translation for a single supernatural being in a
monotheistic system, since the {Qun'a'} would still be one among many.
Although he didn't dismiss them on grammatical grounds, for historical or
other cultural reasons the words *{'ujHom} and *{Qun'a'} just aren't used
by Klingons. And, as {Qun'a'} demonstrates, if they did they may not mean
the same thing to a Klingon as they would to the Klingon-speaking alien who
coined it.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons