tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 18 01:10:03 2004

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Re: jIH/SoH in comparatives

Lieven L. Litaer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol ghojwI']

Am Sat, 17 Jul 2004 23:58:35 -0500 hat Dar'Qang <[email protected]> 
geschrieben:

> This appears to be an "oblique"-vIS analogous to the "oblique"-meH used 
> to modify nouns.   Is this a general rule, or does it fall under the 
> rubric of "ancient" language (marked by the absence of {taH})?

I'd say it's ancient or so.
To get what you want, you need the {-bogh} suffix:

> ?{jaHtaHvIS Soj} = "fast food"

{jaHtaHbogh Soj} = "food which walks"

> ?{taghDI' joqwI'} = "start flag" (as in a race)

{taghmeH joqwI'} "flag to start" = "starting flag"
{taghbogh joqwI'} "flag which starts" = "initiating flag"

Literally, your sentences are only half:

  {jaHtaHvIS Soj}
  "While the food was walking, ..."

  {taghDI' joqwI'}
  "As soon as the flag starts, ..."

---

 {QamvIS Hegh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS}
  Better to die on our feet than live on our knees. ST6
  "death while standing is preferable to life while kneeling"

I understand this literally as
  "while [one is] standing, death is more preferable,
   while [one is] kneeling, life is less preferable."

being the {QamtaHvIS} as an addition to the sentence, but not modifying the 
noun.
It's not the "standing death" compared to "kneeling life".


Hm. This is just my opinion, I guess, since I haven't convinced myself yet, 
so maybe others will ;-)

Quvar.

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