tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 11 10:10:26 2006

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Re: Hol chu' HaDlu''a'?

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



...Paul writes:
>motlh rInDI' wej jar, lab /KLI/.
>Usually after three months, the KLI sends one out.
>
>(Question -- how would other people phrase a concept like "every three
>months"?)

Good question.  {rIn} "be accomplished, be finished" works, although {qaS} 
"occur, happen" seems to be the expected verb when discussing the passage 
of time:

   qaStaHvIS wa' ram loS SaD Hugh SIjlaH qetbogh loD
   4,000 throats may be cut in one night by a running man. TKD

   qaStaHvIS wej puq poHmey vav puqloDpu' puqloDpu'chaj je quvHa'moH vav 
quvHa'ghach
   The dishonor of the father dishonors his sons and their sons for three 
generations. TKW

   qaStaHvIS wa'maH puq poHmey, wo'rIv betleH ghaj qorDu'Daj
   Worf's bat'telh has been in his family for ten generations. S8

   qaSDI' nenghep, qa' patlh chu' chav tlhIngan SuvwI'
   The Age of Ascension marks a new level of spiritual attainment by a 
Klingon warrior. S9

   laS veghaS HIltonDaq «Hov leng: yIjeSchu'» qaSchoHmo', bIlopqu'meH 
HIlton yIghoS
   Come celebrate the grand opening of "Star Trek: The Experience" at the 
Las Vegas Hilton. STX

As for "every three months", this is tricky.  If you use {Hoch} and the 
noun following it is plural, it means "all"; if it is singular, it means 
"each". (Cf. HQ 5.2.)  Now {wej jar} "three months" is plural, although 
unmarked by a plural suffix.  AFAIK our only example of {Hoch} used in 
anything like a time expression is this:

   puqloDwI' le'qu', Hoch jaj choquvmoH
   My dearest son, each day you redeem me. (Frasier)

To get the idea of every three months - over and over and over again - I'd 
be tempted to use {-taH}, but there are no examples of the string 
{-taHDI'}.  So you could say simply {qaSDI' wej jar...} or maybe use {reH} 
"always":  ?{reH qaSDI' wej jar}.  Perhaps it's best to shift {motlh} and 
{-taH} to the next clause:

   rInDI' wej jar, motlh chovnatlh chu' labtaH tlhIngan Hol yejHaD.
   When/After 3 months have occurred, the KLI usually sends out a new issue.

FYI: Okrand used {jabbI'ID} "data transmission" for a (magazine) issue in 
"Star Trek" Communicator":

   tlhIngan jabbI'ID le'
   Special Klingon issue (STC)

but the KLI prefers {chovnatlh} "specimen" on its {Qo'noS QonoS} web 
page:  {jarvam chovnatlh} "the current issue", {wen chovnatlh} "past issues".



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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