tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 12 07:12:25 2006

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Re: Klingon WOTD: yap (verb)

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Thursday, October 12, 2006.
>
>Klingon word:   yap
>Part of Speech: verb
>Definition:     be enough, sufficient

Used in canon:

   Suvlu'taHvIS yapbe' HoS neH
   Brute strength is not the most important asset in a fight. TKW

   yImev, yap!
   Stop! It is enough! KGT

Cf. {mevyap}:

   This expression, usually considered a single word, is used as
   a command meaning "Stop! Cease!" It comes from two Klingon verbs,
   {mev} ("stop, cease") and {yap} ("be enough, be sufficient"). No
   doubt in the past, the locution was longer, perhaps {yImev, yap!}
   ("Stop! It is enough!") ... {yap} ("be enough") is used as if an
   exclamation or a single-word sentence meaning "It is enough".
   The two words have been used in juxtaposition ({mev, yap}) for
   so long, they have come to be accepted as a single, though
   grammatically peculiar, word. If the order of the components were
   reversed ({yapmev}), the utterance would be meaningless.  (KGT 113)

{mevyap} used in the episodes, with captions:

   "(That's) Enough!" (TNG "Reunion", "The Chase")

   "That is enough!" (TNG "Sins of the Father")

   "Stop!" (Reunion)

   "Shut up!" (DS9 "House of Quark")

   "{mevyap}, Thopok!" (DS9 "Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places")

Related verbs:

{'Iq} "be too many, too much"; {puS} "be few" & {law'} "be many".

Cf. also {Hutlh} "lack"; {chuv} "be left over"


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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