tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 25 15:09:59 2009

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Re: The topic marker -'e'

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

Christopher Doty wrote:

> I don't get -vaD as being "for the benefit of," just "for, intended for"...
> 
> I'd say
> 
>>    yIHvaD may' 'oH may' quvHa''e'
> 
> Would be "As for a dishonorable battle, it is a battle for tribbles
> (as opposed to, say, warriors)" instead of
> 
>>    As for a dishonorable battle, it is a battle, for the benefit of tribbles.
> 
> as you said.  Am I still missing something here?

TKD p. 28:
       -vaD  for, intended for
       This suffix indicates that the noun to which it is attached is in
    some way the beneficary of the action, the person or thing for whom
    or for which the activity occurs.

So "being a battle" {may' 'oH} is done "for tribbles" {yIHvaD}. The 
intended recipients of "being a battle" are tribbles. I used "benefit" 
in the sense of receiving an action, not necessarily that good would 
accrue to the tribbles. In other words, "beneficiary of the action."

If by "it is battle for tribbles" you mean that only tribbles are low 
enough to bother fighting it, then you've got to rework the sentence in 
some way; it doesn't mean what you're trying to say. "A dishonorable 
battle is a battle that tribbles should fight" contains no idea of 
tribbles receiving the "action" of being a battle. The bit about the 
tribbles only modifies the word "battle."

-- 
SuStel
tlhIngan Hol MUSH
http://trimboli.name/mush

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