tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 22 05:08:55 2010

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: monastery

ghunchu'wI' 'utlh ([email protected])



On Dec 22, 2010, at 4:35 AM, "Lieven Litaer" <[email protected]> wrote:

> My question to you english speakers:
> what does this phrase mean literally?
> "This is a general term for a community."
>
> Does it mean "The word is THE WORD FOR <<community>>" or does it  
> mean "This is a general term WHICH IS USED BY a community"?

lugh qech wa'DIch. The former.

> Look again to the above phrase by MO: he first uses the expression  
> "the word for... is". Then he says "it's a term for".

I don't get the confusion you seem to have between "word" and "term".  
They appear to be synonyms in this context.

> By the way, "Christmas" is a also a term for a religious community,  
> isn't it?

ghobe'. lalDan ghom Delbe'. lalDan tay''e' pong.

Christmas is a religious *ceremony*, not a people or a place. Its  
present meaning has been extended to refer to an entire season of  
observance and celebration.

So the question we need to ask is this: does {ghIn} denote a place, or  
can it be also understood to mean the kind of "community" that is  
defined by a shared culture rather than just a location? Could  
"neighborhood" be a more accurate translation than the ambiguous  
"community"?

-- ghunchu'wI'     






Back to archive top level