tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 17 06:17:00 2011
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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] plural of <De' jengva'>
On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 14:30, David Trimboli <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 11/17/2011 6:22 AM, De'vID jonpIn wrote:
>
>> Now, this raises the question: if Klingons had <qam wovmoHwI'[mey]>
>> which they refer to as <qam> in the abbreviated singular, is the plural
>> of the abbreviation <qammey> or <qamDu'>? The above suggests <qammey>,
>> but OTOH we have examples of body parts being used metaphorically to
>> refer to non-body-part objects having plurals in <-Du'> (e.g.,
>> <DeSqIvDu'>, <jIb Ho'Du'>).
>
> If Klingon nouns are indeed gendered, which English nouns are not, then the
> Klingon plural would most likely be {qamDu'}. It would not matter how
> English handles it, since English pluralizes without regard to gender.
On the other hand, words do occasionally change gender in related
forms, especially by analogy to synonyms or composite nouns of another
gender.
One that came to my mind is German "Pony"; the word for the small
horse was borrowed into German as "das Pony" (neuter; perhaps by
analogy with _das Pferd_ "horse"?), then later, by association with
"hair like a pony's mane", came to be used for "(uk) fringe / (us)
bangs" (the hair over your forehead), but there it is masculine: "der
Pony". (Not sure why, since related nouns such as _die Frisur_
"hairstyle" and _die Mähne_ "mane" are feminine.)
But it's certainly *likely* to stay the same.
Cheers,
Philip
--
Philip Newton <[email protected]>
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