tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 16 04:40:16 1994
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tlhIngan for fast/slow
>From: [email protected]
>Date: Wed, 16 Feb 94 15:42:05 EST
>Is there a word for the adjectives fast or slow? I wanted to say
>"the fast ship" at one point, and couldn't find anything to use for the
>adjective. I could say "the ship moves quickly", but that's really
>bulky for such a relatively simple adjective...
Well, there are two answers to this. On the one hand, there's always the
possibility that there are verbs floating around somewhere that mean "be
fast" and "be slow" and Okrand just hasn't gotten them from Maltz yet. In
that case, the following suggestions could be considered stopgaps until we
learn better.
However, it is also completely reasonable that there *are* no simple verbs
for "be fast/slow." From a certain perspective, it makes no sense to say
that something simple "is fast"; you can only be "fast" at *doing*
something. Being fast in isolation, with no reference to what you are fast
at or potentially fast at, is meaningless (or certainly could be considered
to be in some culture/language or another). Therefore, "A fast ship"
*must* be "a ship that travels fast", to be distinguished from "A ship that
explodes fast" or "a ship that dries fast". Thus, "nom lengbogh Duj" is
perfectly reasonable for "a fast ship."
>...Paul
~mark