tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 23 19:11:43 1995

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Re: Use of some words: analogical and other extensions of usage

According to A.Appleyard:
> 
> I recently used {bav} = "(v) orbit" as a noun as an analogical extension, and
> this caused comment; what is the opinion on these other extensions of usage
> which people may make?

There were more objections to your using a verb as a noun than
there were to the extension of the meaning. There WERE
objections to it, but not as many.

> (a) Does {yoD} = "(v,n) shield" mean ONLY "protective force field" like round
> a spaceship? Or can it also be used for a knight-in-armour or riot-police
> or native tribal warrior etc type shield made of matter?

I'd tend to say yes.

> (b) Does {Duj} = "(n) ship,vessel" mean only spacecraft? or can it be used for
> water craft as in English? (Someone recently said that some people used {Duj}
> to mean their cars!)

Again, this seems logical.

> (c) TKD says that {ghItlh} = "(v) write, (n) manuscript". Does {ghItlh} (noun)
> thus mean ONLY "the first or master copy of a book or article"? Or is the
> common understandable extension of its meaning to mean "letter on paper" (to
> distinguish from {jabbI'ID} = "email message") theoretically OK?

Okrand expanded on this in an interview in HolQeD vol. 2, no.
4. The verb refers to making marks (usually on paper, or
similar material). It does not so much refer to mere
composition. I'd expect as a noun, it would mean anything that
had been hand-written or reproduced in such a way to appear to
be hand written.

> (d) Does {logh} mean only "outer (= interstellar or interplanetary) space"? Or
> can it also mean gaps between words or objects etc as in English? (Compare
> Greek usage: (double vowel = long) {diasteema} = "space between words or
> objects etc", and in MODERN Greek also "outer space"; but in Ancient Greek
> "outer space, the Void" was instead called {kha(w)os} from the verb root
> {kha}, {khn} = "gape, be wide open" (Note: modern "chaos" = "disorder" came
> from uninformed wrong guesses by theorizing mediaeval theologians.).)

I'd tend toward a more restrictive use of the word, though I
may be alone in that regard.

> TKD says that {'ejyo'} = "Starfleet", {'ejyo'waw'} = "starbase". Do these mean
> only those of the Federation (as the word `Starfleet' is used in Star Trek)?
> Or can they mean the Klingons', or any space power's, space fleet and bases?

Here, I'd tend to watch for uppercase vs. lowercase on the
English side. One is a proper noun. The other is not.

> Why in modern space science fiction films are spacesuits hardly ever seen? The
> expression "Buck Rogers look" is proverbial for spacesuit-like protective
> suits, but in the modern Buck Rogers films I have never seen a spacesuit. In
> all the space-ism of Star Trek and TKD etc I have heard of (but not seen) only
> one sight of a Starfleet spacesuit, and TKD has no word for "spacesuit" or
> "suit"...

One presumes that for the most part, such suits are considered
primative. Why wrap yourself in such a limited protection when
you have the resources to create a space large enough to
comfortably eat, shit and otherwise perform bodily functions?
The movies have shown several such suits (mostly in passing,
but once as a major plot device), while I only remember once on
TOS and not at all on TNG.

But, of course, decent looking space suits cost a lot of money
to make and TV tends to prefer to spend their money elsewhere...

Anyway, whatever the real reason we don't see them much, if you
accept phasers, betleHmey and warp drive, you should be willing
to accept a dearth of space suits. Deal with it.

> `Worf': someone's suggested amendment *{worv} is also not standard tlhIngan
> Hol. (Note: the cases "cough" and "laugh" of modern English `gh' pronounced
> `f' derive from not {gh} or {H} but {HH}: Anglo-Saxon {cohh-}, {hlaehh-}.)

My own theory is that his name really is wargh, but he can't
pronounce it. He certainly can't pronounce any OTHER Klingon
words. Why should his name be different?

charghwI'
-- 

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