tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 07 12:09:24 1995
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Re: nI'
On Tue, 7 Mar 1995, Kevin Britton wrote:
> Here's a question:
> If loDnI' is brother, and be'nI' is sister....
> does it stand to reason that nI' can mean 'sibling' as well as 'lengthy'?
> If not, is there a word for 'sibling'?
This is something that came up in the first class I taught back in '91.
If one assumes that *nI' exists and means sibling, then in comparison
with puqloD and puqbe', why aren't they *nI'loD and *nI'be' ?
The conclusion made by me and the class was that probably, nI' only means
lengthy.... and that the words for brother and sister evolve from a
concept of one's brothers and sisters being someone who you spend your
life, a *long* time with... Sort-of-similar to Native American concepts
of brothers and sisters--those with whom you share your life with in a
familial sense.... maybe even in a "long house"....
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David E G Sturm, Laboratory Manager operate in a vacuum, can
Wake Forest University Department of Physics I at least have a little
Box 7507 Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem NC 27109 ether to calm my nerves?"