tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 16 21:45:53 1995

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



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

Re: if, then...



maSqa' writes:
>    If mongDech is collar, then could DeSDech be sleeve and 'uSDech
>be pant leg?

No.  {Dech} as we know it is a verb, and WE cannot combine nouns and
verbs in this way.  However, {DechwI'} might be reasonable here.  Or
not -- {DeSDechwI'} only makes sense to me because I know what I was
trying to say.  Someone who hadn't seen your suggestions might think
it was a bracelet, or a cast, or something else entirely.

>    If nItlhpach is fingernail, then is yaDpach toenail?

"Toe's claw" sounds just fine to me.

>Also, can vaH (holster) be translated sheath as well?

If you want to be ambiguous about it, why not?  The meaning of "holster"
in English usually includes the idea of a pistol, and "sheath" refers to
blades, but there's no reason to think Klingon makes this distinction.
(Of course, there's no reason to think it doesn't, either.)  The problem
I see is that a holster is normally something one wears and in which one
keeps a tool of some sort, and a sheath is merely a cover.  That said, I
think I'd translate {taj vaH} as a knife-holder, maybe on someone's belt.

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj




Back to archive top level