tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 11 12:24:45 1996

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Re: New Klingon Word...so far



According to David Barron:
> 
>  
> Looking thru THE KLINGON WAY I found two new words!! 
>  
> The phrase was "The son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first 
> hold a blade." 
>  
> The Klingon trans: 
>  
> wa' jaj 'etlh 'uchchoHlaH tlhIngan puqloD; jajvetlh loD nen moj. 
>               ^^^^                                      ^^^ 

We've been looking for a word for "hold" for a long time. This
is great! But what is {nen} doing? It seems to be an adjectival
verb describing {loD}, but there is no obvious adjective in the
English translation to pin meaning to it. I hope he uses it
again somewhere else to give us a better idea of what it means.

Meanwhile, since Okrand dodged an obvious place for {-DI'}, I
can only imagine that he did this in order to illustrate a use
of {-vetlh} on a day. This is probably the first use of this
kind of suffix on an abstract noun. I've been more
conservatively reserving {-vetlh} for tangible objects.

It also is an example of what I would have considered idiomatic
(to English) use of "one day" to refer to an unspecified time
setting. Apparently, it is okay to be approximate sometimes.

> This is just from putting the book in my hands and opening it up at 
> random on the 1st try...a potential indication that there is alot 
> more in there to be discovered. 

I'm quite looking forward to your commentary. I also have
interest in purchasing this book from you, since the local
bookstores seem a few cards short of a full deck. How may we
proceed?

> Note the punctuation marks as well.  

I think we've seen semicolons before on the trading cards.

> I will post new discoveries as they occure. 
>  
> david 
> --- 
>  * OFFLINE 1.58 *  David Barron    ||           lup Hoch yIyInqu'                   Klingon Language Postal Course  ||           qaStaHvIS wa' lup                   P.O. Box 37, Eagle ID 83616     ||        yInpu' wa'netlh yInmey            It's FREE! Send Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. Not available by E-mail!          E-mail   [email protected]            Finger me for more details. 

charghwI'
-- 

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