tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 06 20:49:25 1997
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mu'mey mungHey
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: mu'mey mungHey
- Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 23:48:54 -0400 (EDT)
jIghIQtaHvIS, qep'a' loSDIch vIqawtaHmo', qechmeyqoqvam chenmoH yabwIj:
1) -lu', -moH, -jaj connection?
Disclaimer: This is entirely conjecture, and is based only on some
observations, so don't believe that it is true. It's just a theory:
Wondering about the possible origin of the suffix -jaj, I thought that it
might come from a Klingon phrase with the noun jaj as the subject of the
sentence.
Example: qaSjaj ghu'vetlh (May that situation occur) could have originally
been rendered as ghu'vetlh qaSmoH jaj X, where "jaj X" represents something
like "a day in the future" or "someday." In other words, maybe the -jaj
suffix was originally represented by a phrase like "Someday this may happen,"
or literally "[I want that] a day in the future will make this happen." This
seems consistent with the use of -jaj, indicating a hope of the future that
the speaker has little control over. I realize that I shouldn't be trying to
derive an origin for every suffix, but I just thought this might be a
semi-plausible explanation of the origin of -jaj.
I then thought that this "original" format of the noun jaj as the subject
would make sentences like "May you encounter Kahless in your dreams" as
*<bInajtaHvIS, qeylIS DughommoH jaj.> Perhaps the *<DughommoH jaj> evolved
to *<Daghomlu'moHjaj> using the indefinite subject suffix -lu'. This
suffixes -lu' and -moH would then drop out after time because they basically
cancel each other and then such a sentence would have been <Daghomjaj.> This
could also explain the unusual grammar of toasts - the suffix -lu' would drop
out, but the apparent subject would still appear to the left of the verb.
The famous "May your blood scream" <'IwlIj jachjaj> therefore would have
started as *<'IwlIj jachmoH jaj> and would progress to *<'IwlIj
jachlu'moHjaj>, finally settling at <'IwlIj jachjaj.>
2) Some people at the qep'a' loSDIch were wondering about the extra glottal
stop at <'awje'>, since <je> doesn't have one. Although some said it could
just be for symmetry, I think it also makes a nice similarity between
"Root-beer" <'awje'> and "glass" <HIvje'.>
3) With <taHtaH vay', joH> from Krankor's translation of Kumbaya going
through my mind, I realized that the pendulum of a grandfather clock could be
described as a <tIH taH.>
vIQIjqa'chu' 'e' yItlhob, qechmeyqoqvam boyajchu'be'chugh. boQochchugh neH,
vaj batlh vuDraj yIQIj.
-Tad "taD" Stauffer