tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 03 15:37:38 1997

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Re: KLBC: qIm/qImHa'



ghItlh charghwI':

>taj lo'laH vIlo'laH. "I can use the valuable knife."

nuQaH vuDlIj 'ej qatlho'. DaH rut vuDlIj vIHon 'e' vIQIjneS.

I fully agree that lo'laH = be valuable (v) is an unusual construction. It can 
mean "it can use it" or "it is valuable" - but context will usually help us. 
But -- vIlo'moHlaH = "I cause it to be useable." And, according to 
suffix-order advice I recieved here not long ago, it also is "I cause it to be 
valuable." Not quite the same. I await MO's opinion on suffix order on complex 
verbs such as this, so perhaps the ambiguity will not last much longer. And, 
as we all know, ambiguity is inherent in all languages -- but Klingon ought to 
avoid it as much as possible, in the interest of accuracy (PK).

lo'laH appears, without its confusing gloss, to mean "be useful" -- and we 
also have the suspiciously similar lI' for that. The only canonical use of 
lo'laH I am aware of is in the addendum, in the -ghach discussion. Perhaps 
(and this is sheer, brash speculation) the gloss of lo'laH in question is 
there to allow for the use of -ghach to form the noun "value" (lI'ghach is 
likely illegal). This would depend on -ghach being one of the things conceived 
of but not included in the original dictionary.

>nab pegh vISov. "I know a secret plan."

TKD shows pegh = keep something secret (v). To write the above sentence, I 
would choose nab peghlu'bogh vISov = I know a plan which is kept secret. Where 
is there a canonical use of pegh = be secret (v)?

>I mean, in English, can you think of a verb which is the
>antithesis of "concentrate"? Would you be happier if {qImHa'}
>were translated as "zone out, space out, behave in the manner
>of a space cadet"?

Well, yes, I would! qImHa' seems, without regard to its given definition, to 
mean "be poorly attentive" or "be lacking in concentration". It doesn't matter 
that there's no English word to one-to-one correspond to it.

My assumption at this point is that either qImHa' is a transitive verb which 
is irregular (yuck), or is awkwardly glossed in TKD, and has an intransitive 
meaning.

MO has hinted (in response to my query) about a POSSIBILITY of another edition 
of TKD -- he was, I believe, purposely vague. Still, the possibility of a text 
to cover these unknowns is something to be hoped for. numISHa'taHjaj 'ej 
numISqa'taHjaj!

Qermaq


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