tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 27 19:14:09 1998
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Re: My old neighbor
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: My old neighbor
- Date: Sun, 27 Dec 1998 22:12:51 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
- Priority: NORMAL
On Thu, 24 Dec 1998 23:20:48 -0800 (PST) [email protected]
wrote:
> In a message dated 12/23/1998 10:43:49 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
> [email protected] writes:
>
> << SuStel:
> : Why should {nI'} be able to describe an aspect of a noun, rather than a
> : noun? {nI'} means "be lengthy (in duration)," and {jIl nI'} means "the
> : neighbor who is lengthy in duration." Nonsense. You're trying to describe
> : the time over which you've known the neighbor, not the neighbor himself.
> >>
>
> The more I think about this debate, the more I DO like jIl nI' for the
> translation of "a long-time friend." I have a feeling that there is evidence
> within the unseparable parts of the Klingon words for "grandfather" and for
> "grandmother," too.
>
> Although some of you will say that this is not quite true for "brother" and
> for "sister," I can conceive of the idea that Klingons intrinsically think of
> siblings as "long-term" relatives. As a matter of fact, such relatives may
> continue to be relatives even after death.
>
> peHruS
I felt open to the idea of using {jIl nI'} until I heard this
explanation. No. This one REALLY doesn't work. You are taking
polysyllabic nouns and assuming that one of the syllables is
actually a verb in a noun-verb composit similar to a compound
noun, but without the grammatical justification. No. It just
doesn't work.
Perhaps {jIl nI'} might work because the naming of the noun is
based upon a relationship and that relationship has a duration
as much as any time period or life (nouns for which {nI'} is
used in canon), but any argument based upon {loDnI'}, {vavnI'}
and its ilk is so thoroughly baseless that it makes me want to
join those who most sternly reject the idea of {jIl nI'}.
charghwI' 'utlh