tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 24 07:57:20 1998
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Re: DIrDu' pagh DIrmey
- From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: DIrDu' pagh DIrmey
- Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 09:56:02 -0600 (CST)
: I always took the suffix -Du' to pluralise intelligent beings body parts
: ie. those beings who's pluraliser is -pu'
: eg. tlhIngan nachDu'
: When it came to animals and suchlike I pluralised with -mey as if they
: were things.
:
: In the case of DIr as leather I would use DIrmey from the time it was
: taken from the animal's back to being put on the Klingon's back.
: However if I was talking about Klingon skins I would use DIrDu'
: I'm sorry if this offends any animal lovers but it's always been my
: opinion.
:
: Am I right?
: qelayn
No, intelligence isn't relevant in this case. The distinction seems to be
body parts {-Du'} vs. entire beings, sentient {-pu'} or otherwise {-mey}.
Okrand discusses {-Du'} in TKD p. 23 (emphasis added):
"This suffix is used when referring to body parts of those beings
capable of
using language AS WELL AS OF ANY OTHER ANIMAL... The suffix {-mey}
cannot be
used with body parts. It should be noted, however, that Klingon poets
often
violate this grammatical rule in order to evoke particular moods in their
poetry. Thus, forms such as {tlhonmey} `nostrils scattered all about'
do occur.
Until the subtle nuances of such constructions are firmly grasped,
however,
it is suggested that students of Klingon stick to the rules."
The fact that most of our examples have referred to Klingon body parts is
due to the skewed nature of the material, which mainly discusses Klingon
warriors. We finally saw Okrand use {-Du'} for animal body parts in KCD:
{tIqnagh lemDu'} "TKnag hooves". Moreover, it seems that {-Du'} is not
restricted to the "natural" number of parts:
"A single hand is {ghop}. More than one hand is {ghopDu'}." (CK)
which implies that {ghopDu'} may also be used for a pile of severed hands,
say in a battlefield surgery. Cf. {Soch QuchDu'} "seven foreheads" and
{chorgh QuchDu' 'IH} "eight beautiful foreheads" later in CK.
Maltz told Okrand that {DIrmey} can be used to refer to "skins" or "hides"
as material for clothing, etc. after it has lost its emotional, not to
mention physical, connection with the animal. In other words, when it is no
longer seen as a body part per se. I imagine a hunter, though, might still
refer to several freshly-skinned {Surgh} hides {DIrDu'} and pelts
{veDDIrDu'} while the animals are still lying on the ground in front of him,
but the tailor he sells them to would call them {DIrmey} and {veDDIrmey}
after cleaning, tanning and cutting them to size.
However, as Okrand also reminded us in his Expert Forum post, most Klingons
would usually just omit the plural suffix altogether and rely on context to
convey the idea that there is more than one. For example, {targh tIq}
"heart of targ" is "a traditional Klingon dish" (TKW p. 173), but even
though the dish may be served with the hearts of more than one targ, the
plural is never used in the name of the dish. (This food item is described
and shown in KCD.) Maltz would probably complain that Terrans generally
overuse the plural suffixes.
Voragh