tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 18 20:25:18 1999

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

RE: wild nature



jatlh Ed:

> I had a question concerning nature. Since civilization is an
> artificial habitat. Would uncivilized also be considered wild.
> With the diminutive of wild being natural. Both are are
> considered adjectives or minor verbs. Though there
> are derivatives for nouns as in wilderness and nature.

For starters, <tay'> is "be together". <tay> is be civilized. I also think
<tay> can probably only be applied to people, and maybe situations or places
associated with people - I think it makes very little sense for animals.

> adjectives
> tay'Qo' wild

Verbs used as adjectives - and don't forget that they are still verbs - can
only take the suffixes <-be'>, <-Ha'>, and <-qu'>, so <-Qo'> doesn't work.
In any case <tayQo'> means "refuse to be civilized". It might work for a few
meanings of "wild", but not the one you are going for.

> tay'Ha' natural

<tayHa'> is "uncivilized". It would fit right in if you were describing the
primitive barbarian tribes that conquered the Sakrej region - <SaQej Sep> -
a thousand years ago. That's about the only use that makes sense to me.

> nouns
> tay'Qo'ghach wilderness

This is literally "refusal to be civilized".

> tay'Ha'wI' nature

"One who is uncivilized". This would almost have to be the aforementioned
barbarians or similar people.

> {ngem jItIv tay'Qo'bogh} I enjoy the forests which are wild.

Aside from the <tay> problems, you've got the order a bit mixed up here. The
subject of the <-bogh> clause is <ngem>, so the verb has to go *before*
<ngem>.


The question you are asking - how to say "wild" or "natural" - is a fairly
difficult one. We don't have a single word with a meaning even close to
either of these. One word to consider is <nIt> - "pure, unsullied,
uncorrupted" - found in KGT. Perhaps we simply don't know the vocabulary
that deals with these concepts yet. Perhaps Klingons basically consider
*all* forests and animals (except maybe pets <Sajmey>) to be "wild", and
don't feel a need to comment on it.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian



Back to archive top level