tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 02 12:18:09 1999
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
RE: <batlh quv je>
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: <batlh quv je>
- Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 12:22:48 -0700
jIjatlh:
><batlh quv je> is probably best translated as just "honor". I have my own
>theories on the differences between <batlh> and <quv>, and I would have
just
>said <quv>, but I won't speculate about that here.
jatlh qa'ral:
> You chose not to speculate then; how about now? I'd be honored to learn
> what theories you and others have on this score (other than that /quv/ can
> be a verb and /batlh/ an adverbial). Even a subtle distinction in meaning
> must be tremendously revealing in a culture built on warrior values
(something
> like the ten or however many words for snow in Inuit culture).
OK then. I think the difference is probably similar to a lot of other pairs
(e.g. noH/veS; may'/vIq): <batlh> is the abstract notion of "honor", and
<quv> is more like one's personal honor. Thus I would probably never talk
about <batlhwIj>, but a class on good Klingon behaviour would contain a lot
of advice about <batlh>. I don't think I am alone in this belief; I think
others on the list have proposed similar ideas.
One example of <quv> being used this way is from the beginning of PK:
<quvwIj DatIchpu', tera'ngan>. TKW contains many more, including:
tlhIngan quv DatIchDI', Seng yIghuH
batlhHa' vanglu'taHvIS, quv chavbe'lu'
quv Hutlh HoHbogh tlhIngan 'ach qabDaj 'angbe'bogh
Examples from TKW using <batlh> as a noun:
bath ghob yIpab
batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS
batlh qelDI' tlhIngan, lumbe'
> In the same vein: Is the relationship between /noH/ and /veS/ (recently
> discussed) similar to that between /may'/ and /vIq/? What about the
> distinctions between /Suv/, /ghob/, and /Qoj/ and between /SuvwI'/ and
/vaj/?
Generally yes. See KGT for discussions of all of these things.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
tlhIngan Hol Mailing List FAQ
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm