tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 25 17:54:43 1999

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Re: Love (A-Ha!)

Normally, I try to stay out of all the English arguing-about-the-language
and stick to the fun tlhIngan Hol using-the-language.  But I feel compelled
to speak out on this -Ha' business.

Gang, it's just not that hard!  TKD is pretty clear on the subject.
The relevant quotation, on page 47:

	For convenience, it will here be translated as *undo*, but it
    closer in meaning to the English prefixes mis-, de-, dis- (as in
    misunderstand, demystify, disentangle).  It is also used if
    something is done wrongly.

So to start with, Okrand has more or less explicitly said that -Ha' does
NOT mean *undo*, per se.  That was just an easy tag-word for it.  One meaning
which we all seem to agree on is the do-wrongly one.  In addition to that
last sentence there, it is also covered by the reference to the english
prefix mis- *means*.  So the *other* meaning is the one expressed by
the english de- or dis-.  I'm just *astonished* that people are surprised
by or unaccepting of the opposite-of meaning for -Ha', since *that's what
dis- and de-* MEAN.  From the closest handy dictionary:

    dis-  ...1. Not <*dis*similar> 2. a. Absence of <*dis*interest>
    b. Opposite of <*dis*favor> 3. Do the opposite of : UNDO
    <*dis*arrange>...
    de-  ...1. Do or make the opposite of : REVERSE

In addition, as if there were any doubt, we have plenty of canonic dictionary
entries to support the opposite-of meaning, especially pairings where the
english dis- is *exactly* what's being conveyed by the -Ha'.  The only
difference is that English and Klingon sometimes have different ideas of which
constitutes the "base", i.e. normal case, and which gets marked with
an affix.  Some of these will obviously be familiar.  My point is that there
are not just one or two aberrent cases, but quite an ample number to
support the diametric-opposite-of meaning:

	par		- dislike
	parHa'  	- like

	lob		- obey
	lobHa'  	- disobey

	bel		- be pleased
	belHa'  	- be displeased

	tung		- encourage
	tungHa' 	- discourage

	yep		- be careful
	yepHa'  	- be careless

	naD		- praise, commend, approve
	naDHa'		- discommend, disapprove

	tlhorgh		- be pungent (referring to food)
	tlhorghHa'	- be bland (referring to food)

	matlh		- be loyal
	matlhHa'	- be disloyal

In all of these, a meaning of opposite-of is clearly plain.  There is
absolutely NO requirement of actual change-in-state in these meanings.
You don't have to first be loyal in order to be disloyal.  Food that
taste bland does not usually start out by being pungent and then getting
blanded-down.  Frankly, there are more of this kind of meaning for -Ha'
in the dictionary entries than of any OTHER meaning.  What's more, note
that I have drawn from all three published dictionary sources, which
shows that Okrand has not changed his mind about any of this over time.

And, as ter'eS else has pointed out, the adverbials that take -Ha'
also follow this pattern (and yes, pIjHa' is canonical).

Obviously, there are other meanings of -Ha', but there is no question
that the opposite-of meaning is valid.  Therefore, muSHa' must mean
mis-hate or dis-hate, or in other words:  to hate badly or wrongly; or
to un-hate or opposite-of-hate.  Last time I checked, the English word
which most closely matches this second concept is "love".  There's no
question that muSHa' can mean "love", at least in some sense of the
word (and not necessarily all).

Now, if you don't like it, and don't wanna use it, great, more power to
you.  I'm sure you'll find interesting and creative alternatives.  What
I am saying is that there is no basis for going up to other people who do
choose to use it and yelling "Wrong!"

pItlh.

	--Krankor

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