tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Mar 04 07:01:26 1999

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Re: Written Language: tlhingon Hol and pIqaD





On Wed, 3 Mar 1999, TPO wrote:

> >... Additionally, there is
> >often a numerical meaning assigned to some of the "letters". This could be
> >reflected, not only in the counting system, but in the tlhingon musical
> >note scale. (Klingons sing so I assume such an instructional scale
> >exists.) 
> 
> Are you refering to:
> yu, bIm, 'egh, loS, vagh, jav, Soch, chorgh, yu
> (KGT p72)
> The original klingon number system was ternary (1,2,3 / wa', cha', wej).
> Later when they adapted the base ten system (to understand enemy technology)
> they used words from their musical scale.  Already having 1, 2, and 3 they
> didn't use yu, bIm, 'egh for numbers; but continued with loS,...  It is
> uncertain where 9 (Hut) came from.

Ah, thankyou. This explains much to me!

As for Hut (9) came from, perhaps it was another word for wejwej (3x3) in
the old tlhIngan counting system? MO would have to confirm, of course. 
 
> >My third point concerns the style of Klingon writing. Here I have no
> >problems. Based on the appearance of pIqaD I am forced to conclude that
> >originally, tlhingon was written in a method much akin to cunnuiform, i.e.
> >with sharp, wedge-shaped sticks pressed into a clay riverbed or tablet.
> >With the advent of metal, carving words into wood, bone, stone, and then

>  Myself and others are capable of hand writing the pIqaD characters using a
> normal pen or pencil.  The characters don't HAVE to be thick lines.  Our
> current english alphabet can be written with thick and/or fancy lines; take
> a look at all the fonts available on your computer.
>  pIqaD can be hand written.  Some people's hand-writting might not be very
> clear, but that would occur with any language.

I'm not saying pIqaD CAN'T be handwritten. The style of the characters
simply suggested brush strokes to me.


> For "ink" perhaps you could use [rItlh - dye, pigment, paint (n)] KGT p240

Hmm, not a bad idea.



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