tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 23 21:09:00 1999
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Re: "Fishy Things (was RE: Fresh Food in Space)
ja' quljIb:
>Okay, here are a few "fishy" things I came up with...
Please don't do this. Lists of words are very nearly useless in isolation.
If you have to explain what you mean by a term, it's obviously not a clear
way to express the idea you have in mind. Instead of making a collection
of noun translations with no context, wait until you actually find yourself
needing to say something about a whale or squid. More often than not, the
context surrounding the usage will suggest an appropriate way to say it.
I'll restrict my comments to one of your words only:
>{bIQDep'a'} - whale
Ouch. The {-'a'} suffix doesn't just mean "big". It's an augmentive.
Whatever it is that makes something a {bIQDep}, a {bIQDep'a'} has more
of it. If a "water being" is something which swims, maybe {bIQDep'a'}
does work for "whale", but I'm not sure.
>*{bIQDep let} - hard fish, armoured fish?, shellfish?
The hard shell of an animal is {nagh DIr}, literally "rock skin".
>(How in ge"thor does one say "shellfish" in tlhIngan?)
Several KLI members would perhaps say {bIQDep Hat}. :-)
>{bIQDep'a'mey wambogh Duj} - a ship for hunting whale, a whaler
Consider using a purpose clause instead of a relative clause here:
{bIQDep'a' wammeH Duj} fits the idea better than {...wambogh...}.
(TKD 3.2.3 mentions that {Duj} is a word meaning "space vessel", but
since we lack a wide variety of terms for vehicles I guess it'll do.)
-- ghunchu'wI'