tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 21 08:43:11 2000
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Re: jIcheghpu'
taghqIj:
:(Is there a verb that means "age, become older"?)
pagh:
> HIja'. <qanchoH> - "become old". Suffixes are wonderful things, qar'a'?.
There's also {nenchoH} "mature, grow up" (i.e. come of age) - derived from
{nen} "be mature, be grown-up, be adult" - but this refers to younger Klingons
and their {nenghep} "Age of Ascension" and {nentay} "Rite of Ascension".
taghqIj:
: But I mean old*er*, not necessarily *old*. I wouldn't go so far as to
: call myself old, but I'm certainly older than I was three years ago (or
: even last week). Is this a distinction that only exists in English?
{qanchoH} seems to cover both English ideas. {-choH} focuses attention on a
change in state or direction:
"Suffixes of this type indicate that the action described by the
verb involves a change of some kind from the state of affairs that
existed before the action took place. {maDo'choH} 'we are becoming
lucky, we are undergoing a turn of luck'. {ghoSchoH} 'he is
beginning to go (somewhere)'. The implication of the second example
is that he or she was going either nowhere or somewhere else
sometime before the phrase was uttered. Note that the translation
of this suffix may be English become or begin to." (TKD:37)
Although {-choH} often implies an instantaneous or momentary change:
yItamchoH!
Be quiet! (Become quiet!) TKD
ghorgh tujchoHpu' bIQ?
When will the water be hot? TKD
["When will the water become hot?" - with {-pu'} perfective]
maDo'chugh QeHchoH wa'.
If we're lucky, one will get angry. CK
yIjotchoH!
Calm down! KGT
in context, it can also imply a gradual change over various lengths of time:
bIrchoH SuvwI' 'Iw.
The blood of the warrior grows cold. PK
'etlh QorghHa'lu'chugh ragh 'etlh nIvqu' 'ej jejHa'choH
Even the best blade will rust and grow dull unless it is cared for. TKW
tujqu'choH QuQ.
The engine is overheating. TKD
notlh veS...'a tugh manotlhchoH je maH.
War is obsolete...as we are in danger of becoming. ST6
: Would <qanchoHtaH> be closer to what I'm after, maybe?
No, don't over-think it. We've never seen {-choH} and {-taH} used together to
refer to a continuous change of state, although we have seen {-choHpu'} for a
completed change. The point of {-choH} is the change or transition itself, not
the result. In your case it is the change - however long it takes - from young
{Qup} to old {qan}. So you can say:
jIqan.
I am old.
jIqanchoH.
I'm growing old. I'm becoming old. I'm getting old(er).
jIqanchoHpu'.
I have become old.
Note, however, that growing old is not necessarily a good thing to Klingons:
SuvwI'pu' qan tu'lu'be'.
There are no old warriors. TKW
so you may not want to brag about it. <g>
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons