tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Sep 01 14:18:10 2002

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Re: Deconstructing {law'/puS}



ja' tulwI':
>reH latlh qabDaq qul tuj law' Hoch tuj puS.
>The fire is always hotter on someone else's face. PK
>
>if you analise it this way:
>
>reH latlh qabDaq <qul tuj law' Hoch tuj puS>.
>
>then it means "always on someone else's face, fire is the hottest."
>i repeat that this would be strange. i mean, this proverb probably
>don't say that on someone else's face you cannot find something
>hotter than "fire", but that you cannot find something hotter than
>"fire on someone else's face."

Why do you believe it means the second wone rather than the first?

>so "fire on someone else's face" must be the a-argument.

I can see it quite differently.  How about this:

The A noun is simply {qul} "fire".  B is {Hoch}, making it a superlative
construction.  {reH latlh qabDaq} modifies the Q verb {tuj} "be hot", not
the noun.

So the comparison is between things which [always are hot on another's
face], and it says that fire is the thing which is superior to everything
in that comparison.

>how can we say "fire on someone else's face"? for example: "latlh
>qabDaq qul tu'lu'bogh", right? then it would make sence:
>
>/reH <latlh qabDaq qul tu'lu'bogh tuj law' Hoch tuj puS>./
>
>_this_ is "the fire on someone else's face is always the hottest."

Right.  But the proverb could easily be "on someone else's face, fire is
always the hottest."  Especially since that's what it says. :-)

>if the former sentence has the same meaning, then these two sentences
>are equal:
>
>/reH latlh qabDaq qul tuj law' Hoch tuj puS./
>/reH latlh qabDaq qul tu'lu'bogh tuj law' Hoch tuj puS./
>
>and that would mean that /latlh qabDaq qul/ and /latlh qabDaq qul
>tu'lu'bogh/ are be equal.

"If" is a powerful word.  It can summon monsters from the vasty deeps.  The
question is then whether or not the monsters answer the summons...

-- ghunchu'wI'


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