tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 03 10:30:07 2002

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Re: tlhe' - trans or intrans



DloraH:
>mu'tlhegh lugh yIngu':
>
>* moQ vItlhe'
>* moQ vItlhe'moH
>
>DoS ghaj'a' [tlhe'] mu'?

ghunchu'wI':
 > vIt wISovbe'law'.

Do'Ha' [tlhe'] wot vIlo'pu'be' Okrand.

{tlhe'} "turn" probably works like {jIr} "rotate, twirl" and {DIng} 
"spin".  Although {DIng} hasn't appeared in canon, {jIrmoH} "twirl 
bat'leth, cause bat'leth to rotate" appears in KGT (p.59):

    To twirl or rotate the bat'leth is {jIrmoH} and to toss it from one hand
    to the other (the same word is used whether left to right or right to left)
    is {baQ}.

Now, minimalists would argue that, based on this one sentence, {jIrmoH} is 
martial arts jargon; that is, it *only* applies to swordplay - and 
specifically the bat'leth at that! - but I don't think so.  Okrand doesn't 
actually say this in so many words, and he was not shy about saying so 
about other words in KGT.

Note, that if we didn't have {jIrmoH} in KGT, we wouldn't know whether 
{jIr} is transitive either, as its English glosses are also ambiguous.



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



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