tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 06 09:32:09 2003
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Re: be'Hom loDHom je
naHQun wrote:
>Alright, so what I have surmised is that <be''a'> could be taken multiple
>ways,
>and that just because it is grammatically correct, doesn't mean a Klingon
>would
>actually use it.
Or that a Klingons don't use it now in the "modern" (i.e. 24th century)
language. It may well have been used in an earlier stage of the language
for an obsolete concept, or may be used in a future stage for a concept
that doesn't exist yet.
>and for those that are curious, when I first made the combination in my head,
>I thought of a <qup>.
{qup} "elder" - {puq} "child" backwards BTW! - is another odd word. How
would this be different from *{qanwI'} "old person (one who is old)"? It
probably has more to do with rank or importance rather than just age, since
we also have {quprIp} "Council of Elders" - though how this is different
from the famous {yejquv} "High Council" is also unknown. Okrand has used
the English word "elder" four times in KGT:
"Younger Klingons describe some of the vocabulary used by their elders as
{mu'mey Doy'} ("tired words")..." (KGT 35)
"As he describes the thrill of his first hunt, Toq (Sterling Macer) reminds
his elders of what it is to be Klingon." (KGT 90)
"Klingons revere their ancestors, respect their elders, and have
unparalleled veneration for heritage." (KGT 133)
"Younger Klingons, while accepting their heritage and observing the ancient
rites, see some aspects of their elders' behavior and beliefs as, if not
obsolete, then just old-fashioned." (KGT 133)
>It continued the whole age progression from <be'Hom> to <be'>.
>But I also like the other possibilities presented
I don't think anyone has suggested it yet, but another way the *{be''a'}
*might* be (mis-)understood is "giantess" -- if the relationship between
{be'} and {be'Hom} is felt by the listener to be size, rather than age or
importance. *{loD'a'} has been used for "giant" on this list once or twice
IIRC.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons